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The most praiseworthy intention a person can have when serving God is to bring honor to His name. This is the sort of intention sought by the pious, a truly unique class of people. It is achieved after the heart becomes filled with love for God, when a person sincerely desires that God's honor be magnified, when a person is pained by any belittlement of God's honor.
One who reaches this level will also want other people to magnify God's honor. He will greatly desire that all other people magnify the honor of Heaven, and he will suffer when others diminish God's honor. He will be all the more pained when he himself diminishes the honor of heaven, intentionally or inadvertently, or because of a weakness of character which prevents him from eschewing all sin, as it is written (Ecclesiastes 7:20), "A man is not righteous in the land, who will do good and not sin."
Pathways in Personality Development (52)
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
38 - 38. Love and Devotion to God
39 - 39. For the Sake of God's Honor
40 - 40. The Lofty Service of the Pious
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It has thus been set forth in Tanna d'bei Eiliyahu (Chapter 4): "Every sage in Israel who possesses the words of Torah according to their true significance and grieves for the honor of the Holy One Blessed be He and for the honor of Israel all his days, and lusts and feels pain for the honor of Jerusalem and of the Temple and for the swift flowering of salvation and the ingathering of the exiles, attains to the infusion of the Divine spirit in his words... "
And so, such a pious person, in addition to performing God's commandments with the praiseworthy intention of honoring Him, is constantly anguished because of the Temple's ruined state and the exile of the Jewish people. He is tormented because these matters diminish God's honor, and he longs for the redemption of Israel because this will bring honor to God's blessed name.
A person should not say, "Who am I that I should pray for the ingathering of exiles and the restoration of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple? My prayer certainly is not capable of causing such an ingathering or prompting Israel's salvation." It is important to realize that such prayer itself brings pleasure to God; He is happy that His children make such requests.
The sages, in order to prevent people from saying such things, tell us that this is why God created all of humanity from an individual person - to teach us the value of every single individual, for each of us is capable of producing an entire world.
And when Israel does not awaken to pray for the redemption and for the magnification of God's honor, the prophet storms (Isaiah 59:16), "And he saw that there was no man and he was amazed that there was no contender" and (Ibid. 63:5), "And I looked and there was no helper, and I was amazed and there was no supporter" and (Jeremiah 30:17), "It is Zion; no one inquires after it."
And the sages say that from here we learn that one must inquire after Zion, for God's glory will not be magnified if Israel is not redeemed. These two matters are interdependent, as Tanna d'bei Eliyahu says, "And he grieves over the honor of the Holy One Blessed be He and over the honor of Israel." Regarding a person who performs commandments without such intention, the verse states (Isaaih 40:6), "All flesh is grass and all of his kindness is as the blossoming of the field" and the sages interpret this to mean that "all of their kindnesses are performed for their own sake, for their own good and pleasure."
In sum, perfect intention contains two ingredients: 1) a person must, while performing any religious act, have the intention to bring pleasure, and thus honor, to God. 2) a person must request that God's honor be wholly reestablished, and this is achieved when Israel attains honor and tranquility, for this brings pleasure to God and vests him with the most supreme honor.
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Some of the material in the above article was taken from Feldheim's translation of Mesillat Yesharim, "The Path of the Just."
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
