Rav Kook in English, I
There is no religious heretic, no matter what nation and the language is, that is forced so much by his heresy, to forge his national history, and to adopt a fake picture of his nation's program, and to force upon her great dishonor, and to steal from her all respect and glory in the national sense, as a Jewish heretic. To a Jewish heretic, it is impossible that he does what he does, only because of incomplete views using only rational ideas, he has to be a great cripple and mentally ill. He must be completely deprived from the real national feeling, and with that also from the feeling of real integrity, that is in every pure heart that searches for the truth. Surely, mental illnesses can have their origin in many different circumstances, and there are also those with a ruined state of body and soul which bring a person to such an unclear view that he cannot ever believe, and will be also crazy because of he sees. The explanation is simple, that the disease that is more malignant that posed its authority over the sick of despair and heresy in our generation, is in truth, after utterly deep analysis, only the doubt that is caused by some hurtful people in the Jewish camp in the form of Bikoret (criticism) of the holy writings, to date the writing of the Torah later than the events that are written in them. Because, with our existence and faith in the exodus from Egypt, and the wanderings of the desert generation, and our entry to the land of Israel, how was everything by the hand of Hashem, and full of the glory of Hashem? There simply is no place for all this essential heresy.
See, when a person is truly a free soul, he will judge honestly the value of Torah, and its stories, as they judge on the whole historical list, he will feel the true truth in his soul, and he will recognize that it is simply impossible to forge the history of a whole people, in general and in essence, in this open and emphasized fashion. The historical events are so precise, they are so directive and explicit, with names of people who were the bearers of history, their lives are clear, and we know the places where they lived, and there is a clarification of times, in terms of days, months, and years. And more than that, who will see the program of the nation, in its present status, and its deeds in the world, its hopes for the future, and its internal soul, its existence, its wishes, then, without any disguise he will discover the clear and obvious truth, that all words of our Torah are living and faithful words. Then he will feel in his soul how many thinking twists and utter stubbornness they must suffer, the heretics and the great fakers of the Jewish soul, who, after all this, have achieved absolutely nothing. In a normal state of affairs, it would be totally impossible for heresy to rise up in the light of the healthy and free research. But all that is only valid in the case of a healthy soul, where the national feeling lives, and makes its status being felt, and the national sense, but when everything is lacking then man becomes a strange being, there is no feeling and no natural bond, and therefore no healthy love and no natural feeling, and from all the tools only remains the sick and confused mind, challenging bad spirits, and crazy inclinations, and who will help us.
Think for yourself, on a different, personal and also fundamental basis - in ethics for instance, man goes according to his parents. That is also the case for strength of faith, and that is not so much distinct from the revelation and the historical clarification of our Torah. See, if the natural feeling to be related to his parents, which is naturally and healthily caused by the order in the family, is taken from a man, if he only relies on his mind that stands alone, will he be able to solve the problem of this feeling, in a way that satisfies the heart, and that continues all the good and ethical deeds, like in an orderly family, and the spiritual training of father to son, continues them, with them. Perhaps then there would be no question "whether he is his father's" or perhaps "he is picked up from the market," and similar things, that destroy peace and truth that are in a family that is good and dear, and also holy and distinguished for humans.
Surely, the healthy feeling, the sense that is pulled towards national and natural customs, they put the mind in its true place, and give it a way of actual life that is with a high hand and with great strength. This is also with the general things, the national, especially Jewish, things, the healthy national feeling, it impossible that it is conserved in a clean state unless by inclusion of the nation in its way of life, in the way of its Torah, and her commandments, and through the commandment to remember, the Shabbat, the Festivals and everything that goes with them, through the Jewish table, through the blessings, the Tefillot, through man's joining in Batei Knesset and Batei Midrash, through the whole order of Jewish life, only then a developing feeling of nationality, and of beauty, is impressed, only then develops in man the acknowledgement of Jewish history, that is made a living being that exists in a brave way, so that even death does not separate them. And the intellect, when it arises after that in all its power, finds itself already a proper place to stand, to purify its ideas, and to balance its national and universal feelings, with its wider knowledge. And with keeping his learning of Torah, he will recognize, understand, and will feel the true light until his soul will be in it, alive and well, and everything that creates doubt will not succeed and every language that will rise up to take him to court, will be found guilty. And about that it is written: "Trust in Hashem with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding". Know and recognize that the power of understanding, the design of the judging intellect, only now can go and host to know the truth, in particular the truth that concentrates on what was before and what will be in the future, because now he will have all the power to finish his design, healthy senses, perfected feelings, a subtle soul and a pure will. The whole, all of heart, all of life, needs to be aimed at identifying the things to be judged to the judging intellect, to identify the witnesses of the truth assist the seat of his judgement. Then will his understanding be a complete understanding, for the purpose that his eyes will see, his ears will hear, and his heart will understand, and it will be a return and a healing for him.
