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Translation: Letters of Rav Kook (Igrot haReiah), Vol. 2 Pg. 43
The idolatry practiced by primitive mankind had the total submission of its adherents. We see this clearly in the phenomenon of parents who suppressed their innate compassion and offered up their children as human sacrifices. [1] This phenomenon, although it was undeniably cruel and regarded with disgust by the Torah, [2] is but a profaned reflection of the realization, buried deep within man’s consciousness, that closeness to God is more important than anything in life. [3] Everything else of value, even one’s children, pales in comparison.
In this regard, paganism had a valid objection against the form of refined monotheism that Avraham sought to introduce to the world. How can an abstract notion of God possibly generate a comparable level of devotion and fiery passion? Granted, paganism enclothed its concept of the divine within ‘filthy garments,’ [4] but can a purified notion of Godliness truly compete with the raw vitality and boundless submission of paganism? Perhaps monotheism is theologically correct in eliminating the tangible reality of idols, but at the terrible cost of confining its adherents to a listless relationship with the Divine. [5]
The Akeidah was Avraham’s answer to this challenge. By passing the test of the Akeidah, Avraham showed the world that his purified conception of God did not lack the slightest in religious fervor and fiery devotion. [6] And in showing that a refined concept of God could indeed penetrate the very depths of one’s heart, without any need for the tangible forms of idolatry, Avraham created a paradigm for future generations and for his descendants. [7] Without the Akeidah, man would have had to choose between the polluted and wild emotionality of idolatry and its vigorous pursuit of godliness, and a lukewarm monotheism devoid of depth and life.
For this reason, the Akeidah is an extremely great and elevated episode [in its impact] for future generations, and is more than just a part of our tefilah or liturgy. [8] As the Torah itself says, “Because you have done this thing and not withheld your only son from Me, therefore I will bless you… and your descendants will inherit the gates of their enemies.” [9]
And how extraordinary is our prayer that G-d recall the merit of our first forefather’s battles against the barbaric delusions of idolatry. Paganism’s only feeble merit was its popular reach, the extent to which it suffused the hearts of the masses. Paganism claimed that culture could not exist without it, that a purified conception of G-d was too elevated and too pure to satisfy the people. Along came Avraham, the “father of a multitude of peoples” [10] and proved them wrong. [11]
[1] See Vayikra 20:2 regarding Molech (which most commentators understand as involving the death of the child) and Devarim 12:31.
[2] Devarim, ibid., refers to child sacrifice as a תועבה (lit. abomination).
[3] Contrast Rav Kook’s interpretation of the motivation behind paganism with:
a) the Rambam’s position (Hilchot Avoda Zara, Chapter 1) that paganism originated in theological confusion between the stature of G-d and angelic forces/other intermediaries; and
b) the notion that paganism is not about submission at all, but is rooted in primitive attempts to control natural forces believed to be controlled by pagan gods.
[4] The notion that sparks of holiness are concealed (or ‘enclothed,’ as Rav Kook puts it) even in the lowest and most corrupted forms of expression is one of the defining features of Rav Kook’s thought. He develops this theme at length in his writings on Christianity. For a similar, but less mystical expression of the same point, see Rambam at the end of Hilchot Melachim.
[5] Rav Hirsch writes about this problem in his Commentary on the Torah (Bereishit 8:21, s.v ויאמר ה׳ אל לבו) – “The danger of getting some corporeal conception of God is by far not so great as that of volatalising Him [i.e. distilling Him down] to a vague, obscure, metaphysical idea. It is much more important to be convinced of the personality of God, and of His intimate relations to every man on earth, than to speculate on the transcendental conceptions of infinity, incorporeality, etc. which have almost as little to do with the morality of our lives as algebraic ciphers.” See also Rav Aharon Lichtenstein’s criticism (Return and Renewal, pg. 73) of the “gut instinct… that crying [in prayer] is for the ignorant and the superstitious; but we are sophisticated and intellectual, and therefore decorous and restrained.”
[6] In passing, Rav Kook emphasizes that he does not mean to downplay the intrinsic superiority of monotheism, and that he is only addressing a discrete, potential shortcoming of monotheism as compared to paganism.
[7] Later in this letter, Rav Kook explains that the devotion demonstrated by Avraham at the Akeidah became part of the Jewish people’s ‘spiritual DNA.’ In this connection, note that during the Crusades, many parents in medieval Ashkenaz killed their children instead of surrendering them to forced conversion, and that much of the literature and liturgy surrounding this tragic phenomenon (including the Kinot of Tisha b’Av) deliberately invokes the imagery and memory of the Akeidah.
[8] I.e. on Rosh haShanah. Many also have a custom to recite the verses of the Akeidah as part of Shacharit.
[9] Bereishit 22:16-17.
[10] Bereishit 17:5.
[11] In the Shemonah Kevatzim (Vol. 2, pg. 340), Rav Kook cites a midrash (Bereishit Rabbah, Lech L’chah, Parsha 39) that Avraham was afraid of his sinful, idolatrous past. In response, Hashem told him “לך טל ילדותיך, To you is the dew of your youth (Tehillim 110:3). Just as dew is a sign of blessing to the world, so too the years that you served idols are a sign of blessing to the world.” Rav Kook explains that Hashem yearned for the days, as it were, when Avraham had been a passionate idolater. God told Avraham ‘I want you to serve Me by returning to your original excitement and self-sacrifice. I do not want you to become a believer whose faith leads to coldness and separation between man and God.’ (I have taken this explanation of the piece in Shemonah Kevatzim from Rav Moshe Weinberger’s Song of Teshuva, Vol. 2, pg. 248.)
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
What are some challenges that make it hard for us to tap into the passion and vibrancy embodied by Avraham at the Akeidah? Are those challenges related to living in twenty first century, or have we always had them?
Rav Moshe Weinberger notes (Song of Teshuva, Vol. 2, pg. 248-249) that many Jews who become ba’alei teshuva were previously sensitive people who enjoyed poetry, music and the arts, but those interests become ignored or even suppressed after they take on greater religious observance. Based on the passage above, what would Rav Kook would say about this phenomenon?
What could I do or take on in order to better embody (in an authentic way) the passionate approach to avodat Hashem that Rav Kook understands as epitomized by the Akeidah? Who is a role model I could look to in that regard?
Do some segments of Orthodoxy do a better job at encouraging the vibrant and passionate dedication that Rav Kook regards as an ideal? How so?
About this Piece
Igrot haReiah is a three-volume set of Rav Kook’s letters on a variety of topics in halacha, hashkafa and other areas of Torah, as well as communal and political matters. It has never been translated into English, although selected excerpts have been translated (see here and here, both unfortunately out of print). An excellent series of written shiurim on Igros haReiah is available from Yeshivat Har Etzion’s Virtual Beit Midrash, here.
