Rav Kook's Ein Ayah: Ready in All Ways to “Host” Hashem

(condensed from Ein Ayah, Shabbat 10:8)

Gemara: The Divine Presence (shechina) dwells only on someone who is bright, powerful, wealthy, and tall [like Moshe].

Ein Ayah: The dwelling of the shechina is a higher level than any display of intellectual sanctity. It is a divine revelation from the source of all life in the universe for the most ideal purpose that Hashem desired in the universe. The Divine Presence meets the light of a person’s soul, not at a point of the person’s individual being, but in an all-encompassing way that prepares a wonderful high level. In this way, Hashem prepares every element necessary to bring the divine goal to its highest level of preparation. Before having His shechina dwell on a person, Hashem prepares him with all the abilities and characteristics appropriate for this distinction. This includes practical skills and the ability to influence the public, so that the divine light he receives will be revealed to everyone and elevate them all through him.

The light of Hashem is greater than any wisdom and logic, but all the warehouses of wisdom serve that light. The images that wisdom creates are the basis for accepting the light. Therefore, in order to be one who receives the radiance of the shechina, that person must be bright. It is not enough to have the characteristic of understanding when one seeks to come in contact with Hashem, Who acts to make all of existence function.

Therefore, such a person needs to have power to act concretely as a condition to being able to connect to Hashem. It is necessary to remove all that holds back the great divine steps to fix and improve all of creation through strong actions. That is the reason that the host of the shechina must be powerful. Such a person must also not act for his own improvement alone or seclude himself among like-minded people. He must appear before society as a whole with the glory of the light he received from Hashem. Therefore, he should be a wealthy person. Every tool used for impact on others should be available to him in order to realize the desires of sanctity that churn in his divinely touched soul. That is why he needs to be rich. All of these ideal qualities, which strengthen the inner goal of a person’s spirituality, need to exist in the one who is chosen to host the shechina to not contradict the loftiness of his soul but rather help it and expand its boundaries. Therefore, his body must also expand in a manner that corresponds to his wonderful soul.

The lofty light should find expression in physical size, so that he is a tall person whose body mirrors his spiritual greatness. That way, the divine light exists and is revealed through the person’s unique personality in a manner that he can stand as a symbol and a source of life and inspiration for generations to come. In summary, the choice creation, who is fit to appear as a representative of the concept of the kingdom of sanctity in the world with all its glory, should be bright, powerful, wealthy, and tall.