When, however, will that be? When they will use exactly the five lights into one torch: health in body and mind, complete power for integrity and human justice, religious feeling that is alive and awake and developed, national feeling that is strong and healthy, and more than all, development of the intellect together with the actual and theoretical connection with the Torah on its field, combined with knowledge of the world and of life, and all streams of inclination, and the sciences, as it is fitting to a understanding man (Maskil), who loves wisdom and knowledge. Only by the right combination, the harmony that comes forth from these, healthy and refreshing, that build the body and the soul together, they will raise up a generation filled with courage, that will live a full life, a life that is strongly brave in the glory of Hashen, the G-d of Israel. To those wishes together, it our duty to our best to strive to reach them, because only then will we feel that Hashem is with us, and that we strive to the credentials that from the beginning have been ready for us, pre-planned, from the days when our people started, from we left the land of Egypt. Therefore, brothers, come on, let us work together in the work of our people, let us all know that we need to add and not to subtract, to build and not to destroy, let everyone of us feel himself and all the family in general, what is the special value that we have above the rest of the people, so that we will influence with our abilities, on who have less experience than we have.
With that do also not forget the value of humbleness, to know what we miss so that we strive to become whole from the influence of other parts of the family. Not so long ago, we had a historical event of the dispute between Chassidim and Mitnagdim. The dispute cost us a lot, but when we look back on the matter that in truth, with all the minuses that do not have a single positive outcome, and we should be free from them, even more as we are in a situation of dispersion and shredding, but in any case we recognize that here were two inclinations that collided that needed to become a whole: the basic practical force in religion, and its scholarly extension towards all its many and immense branches, and the basic force of exaltation and its extensions. And in truth the two, as one, are good. But in one man the two forces cannot be whole in all their validity, and therefore also in one camp the cannot be whole together as we would want. Therefore, when some people feel the need to show the exaltation through lifting the value of Tefilla, outpouring of the soul, the poetic teachings that lead to rise up the heart, and to strengthen also the imagination of the good that the thing brings up in a crowd, a fear comes up that is also right and the need for protection is forced. In any case, from the collision of forces comes also, as an addition, a spiritual acquisition in the nation. This event in our history is important to us, to learn from it, what is the importance of the demand of Savlanut (patience/tolerance), for the sake of success of the nation in general.
(The Hebrew text is the first part of Chapter 26)
See, when a person is truly a free soul, he will judge honestly the value of Torah, and its stories, as they judge on the whole historical list, he will feel the true truth in his soul, and he will recognize that it is simply impossible to forge the history of a whole people, in general and in essence, in this open and emphasized fashion. The historical events are so precise, they are so directive and explicit, with names of people who were the bearers of history, their lives are clear, and we know the places where they lived, and there is a clarification of times, in terms of days, months, and years. And more than that, who will see the program of the nation, in its present status, and its deeds in the world, its hopes for the future, and its internal soul, its existence, its wishes, then, without any disguise he will discover the clear and obvious truth, that all words of our Torah are living and faithful words. Then he will feel in his soul how many thinking twists and utter stubbornness they must suffer, the heretics and the great fakers of the Jewish soul, who, after all this, have achieved absolutely nothing. In a normal state of affairs, it would be totally impossible for heresy to rise up in the light of the healthy and free research. But all that is only valid in the case of a healthy soul, where the national feeling lives, and makes its status being felt, and the national sense, but when everything is lacking then man becomes a strange being, there is no feeling and no natural bond, and therefore no healthy love and no natural feeling, and from all the tools only remains the sick and confused mind, challenging bad spirits, and crazy inclinations, and who will help us.
