Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook: Tanach & Lashon HaKodesh (Hebrew) Revitalized by Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider

okay we uh we are ready to go and uh wish everyone a good morning Boer to great to see everyone thank you for joining in our learning this morning as we continue our learning of of rof cook let me just uh begin with the sponsor for this year we have a uh a sponsor that's covering the Academic Year of 2024 nishas mam B shalom of benl okay we are ready to begin our learning and uh I'll begin with a an anecdote with a little story this is uh something that I just heard R herel shakar was here in Israel just a few weeks ago he was giving shiur over a number of weeks visiting different yot and he uh shared the following story about raken cook the first Chief Rabbi of Israel and the story that he's told that he told is a well-known story somebody approached rev cook and said to him that I find it uh I find it interesting that you're so committed or so passionate about um about Israel every everything is Israel everything is about the Holiness of Israel and making Al Aliah to Israel and God's presence in the land of Israel and it seems to be the only thing that you're talking about that's what this fellow said to to rev cook so ruk answered him by saying the following in a very uh sweet way he said well when I open the KES and I begin to read the story of the first Jew of AR ainu and I then turn page after page after page of The KES every single page is talking about the land of Israel every single page is talking about the Jewish people returning or coming to the land of Israel of God's presence in the land of Israel the Mitzvah to the land of Israel so all I'm doing is uh echoing the Torah all I'm doing is teaching what what God sees to be most important and that is the land of Israel the Holiness the gadus so with that story I think it's a an appropriate segue into uh the piece that we're about to see from of cook where he talks about Zionism and he talks about Zionism as relates to the Torah or tanak and we'll see those words in a moment now one of the things that he's going to address here is really one of the issues of his day and that is that there was a renewed interest in the study of Tanakh especially among the secular zionists those that were returning to the land of Israel in the late 1800s early 1900s that they were very interested and we can understand why in terms of the in terms of studying the tanak in terms of studying Torah Nim and Kim to study yesu andu and Os Andel and all these verses and all these passages that speak about the land of Israel so there was a great interest and a lot of excitement around that study but what happens when that study of Tanakh is something that's um that's being driven by being led by secular Jews so what does the religious community do when they're studying that that section of of Torah so it one of the reactions is to kind of step away from from that area of study if that's something that they're touting if that's something that they're investing their energies so maybe that's not really for us like let let's let's put our energies into other areas in terms of talmud in terms of mus so ruk is responding to that the study of tanak and the study of tanak amongst the zionists and that's what we're going to see right now so this is page one this is from eret it's uh just to identify the passage or where we are it's pericet we're in the ninth chapter and it's doid that's a doid at the top and uh this piece or this passage comes from as you see towards the bottom okay we now enter the words of ruk the uh the very essence so the root of Zionism Zionism the very root of Zionism even though again he's really referring to secular Zionism right Zionism that's being led by those that are not of the religious community but he says the M the essence of it is hakon it's actually rooted in that which is the most elevated of Holiness and what is that in other words the very the very core the very essence of this Zionist movement where do we find it what's the what's the source of it the source of it is tanak itself and it's what and it what gives the Zionist movement it's its depth its beauty its Heritage and therefore we should bring to this movement this this is an eternal movement meaning the movement to return to the land of Israel the Zionist movement we should return to it at we should bring life to it it's something that we should bring great respect to but also to bring our spirit that we should bring our energies to the Zionist movement and again in particular this idea of the study of Tanakh and he writes about the Zionist movement he low cold this is not just an echo it's not just a voice that we're hearing sort of in the wind we're not just talking about a people that is being chased that's looking for a mikl that's looking for a place of Refuge May from those that are that are uh the enemies that are seeking the destruction of the Jew that's not Zionism we should not think about Zionism in that limited way what is happening in the Zionist movement we have a holy nation suul which is the singular the prized nation of the nations of the of the world guruda this is the great Lion of of Judah it's being awakened now from its sleepa it's been a very long slumber a long sleep almost 2,000 years that we've been sleeping that we've been resting like the lion um but now it's coming back to life and here we have the Jewish people returning to theira returning to their their Heritage their possession elov shavah to