Zombies And Ghosts - Reconnecting The Neshamah And The GufBased on Rav Kook's Ma'amarei HaReiyah, cheilek aleph, P176. These letters were written to Am Yisrael about thoughts and feelings he had at that time.
The two names of Shavuos Yom HaBikurim and Zman Matan Torateinu indicate Torah She'bichsav (written Torah), guf (body), available to the whold world, and Torah She'ba'al Peh (Oral Torah), neshamah (soul), private for Bnei Yisrael respectively. All of Torah exists, and is explained on four levels. Our ability to be strong and alive stems from the healthy combination of pshat (simple explanation), representing the body, and remez (hint), drush (deeper explanation), sod (secret), representing the soul. Learning the written Torah without the oral Torah has caused terrible destruction throughout the generations. Those who seek to snuff out the soul of Yisrael (e.g., Bible criticisim, which spread from Germany), will ultimately always try to murder Jewish bodies too. Conversely, modern kabbalists attempt to only study the deepest mysteries without grounding themselves in the pshat for Torah - what's the use of going to the mikvah if you don't wear a tallis kattan? We must give life to the pshat beyond building and cultivating the land by reconnecting the neshamah of the land with the guf of the land. |