Lights of Return: Rav Kook on Teshuvah

Day 1 - Foreword

It's that time once again.

The 3rd day of Elul (Tuesday night and Wednesday) is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohein Kook. How much we are missing him in our world today!I'll endeavor to share regularly from his masterpiece, Orot HaTeshuvah (Lights of Return) during this month of Elul, in which we are given the opportunity, even more than usually, to return to our highest selves and our ultimate Source.

Here's an quote from the foreword, to whet our appetites for the journey ahead:

"Teshuvah is a divine mitzvah (connection / commandment) that, on the one hand, is extremely easy, for even a thought of Teshuvah already constitutes Teshuvah [see Kiddushin 49b]. On the other hand, it is the most difficult of all, that which has never yet been fully realized in our world."

היא מצות ה' שהיא מצד אחד קלה שבקלות, שהרי הרהור תשובה הוא כבר תשובה, ומצד אחר הרי היא קשה שבקשות, שלא יצאה עדיין אל הפועל במילואה בעולם ובחיים 

Day 2 - Chapter 1

Rav Kook here introduces 3 categories of Teshuvah:

1. Physical - that which arises from our body's discomfort and impoverishment when our behavior is not aligned with our highest and truest self.

2. Spiritual - that which arises from the discomfort and distortion of our innermost self, our kishkes, our conscience, our soul, and

3. Faith-based - this follows the first two, and is based on the Torah and the Prophet's teachings about Teshuvah, how it erases the damage we have caused etc.

Finally, there is the Teshuvah of Consciousness which includes all of the above, builds upon the impression they make upon us, and reaches an even higher place.

This Teshuvah of Consciousness flows "from a wholesome view of life and the world".

"This Teshuvah, which encompasses the earlier forms of Teshuvah is already filled with Infinite Light.

It comes to transform all sins into merits.

From every mistake, this Teshuvah brings out elevated lessons and from every degradation, wondrous ascents.

This is the Teshuvah towards which everyone's eyes are lifted, which must come and which in the end will arrive."

תשובה זו, הכלולה מהקודמות, היא מלאה כבר אור אין קץ, היא באה להפך את החטאים כולם לזכיות, מכל השגיאות היא מוציאה למודים נשגבים, ומכל ההשפלות עליות נהדרות. זאת היא התשובה שעיני כל אליה נשואות. שהיא מוכרחת לבא ושסופה לבא

https://www.sefaria.org/Orot_HaTeshuvah.1?lang=bi

Day 3 - Chapter 2

Lights of Teshuvah, Chapter 2

Teshuvah might be a sudden flash, or it might be gradual, painstaking work over a long period.

The highest Teshuvah is bound up with the realization:

"Isn't everything truly good and integral?

And doesn't the goodness and integrity within us flow from our own being in harmony with the all?

And how is it possible to be torn from the all, an isolated crumb, separate, like a grain of dust that is considered as nothing?

And out of this realization, which is truly a divine awareness, comes teshuvah in the life of the individual and in the life of the collective."

והלא באמת הכל הוא טוב וישר כל כך, והיושר והטוב שבנו הלא הוא בא מהתאמתנו אל הכל, ואיך אפשר להיות קרוע מן הכל, פרור משונה, מופרד כאבק דק שכלא נחשב. ומתוך הכרה זו, שהיא הכרה אלהית באמת, באה תשובה בחיי הפרט ובחיי הכלל.

h/t Yaacov David Shulman for some of the above translation - do yourself a favor and purchase his amazing translation here:

https://www.amazon.com/Lights-Teshuvah-Avraham-Yitzchak-Kook/dp/B08F6X4L6S