the pride of Jacob which he loves forever so here we have a uh a very important position of Riv cook something that for for many of us who've been studying R cuk it's not a surprise to see this idea to see this path of R cook to see in the Zionist movement the Holiness the great potential and to see that at the mour at the very essence at the very at the very core of the movement is is Holiness and the tanak and the importance of studying Tanakh and here I just want to highlight a couple of ideas it's interesting even today in terms of Tanakh study so uh I'm sure many of us here grew up within a uh a day school movement and uh of studying of studying Torah from a young age through high school and in Yeshiva as well for those that were in Yeshiva or seminary and how much Shak study has there been I know in my upbringing there wasn't there wasn't a an emphasis on tanak it's studying it's hilab it's Kus it's mishna it's gamar but do I know yahu do I knowel do I know Amos I can barely like find them in that you know in the fat tanak right but how about knowing the verses and what they mean and the explanations just like we know the the well and we know the maim and the Torah but in terms of tanak as a whole I want to share with you the following just uh two or three sources just in terms of to recognize and to appreciate the special place of tanak and by the way one of the things that we're and I'll just highlight this before we look at this First Source one of the things that we're seeing in ER Israel today and especially in the religious Zionist movement is a return to Serious study of tanak I don't know if anybody here has attended every year they have a big gathering in the gush as part of the Herzog uh college and and gion where a thousand people or thousands of people come together for a few days and it's not Hal and it's not talmud it's not midash it's just tanak just to study tanak and to study tanak in a serious way and it's something that we haven't really seen in outside of the land of Israel that serious tasa study that's coming back to life and again this is what Ru cook is highlighting as well look at the following Source this is Source number three this a p that we just read a couple weeks ago in the Torah where it speaks about the giving of the Torah and it speaks about the giving of the lot of giving the Ten Commandments or the tablets to uh to mosenu it says when God commen speaking to Moshe he gave him the uh the Ten Commandments the the tablets this word Rashi is somewhat startled by that word or try to figure out exactly what that word is about what does that meano what's interesting is that Rashi is going to bring a med that it refers to the word Kal what is the word Kal mean a bride a bride look what Rashi says what's he points out that the word actually is not written with a V the full the full form of it was given to MOS as like a that's what it means there was something very beautiful again one could analyze as midash this part of mid I'm not really highlighting or focusing on it's the second part but we have this idea that in the giving of the of theer BR and it was like like it was a gift like a Kal and a that come together rash says it was impossible for moshu to to learn it all in such a a short time span and it was is a gift okay that is that's comment number one Rashi says a second explanation what does it mean just as a bride is adorned with 24 pieces of jewelry now what does that mean where does does a Kala wear 24 pieces of jewelry well it does say that it's based on a in and Isaiah that she's adorned with 24 beautiful pieces of jewelry if you want to be aim interesting in other words here we have the giving of the Ten Commandments we have the giving of the Torah but Rashi points out if you want to know the Torah what what is Torah Torah somehow is not limited just to to the five books of Moses that it's that there are 24 and if we want to be learned and this is for all of us says Rashi if we want to be we want to be wise in our Torah to know our Torah it means all 24 this just reminds me of a uh of a story a sad story a unfortunate story rebbit and raban KH henin um who is the the founder the head of uh of nishmat here in y has anybody study there or taking classes in ismat a very fine institution and uh married to uh Reb Yehuda henin zal who is a grandson of of one of the GD Tor of America rhenen so um in a terrorist attack her son and daughter-in-law were killed as uh as they were driving on the road I believe in the uh in the shamron area actually their children were in the back seat they were both they were both shot and uh she was sitting shiva and this is a story that's told by RAB mosha taragan who's A rad at the gush and I think he actually had this in t her tidbits not that long ago so there were a group of people were coming in and students and there were a group of uh from one of the high schools a group of women 20 30 women that came young wom that sat down with her and she turned to the women and said how many books are there in tanak and they answered that there are 24 books in tanak and she said no that's not accurate there are 24 books but there's a 25th book that we're writing right now there we're in the process right now of the Gula of this Redemption that we're writing a 25th book so we should think about 25 books of Tanakh and she said that again within the setting of of her children being m nees for uh for am Israel so that is uh that's one important Mak important Source in terms of tanak and I want to share with you one other that's more of a I guess what