Friday, March 23, 2018

Rav Kook on Parashat Tzav: Guard Your Inner Flame!

A fire was always burning on the Temple altar:

“אֵשׁ תָּמִיד תּוּקַד עַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ - לֹא תִכְבֶּה.”
“There shall be a constant fire kept burning on the altar; it shall not be extinguished” (Lev. 6:6).

The fire on the Temple altar is a symbol, representing our inner drive for holiness and spirituality.

The kohanim were warned to make sure the altar fire was always burning. We also must guard and cultivate our inner flame:

“The divine thirst, raging and storming with its powerful flame in the heart, must not be extinguished.

A person who extinguishes a burning coal on the physical altar transgresses the prohibition of “There shall be a constant fire... it shall not be extinguished.” All the more so we must never extinguish a lofty spiritual coal on the spiritual altar of the heart, filled with holy life.”

(Orot HaKodesh vol. III, p. 210)

No comments: