New Project Honors Fallen Soldier by Sharing Spiritual Teachings
The "Hit'orerut" organization has launched a new project to disseminate the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook's "Orot HaTeshuvah" (Lights of Repentance), inspired by the memory of Captain Daniel Maimon Tuaf, who fell in battle in Gaza. The project aims to make these spiritual concepts accessible to all of Israeli society.
During the complex fighting in the Gaza Strip, soldiers from the Shaked Battalion found time for spiritual connection, studying "Orot HaTeshuvah" between operational missions. Captain Daniel Maimon Tuaf, a deputy company commander in the battalion, was among those soldiers. He fell in battle in Gaza on August 20, 2024, along with three of his soldiers.
The shared study sessions on the battlefield formed the basis for this new initiative. The "Hit'orerut" organization is releasing three-minute videos that present a passage from the book with a simple explanation connected to daily life, making Rabbi Kook's philosophy accessible even to those unfamiliar with it.
The first video features Rabbi Eyal Vered, spiritual leader of the "Yachdav" community and a lecturer at the Meir Institute. He discusses a passage from the first chapter of "Orot HaTeshuvah," explaining that for Rabbi Kook, the opposite of repentance (teshuvah) is exile. Repentance, he elaborates, is about returning things to their proper place, while exile signifies being lost or misplaced. Rabbi Vered describes repentance as a natural process of returning oneself and one's thoughts to a secure state, aligning with one's unique soul.
Rabbi Vered outlines three levels of repentance: natural, faith-based, and intellectual, with the natural level being the first. He emphasizes that this natural repentance involves returning one's soul from negative influences to its true, original nature. He concludes by noting that during the month of Elul, the strong desire to return to one's true self signifies repentance, a process open to everyone, regardless of religious observance, as all are called to return from their 'exile'.