we would call more of an AIC or midic uh appreciation for tanak now I want to turn to AIC source and this is found in h Tor this is the rambam and the rambam says the following the rambam writes how should we in terms of our lifetime dedication to Torah how do we go about doing that look at yud Al this this is per Al I know it's very small you put on our put on our glasses Al we're just going to read one line says the r a person throughout their life should organize their learning in three different parts I'm sorry a third in t which means that's t the written Torah that's a reference of the Mish which is essentially gar which is T which is analysis so we see that the ramb when he speaks about how we study Torah and how we acquire how we Master Torah there are three different parts of Torah there is gamar there's mishna but just as important is T is all of tan so that's the r raam's position again a a position so again we can ask a question why is it that we we generally don't put the emphasis and we don't have the Mastery of Tanakh in the way that we do in other areas but this is something that we see is uh is quite important and one other source related to this and this we come back to rev cook to the writings of rev cook so rev cook writes a uh he writes a lot he writes a safer called mishpat Coen which is his chos which is the Sho to Chua questions that he receives and and answers was called response to literature and in the introduction he quotes the following PK and this is the PK that we have this is the bottom of page one the bottom of page one and this is the gamar asks where is the source in our in tanak for the idea of zash in other words that we are to do certain things when the BET mdash has been destroyed that there are things that we need to doik like what we did this past shabas so that was like aik we announced the the gift of the half even though we don't have an obligation half relates to the Mish to the mdash but we did it where do we have this idea is there a source for that so it quotes the following the gamar quotes the following is ay and it says the following all from the beginning of the where do we have this idea that we observe the concept of the says the following I'll Translate I I will restore Health to you and I will heal your wounds your says God because they called you an outcast is to be called upon however there are though there there is not the proper response or the proper call for Zion okay what does that mean exactly the PK is referring to the idea that when we're outside the land of Israel as we're suffering outside the land of Israel that there's a need for a call for a desire for for return to the land of Israel but Rook highlights these two ideas one is that we have a Maka outside the land of Israel that we have that we have certain wounds and we also have this first statement I will restore Health to you so cook says the following there are two things that happen in the galut one is the makot that we receive literally that we there's a harshness of of uh of our enemies the way that we uh that we've experienced a lot of hardship and suffering because of enemies because of anti-Semitism because of pams because of Holocaust but there's another kind of healing that needs to be done as well and that's an inner healing that he says that's the first part of the I will restore Health to you which which means there are certain things and I and I mentioned this the other week there are certain things that we have lost as a people in this long galut and one of them R cook speaks about is this appreciation for Tanakh that we kind of moved away and maybe we moved away from it because it was really so much of it is talking about the land of Israel returning to the land of Israel and it didn't speak to us as much as other areas we had to kind of hunker down and we had to learn the Al and gar and mishna know and to know what we need to do and to know the uh to know the and tanak we kind of like we allow that to kind of you know be moved to the side of it but it's time as we're returning and this he says is hinted to in this pahu that a healing is going to happen again there's the Maka from the outside but the healing in terms of some of the things in our inner World in terms of our own Community our Jewish community that we've allowed to uh to fall to the Wayside and part of that is tanak so that is um that's teaching number one one idea in terms of T yes please say one more time how does that relate to oh how does it relate it relates to Zar mikdash because the last part of the p is that we're outside the land of Israel and there isn't D there aren't those that are that are yearning for it meaning we have an obligation to do that other words the PK highlights YY is giving a prophecy that outside the land of Israel that they makot that there's going to be things that we uh that we're going to struggle with and there isn't a calling for Zion and the gamarra understands based on that PUK that there's a lack of a calling for Zion that means that there must be that we need to do things in which we are uh which we are calling out and yearning for the return to a Israel but Rook highlights that's he's highlight highlighted the first part of the PK which makes a distinction between two kinds of uh healing a healing from makod from the outside but then there's a heal that also needs to be done from the inside the things that we've been negligent in terms of our own Judaism and our Jewish life and one of them is tanak and as I said earlier it's one of the beautiful things that we're