Rav Kook on the Three Weeks
Rav Kook on the Three Weeks

 

 

The Three Weeks - the period between the fasts of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av - are a time of sadness for the Jewish people. These days recall the calamities that befell us during this time - exile from the land of Israel, destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. This period is also referred to as Bein Ha-Metzarim, a time when the Jewish people are 'Between the Straits.'

The Shulchan Aruch brings down a curious custom for the Three Weeks: teachers should not use corporal punishment against their students during this time. Not that teachers are encouraged to hit students during the rest of the year; but during the Three Weeks they should be especially careful when punishing students. This custom is apparently the source for Rav Kook's dictum for the month of Tammuz:

 

 

"The nation is redeemed from 'Between the Straits' [the Three Weeks] through teachers who are armed with spiritual might, who do not require a beating rod." 

 

Rav Kook took a curious custom and transformed it into something much greater - a motto for how to educate in a time of national rebirth. This generation cannot be subdued with rods, nor coerced with threats of punishment, in this world or the next. We can only reach them, Rav Kook taught, with love and 'spiritual might.' A generation in spiritual distress - 'between the straits' - must be inspired by teachers who are armed with broad spirits and lofty vision.

A Generation That Seeks High Ideals

Rav Kook thought deeply about the widespread rejection of religion and traditional Jewish culture in his day. Unlike the prevalent outlook, which attributed this phenomenon to weakness and materialism, Rav Kook viewed matters in a radically different way. He presented his understanding of the new generation in his article Ma'amar HaDor ('The Generation').

 

 

"Our generation is an amazing generation, full of wonder. It is difficult to find a similar instance in all of our history, a generation composed of contradictions, a mixture of light and darkness." 

 

 

 

"It is the current greatness of the masses that has brought about their [spiritual] decline. The generation finds that all it hears and sees from parents and teachers is beneath it. The [previous generation's] ethics fail to capture their hearts and quench their thirst. They also fail to instill fear and trepidation. For this generation has already risen beyond the stage when one runs away from fear, real or imagined, physical or spiritual." 

 

 

 

"Great troubles and upheavals have made them tough and intrepid. Fear and threats cannot shake them. They are prepared only to stand up and follow an elevated, enlightened path of life. Even if they wanted to, they could not be bowed and bent, saddled with burdens and yokes... They cannot be motivated to return out of fear. But they are very much capable of returning through love, a love bound to lofty awe.... A great-spirited generation seeks, and must seek, in every direction that it turns, great ideals." 

 

 

 

"This is not a generation of pettiness, but one of greatness and high ideals. The only way to reach such a generation is through spiritual greatness." 

 

The Path of Pleasantness

A careful analysis of the wording in Rav Kook's adage reveals an additional insight. His phrase "beating rod" does not appear in the legal code of the Shulchan Aruch. Rather this phrase comes from a Talmudic statement in Sanhedrin 24a. The rabbis contrasted the Torah scholars of the Land of Israel with those in Babylon. The Babylonian scholars were sharp and caustic in their legal debates. Their method of Torah study was like a 'beating rod' - painful and unpleasant.

The scholars of Eretz Yisrael, on the other hand, correct one another gently. Their gracious method of study is one of noam - pleasantness and mutual respect.

Thus a successful educational approach for this unique era of redemption must embrace two qualities:

 

  • It must contain a spiritual greatness that will appeal to an idealistic generation;
    • It must follow the pleasant path of the gentle scholars of Eretz Yisrael, who have no need for the harsh and strident methods of their colleagues in the exile.

      (Adapted from Mo'adei HaRe'iyah, p. 533)