Maintaining a Friendship of the Spirit – #266 – part I | Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit | Beit Midrash

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Igrot Hare’aya

קטגוריה משנית

Recipient : Rav Pinchas Hakohen Lintop, the rabbi of a Chassidic community in Lithuania. He had learned Kabbala with Rav Kook when Rav Kook was in Boisk. The two were very deep and like-minded thinkers. We have previously seen a letter between them (#184), written a year earlier.

Body : I received your dear letters with great love. Indeed much time has passed over me, during which the agitating hand of practical burden has banished me from our "Garden of Eden," from the orchard of thought and lively spiritual feeling, from the lofty light that shines on all who seek Hashem in a serious manner. Against my will, all of my speech and occupation has had to be on classical halachic matters and practical arrangements. It reached the point that I was unable to approach the root of my soul and deal with a quiet spirit with those living matters that are beloved to me, i.e., love of the lofty Hashem, which are the things we must deal with in our correspondence. That is why my response to you was delayed.
I saw in your letter to our joint friend, Mr. A.Z. Rabinowitz, that you had a thought that some sort of philosophical differences between us caused our reliable love for each other to wane, Heaven forbid. [When I saw this,] I said to myself that this is not the time to remain silent. Heaven forbid that I should leave my respected, close friend, about whom I am always interested, with such depressing thoughts on his mind. How many people are there with developed hearts, who can converse about the great matters (i.e., deep, kabbalistic ideas) with which we have dealt together from the time we got to know each other?! Although I am still incapable of going down into the deepest depths and up to the highest peaks on the paths we have traversed together on a regular basis, due to my myriad practical distractions, I will not delay anymore. We will see what my mind will raise and my pen will record during the short time I am able to divorce myself from the practical environment that surrounds me. This letter will end up being more of a reminder of our love and friendship than a philosophical study, although the latter is always the life of our spirit, to the extent that Hashem shares His secrets with those who fear Him.
Believe me, my beloved, concerning what you have hinted at in the last few letters, that something separates between us in the fundamentals of thought, I have not succeeded in understanding exactly what those points might be. I always see some distinctions between us regarding "the branches" (as opposed to the root), i.e., in the way we present things. However, since we have been exchanging letters, and since we spoke together about the thoughts of our spirits, I have been unable to find a basis for any fundamental point that separates us.

Igrot Hare’aya (164)

Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit

162 - Maintaining a Friendship of the Spirit – #266 – part I

163 - Maintaining a Friendship of the Spirit – #266 – part II

164 - Maintaining a Friendship of the Spirit – #266 – part III

I presume that each of us has a different observation point on the special portion of "the field that Hashem has blessed." The row of the "vineyard" that each of us is "cultivating" is unique, and perhaps each one is in a different situation than the other. Due to this, our respective spiritual motions receive a certain style that is different from the other. However, when we look into the matter well, we will find that we are working in one vineyard. How wonderful it would be if other "workers of the field" will come to our "flag"! They need not copy us, just take for themselves a special row in the midst of this desirable vineyard, whose wine makes Hashem and man happy. How happy we should be if the type of distinctions we have between us will be many, as they will produce a multitude of different colors – "like the appearance of the rainbow in the cloud on a rainy day, so is the appearance of the aura around the image of the honor of Hashem" (Yechezkel 1:28).

Igrot Hare’aya