seeing being revitalized in our learning in Isel today if we turn out to page two so that is uh that is the first piece from Rook we're now going to look at a second piece from R cook which is the following which is the following piece piece which is found in this and it really Contin used the same theme and that's why I brought them together where he talks about Zionism and one of the uh one of the interesting things about the Zionist movement and again this became a controversy and a question how to respond to it was the uh revitalization Reviving of the Hebrew language of the spoken Hebrew language and we know that elzar bin Yehuda is the uh is the prime figure in terms of terms of bringing back the Hebrew language stories about his own home that he's speaking to his wife for the very first time that that in a f in a in a family in a home that they're just speaking Hebrew his own child they don't allow him to play with any friends to go to school and they just want him in the home and they want him only to hear Hebrew and to be the first family to be the first child growing up in the land of Israel speaking Hebrew and somehow and we all know that this is one of the great it's it's considered to be a remarkable achievement for a an ancient language to come back to life right we know how difficult it is to come to a country I know how difficult it is right to learn Hebrew to be fluent in Hebrew and how do you do that with a mass population everybody that's coming 1800s and 1900s they're not nobody's speaking Hebrew that's not anyone's just like us that's not their mother tongue right they're coming with Yiddish they're coming with other languages they're not speaking Hebrew how do you make that how do you make that transition how do you make that transformation it's actually it's it's almost miraculous and how difficult it for all of us again I mentioned day school day school education so they're they've tried and they keep trying and they can't figure out how to do it and parents are spending $30,000 a year on children I they do 12 years and they cannot speak a word of Hebrew at the end of 12 Years of hearing Hebrew every single day and all subjects being taught in Hebrew it's not an easy thing and how did it happen so it's quite quite amazing that it did happen and we have a country country that's that's speaking Hebrew 7 million people more than that 7 million Jews 10 million people that are that are speaking Hebrew so this is something that Riv cook addresses as well not everyone was that excited about the idea that Hebrew was being spoken again many in the in the traditional Camp felt that first of all it was being rejuvenated that was coming back to life from secular Jews and it's if it's being led by a secular community and Eleazar Ben Yehuda that's already problematic that's not that's not something that we can get on board with and even speaking Hebrew and using Hebrew words in a in a modern way that was also in the traditional camp that was also seen to be somewhat of an issue they had to they had to uh that they had to come up with new words words that that that but we don't find those words in the Torah and in traditional sources where they had to bring certain new words and many new words to the Hebrew language and they found that to be problematic in terms of so there was that position there were those that were not happy about that R cook saw the Revival of the Hebrew language as something that was uh part of this process and part of a a great celebration of what it means for the Jewish people to return not only to a land but return to a language as well I remember when I was a rabbi in Mount Kisco we had an Israeli guy in the sh he was it was a Sho of mostly balich Chua people that didn't really have a strong background and I would give classes you know shabas morning before daving and Kish and and trying to read a ramban and here this Israeli guy without any you know without any background he came from a secular World he's reading a ramban better than than the rabbi better than I'm reading the ramban right so you're opening up the idea of also knowing Hebrew to be fluent in Hebrew means you're fluent Ines and tanak and ramban and all the commentaries and every great safer that's been written that's written in Hebrew we've been writing in Hebrew so a secular Jew that knows Hebrew the whole world of Jewish learning is now open open to that person in a way that somebody who's religious that doesn't have Hebrew at their fingertips may be struggling so that's also an interesting dimension in terms of of opening up Hebrew or the um the fact that Hebrew is being spoken by by a typical Jew in Israel that gives him access to uh to Jewish learning but we'll see in a moment in terms of what's uh what he saw what Ru cook saw is so significant and so special about the Revival of the Hebrew language again it's coming but where did it come from right it doesn't come from Mayar it doesn't come from from from a religious you know religious group it's coming out of these early zionists the khim are bringing back the Hebrew language that elzar Ben Yehuda is bringing back the Hebrew language elzar bhuda writes an article in that article and it was uh an article that was became very very well known in one of the newspaper you know uh Israeli newspapers in the early years again before Israel he passed away I think it was 1922 in the 20s so he overlapped he was R cook passed away in 1935 so they're contemporaries in Israel together and he writes in one of those articles that we no longer need any of the this is El