Think for yourself, on a different, personal and also fundamental basis - in ethics for instance, man goes according to his parents. That is also the case for strength of faith, and that is not so much distinct from the revelation and the historical clarification of our Torah. See, if the natural feeling to be related to his parents, which is naturally and healthily caused by the order in the family, is taken from a man, if he only relies on his mind that stands alone, will he be able to solve the problem of this feeling, in a way that satisfies the heart, and that continues all the good and ethical deeds, like in an orderly family, and the spiritual training of father to son, continues them, with them. Perhaps then there would be no question "whether he is his father's" or perhaps "he is picked up from the market," and similar things, that destroy peace and truth that are in a family that is good and dear, and also holy and distinguished for humans.
Surely, the healthy feeling, the sense that is pulled towards national and natural customs, they put the mind in its true place, and give it a way of actual life that is with a high hand and with great strength. This is also with the general things, the national, especially Jewish, things, the healthy national feeling, it impossible that it is conserved in a clean state unless by inclusion of the nation in its way of life, in the way of its Torah, and her commandments, and through the commandment to remember, the Shabbat, the Festivals and everything that goes with them, through the Jewish table, through the blessings, the Tefillot, through man's joining in Batei Knesset and Batei Midrash, through the whole order of Jewish life, only then a developing feeling of nationality, and of beauty, is impressed, only then develops in man the acknowledgement of Jewish history, that is made a living being that exists in a brave way, so that even death does not separate them. And the intellect, when it arises after that in all its power, finds itself already a proper place to stand, to purify its ideas, and to balance its national and universal feelings, with its wider knowledge. And with keeping his learning of Torah, he will recognize, understand, and will feel the true light until his soul will be in it, alive and well, and everything that creates doubt will not succeed and every language that will rise up to take him to court, will be found guilty. And about that it is written: "Trust in Hashem with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding". Know and recognize that the power of understanding, the design of the judging intellect, only now can go and host to know the truth, in particular the truth that concentrates on what was before and what will be in the future, because now he will have all the power to finish his design, healthy senses, perfected feelings, a subtle soul and a pure will. The whole, all of heart, all of life, needs to be aimed at identifying the things to be judged to the judging intellect, to identify the witnesses of the truth assist the seat of his judgement. Then will his understanding be a complete understanding, for the purpose that his eyes will see, his ears will hear, and his heart will understand, and it will be a return and a healing for him.
When, however, will that be? When they will use exactly the five lights into one torch: health in body and mind, complete power for integrity and human justice, religious feeling that is alive and awake and developed, national feeling that is strong and healthy, and more than all, development of the intellect together with the actual and theoretical connection with the Torah on its field, combined with knowledge of the world and of life, and all streams of inclination, and the sciences, as it is fitting to a understanding man (Maskil), who loves wisdom and knowledge. Only by the right combination, the harmony that comes forth from these, healthy and refreshing, that build the body and the soul together, they will raise up a generation filled with courage, that will live a full life, a life that is strongly brave in the glory of Hashen, the G-d of Israel. To those wishes together, it our duty to our best to strive to reach them, because only then will we feel that Hashem is with us, and that we strive to the credentials that from the beginning have been ready for us, pre-planned, from the days when our people started, from we left the land of Egypt. Therefore, brothers, come on, let us work together in the work of our people, let us all know that we need to add and not to subtract, to build and not to destroy, let everyone of us feel himself and all the family in general, what is the special value that we have above the rest of the people, so that we will influence with our abilities, on who have less experience than we have.
With that do also not forget the value of humbleness, to know what we miss so that we strive to become whole from the influence of other parts of the family. Not so long ago, we had a historical event of the dispute between Chassidim and Mitnagdim. The dispute cost us a lot, but when we look back on the matter that in truth, with all the minuses that do not have a single positive outcome, and we should be free from them, even more as we are in a situation of dispersion and shredding, but in any case we recognize that here were two inclinations that collided that needed to become a whole: the basic practical force in religion, and its scholarly extension towards all its many and immense branches, and the basic force of exaltation and its extensions. And in truth the two, as one, are good. But in one man the two forces cannot be whole in all their validity, and therefore also in one camp the cannot be whole together as we would want. Therefore, when some people feel the need to show the exaltation through lifting the value of Tefilla, outpouring of the soul, the poetic teachings that lead to rise up the heart, and to strengthen also the imagination of the good that the thing brings up in a crowd, a fear comes up that is also right and the need for protection is forced. In any case, from the collision of forces comes also, as an addition, a spiritual acquisition in the nation. This event in our history is important to us, to learn from it, what is the importance of the demand of Savlanut (patience/tolerance), for the sake of success of the nation in general.
(The Hebrew text is the first part of Chapter 26)