elzar Ben Yehuda it's time to put all of the traditions of Judaism you know to put them aside it's part of some ancient tradition we no longer need that we're we're a new Jew living in the land of Israel today and Ru cook was not you know was not happy was not happy about that and uh he wrote an article responding to that but they actually had and we I'll mention in a moment they actually had a very warm relationship with one another it shows you a lot about ruk and maybe Alazar B Yuda as well in terms of even though deep disagreement in terms of their philosophy but in terms of the way that they interacted with one another but let's look at this let's take a moment to see the words of Riv cook and um and again about the Zionist movement and what they're bringing to the table so so the the Zionism that we have today so means the active Zionism actually what is what's unfolding in terms of what the zionists are bringing to Israel again these these secular zionists is the philosophical side of Zionism the political side Di and the Diplomatic side of Zionism all of the different branches of Zionism what Zionism is bringing to uh to Palestine and to the Jewish people the way that it's been actualized or materialized up till this moment this day again talking in the he's talking about the early 1900s here Rook says what they are doing these are exalted these are elevated um programs and initiatives we should see this as something positive not only positive again look at the words that he used ncav right these are exalted elevated ideas and we are being called from our from uh from the depths of our of our Jewish of our of our connection to Israel and to from our Jewish Essence to support them with all of our strength we should be supporting them physically material ways in a spiritual way again this is not everyone was on board with this uh with this idea with this path with this sheet of Rook but he belied that there's great potential there although again it's not religious at this moment and they're not coming from a religious place but there is there's a spark of uh and maybe even more than a spark of goodness and Holiness within it that we need to support and here we're going to see the line r adds this is always very important but we should see this only as a as the body or as external of of what it really means to uh when we talk about Zionism right they're they're they're presenting a Zionism it's a Zionism that we need to support but again that's like an external an external body of of what it is we need and that's our job right as religious Jews as religious communities say R cook we need to place or literally to throw to place to throw to send the the soul right the spirituality the spirit the ru into this external into this body that it should be that it should should have that uh it should be worthy of that name the name Zionism so here rev cook again rev cook is pointing out that yes on one level to some degree Zionism doesn't have that religious component but at the core it does have that component and all the branches of Zionism everything that they're all the initiatives and one of the major initiatives of Zionism he doesn't mention this here but one of the major initiatives is the Hebrew language the spoken Hebrew language so I want to just point out two or three sources in terms of the um the the importance of that of speaking Hebrew is that we could asked the question is that a Mitzvah is that something that we should be you know that we should be pursuing in the same way that we pursue other mitzvot as well so two sources that I want to share with you or three sources look at the dalid it's Source number four doid so the rambam has a push on a mishna it's a mishna that's found in per and it says you may be familiar with that one of the beautiful Mish in P it says we should be very very careful with all mitzvot because you don't really know which Mitzvah is the most important Mitzvah right you think about certain Mitzvah is more important other Mitzvah is less important but the mission says no matter what Mitzvah it is take it very seriously so the rambam has a parish on this mishna and the rambam writes the following what are the cot what would you consider to be mitv says one that's where the ramb writes in his p what maybe to or maybe even I was thinking maybe as well right we don't always take that as seriously right how we treat the that might be a Mitzvah kala and the other example that that he gives he says the other Mitzvah that we consider to be a Mitzvah that we really should not is learning KES is learning Hebrew to be able to speak Hebrew to be able to read Hebrew KES nice so that is the rambam interesting source that he that he considers that or categorizes learning Hebrew the spoken language language of Hebrew as a mitzva actually yes please H that's true yes yes yeah yeah absolutely absolutely absolutely right that's exactly what the Miss says you don't know thear you don't know thear so as difficult as it is to learn Hebrew to go toan the rambam says you don't know the great scar you should know you're GNA get great Inaba all those hours that you sat in Ulan and that we're breaking our teeth in Hebrew that is considered to be a great Mitzvah that's what that's what the ram says that's the example of all the Mitzvah that he would give I mean all the examples that he would give for a Mitzvah kala he gives that example of learning Hebrew the ran says the following look at that what's so special about Hebrew by the way says ramban you know why what's so special because God speaks Hebrew that's the language that he speaks if God speaks Hebrew if that's the language that he loves well we want to we want to emulate Hashem we also want to do that the way that that he spoke to His prophets and to his and to the community of Israel right at Hari what Lang was that engl what language was that when God spoke at Mount Si that's correct Kesh and therefore that one of the things that we are to do as men is if God speaks Hebrew we want to speak Hebrew it's the language of the it's the way the prophet heard God speak it's the language of what is that it's the language of the it's the language of it's the way that God spoke to the Jewish peoples the way that we hear that we hear God that we understand God one other source in terms of Hebrew the importance of Hebrew and this is something that we say every single day and I always find it you know surprising for myself just a simple Rashi on something that we say all the time this is this is the paragraph of the second paragraph of them and it says so what does it mean you are to teach your children bum to to speak in them well what's bum what's them what do you say so Rashi says the following as soon as a child can begin to learn you are to teach you should begin with a okayo that should be the way that a language a Jewish child learns language with a PK from the Torah that should be the way you should teach a child to begin to speak that's what Rashi says she Li as the child is learning to speak that should be the first the first language that they hear this is Rashi this is just aash and therefore when a child a baby begins to speak the language that a father and a father or mother should speak to a child is in Hebrew and that's what it means in the p what does it mean we say this every single day we say this every day what does rash say to learn in Hebrew to learn a in Hebrew to learn to speak Hebrew very harsh statement and a difficult statement that's made but if and if you don't do that so it's not a not a good thing for the child so we see something interesting here in terms of L Kesh the rambam the ramban Rashi all the great rishonim they're interpreting the importance and they're highlighting the importance of Hebrew interesting again we I don't know we didn't we didn't necessarily grow up that way in terms of uh in terms of speaking Hebrew and the emphasis on Hebrew but here we could see why Ru cook would be so excited about the fact that here we are returning to the land of Israel not only to a land of Israel but we are returning to this great tradition of speaking Hebrew of a Mitzvah to speak Hebrew of the Fulfillment of of this great obligation of Hebrew I want to share with you three more sources this is on page three and what is so special about the language of Hebrew we saw the rambam here's another rambam but the maral is going to add to it and then we'll see Ruff cook and then we'll see a student of Ruff cook in terms of the Hebrew language the rambam makes an interesting point by the way we know the rambam is more of a rationalist he's not a uh he's not a my and the argument that he's going to make for Hebrew is actually more of a rational argument what's special about Hebrew look at what the rambam writes this is actually brought this is brought in the nios which is the writings of the marala Prague this is Page Three Source number one at the very top he first quotes the rambam but he's not satisfied with the rambam's explanation R we know he writes which is the philosophical theological ideas behind MIT shes he explains why is it called lashes it's a very beautiful termes not just Hebrew even that termes is a language of K he says because you don't find anything in the Hebrew language that relates to a direct word that speaks of AA how do you translate AA something elicit sex immorality sexuality in that area in other words it's a it's a clean language we don't have words in the Hebrew language for for that okay so he writes that's the argument actually that he presents in theim that the language itself doesn't have doesn't have curse words right it doesn't have words that are by the way that's true even modern the modern Hebrew any of sort of like the inappropriate words are not from our tradition we've taken we've taken from other Traditions uh other languages but you don't find it there so the rambam that's a very rational or more logical explanation fora KES it's Kesh in the sense that it doesn't have words that you know that uh that speak directly to things that are inappropriate but the moral again is not uh not satisfied with that so the r um yes four lines down now the responds I'm not satisfied with that explanation that it's called KES because you don't find anything that's aai inappropriate then that would mean that the intrinsically it doesn't have Holiness in other words you're just saying that it happens not to have any you know inappropriate words but that doesn't really say anything about the you know the ACT ual language why is it because it's actually what is language L language he says emanates from a person it's actually a part of a person or emanates from the very core or Essence of a person every nation has their own language and it reflects something about the the character or the N the nature of that people in a mystical in a spiritual way just as trees have particular fruit so the language the lon of a Nation represents something about the very core of the uh of of the nation itself and what does that mean that the L KES is connected to the N of a Jew that it emanates that it's connected to right that it's part of the the Holiness of a Jew and of the Jew and of the Jewish people and just going to the last three lines just as God created the world with the language of Hebrew it's the language of the Angels again a mystical there's a spiritual idea that there's a connection between the Hebrew language and the very essence of a Jew and of the Jewish people and that is the Hol and the two are the two are interlocked with one another KES it's holy because it's actually part of something that's holy it emanates from that which is holy from the Nish from the soul of a Jew okay so that is when we think about l KES in that sense and it's not just any language like let me learn one more language no it's actually the the very when we're speaking Hebrew and again maybe I need to do more of it when we're speaking Hebrew it's our Nish we're connecting with our soul right the soul wants to speak Hebrew right this kadua within us is is has a desire for for this holy language and emanates from uh the very core of a Jew let's go now to rev cook so rev cook this is a letter that he wrote in yafo this is the early years before he moves toim he first comes to yafo he becomes the chief Rabbi in yafo and he writes the following in terms of the importance of Hebrew and here I just want to see the language of rook and uh his position on Hebrew H we see the following shut oh sorry so this is Source number two we're just skipping to the middle paragraph where it begins with the word Hino and here you have on the right side a nice little picture picture of of r one of the classic pictures of r here he says something in general and he says that we should always look for the best right we should always find that which is good in every in every corner in every movement right there's good right there's we should look for for the light we should look for the goodness that's found in everything the and how much more so in this movement this national movement in other words the Zionist movement that's coming back to the land of Israel the very basis of this movement the foundation of this movement is a holy one it's Essence is the life of a holy nation in other words he believes again as as a great spiritual and Mystic that they're coming back to Hebrew that's not just you know that's not just by chance or that they kind of you know this tradition of of Hebrew that there's something within the soul of a Jew that knows that this is their language right that knows that this is something holy even if they're not expressing it that way even if they don't see it that way but they're connecting to something that is Holy and therefore therefore we should be uh we should be celebrating Hebrew and he writes the following and this revival of the language of the Hebrew language just like this revival of the land itself of the Jew returning to the land it's not going to lessen it's not going to literally go down in its from its from its uh from its honor even though that manyu unfortunately even though at this point again they're coming back to the land of Israel not in a religious sense and they're coming back to the Hebrew language again not from a spiritual point of view but the fact that they're doing this this is something that's going to only move in a good direction a positive direction which again I think Riv cook here he has uh he has made the right call right a 100 years later he wrote this almost 100 years ago that we see that the Hebrew language land of Israel the strength that this has brought to Jewish people therefore we should take right the good part the positivity of these movements and we should uh we should support them they continue to uh to open up and to uh what's the word to develop thank you and to develop and we know with absolute certainty that has chosen in other words a God that that there's a chosenness in this and chosen the Jewish people that we're going to see a flourishing of the the glory of Salvation kimim and that we saw that's based on the the famous uh gari little by little little by little that the that the Gula is going to unfold so ruk here says you see black on white in terms of what he sees the returns to the Hebrew language return to the land of Israel is it perfect at this point it's not perfect it's far from being perfect but it's something that we need to support and something that that says R cook I believe that this is this is it's going to develop we're on the right path here and something great is going to come from it one other source that I want to share with you oh actually before we leave this so uh I mentioned earlier elzar Ben Yuda so elzar B Yuda lived inim and often he would come to the home of ruk so the home of R cook we can you can still see it today you can walk in and uh see where he lived it's a on Rook street right off of uh yafo and Ben Yehuda and you could still see the office where he where Ru cook would write he had a big standard not that different that he would write standing and he also had a desk farmer there his glasses are there his pen is there you can still see it and very often stories are told of of elzar Ben Yehuda that he would come to visit ruk and he would ask him about Hebrew words and the definition of words and and uh and Ru cook was a was an expert you know he was a genius and expert in Hebrews so they would they would often that they would uh they would speak about Hebrew and again as I said before in terms of their relationship even though they did not see eye to eye so there was one afternoon that elzar Ben Yuda came to ruk they had discussion talking about again certain Hebrew words and the meaning significance of those words he was preparing a dictionary elzar Ben Yuda the first Hebrew dictionary and as elzar Ben Yehuda was leaving the room so R cook said to him would you possibly consider coming back you know coming a little bit closer to to Judaism and to to religious life and elzar B Yuda said he said maybe and and and he left the room that night elazar Ben Yuda passed away he died and ruk said that thatai the gamar says here H Chu somebody just thinks of the possibility of doing chuva that that's full chuva he said I believe that elzar Ben Yuda did chuva on his last day of his life so again R cook seeing the best uh seeing the best in others interesting story um one last source that I want to share with you and this is a uh a student of rook and this is rakap in a work known as the m and um his illustrious grandson was the dean of of Reit just passed away a couple of months ago zul and um this is his grandfather who lived here in Yim also he was the RV of shed and today you can go also and see the Bas medish it's still there his chair is there it's still in place a little Base medish called bvu right across the street from the wolf's in Towers if if you begin car emit is that Karen K that street yeah right across so it's one of the first buildings you go up the stairs and the base medish is still there his his chair is still there that's RAB yakob mosab so he writes the uh he writes about the Hebrew language in the following way in a very very beautiful and look just to appreciate appreciating this uh this paragraph and here he's writing later in other words R cook passes away in 1935 and and um RAB yakob map he lives I believe until the the 60s or 70s and he became the Russa of merar and again he was the rav of shared so he see he sees the state of Israel and the the building of the state of Israel he sees with his own eyes a a country that's speaking that's speaking Hebrew R cook didn't see that yet that was just that was just a uh a dream just a possibility at that point so writes uh RAB this is the second paragraph when we reach the great pride as we are filled with pride and a great pride as we are returning to the land of Israel a great pride and I and we're feeling that today again with all the challenges we maybe we're feeling even a greater pride in who we are we're going to feel at some point how great we are and even how great we are or greater than uh than all the nations of the world EF sh we're going to feel at that moment the Jewish people that there's no other place for the Jewish people than the land of Israel in other words not just an issue of of a of a of a safe haven or running somewhere to Israel but we're going to feel the great pride living in Israel we're going to recognize that the land of Israel is the greatest Heights the greatest place to live in the world here's the line and we're going to recognize at that moment that we can't do anything less than than than achieve this great M this level we will not want to use any other language we're going to recognize that that's there's nothing better there's nothing more beautiful and nothing more appropriate than to speak Hebrew so he talks about the Hebrew language again not just as a struggle and not just as a as an obligation so to speak like the like the rambam writes but we feel such great pride in being in the land of Israel such great pride in the nation of Israel returning to its land and returning to the language we're not going to want to speak anything else right we all F feel that here right we don't want to speak anything other than other than Hebrew right there's nothing nothing greater than that and that's what rabab speaks about not an obligation right not that it's a to do it but it's something that we're once we feel the greatness and we are feeling that Gava we should feel a great pride in being here in the land of Israel that um that that we should uh that we should not want anything less than uh than the Hebrew language I'll just end I was uh the other week in my home my daughter who's 10 years old she invited over a friend from her class to play it's one of the I'm sure many of you many of you experien this as well it's really one of the great feelings of seeing the little children and our own children and grandchildren speaking Hebrew but I just took note of my daughter Sarah 10 years old that she had a friend over and the friend was um from Paris from France she's a friend of hers in class and invited her over and here they are you know playing together in the house and they're speaking Hebrew to one another right this little girl that grew up in Paris this little girl even though she kind of grew up in Yim but like a little of America and their worlds they don't have very much in common with one another and the one commonality is is that they communicate with one another in Hebrew and to see that today to see the Next Generation and for all of us sometimes I'll just sit on a on a park bench and just listen to the children the little children speaking Hebrew to one another speaking lak Kesh and to see the great miracle that ruk says is a great miracle of returning to the land of Israel Amel back in arel but also back in a land speaking l hodesh and to appreciate that and to see um to see the great wonder and to see the great braa with the return of uh ofes uh we should all be I wish everyone a yeah I wish everyone AES big beautiful to be able to to learn ones it should be a month of there should beim there should be light and there should be uh Salvation for all of us