“Do not take revenge nor bear a grudge against the children of your people” (Lev. 19:18)
From his very first Shabbat in Jaffa, renowned writer and Nobel laureate Shmuel Yosef Agnon felt himself drawn to the esteemed rabbi of Jaffa, Rav Kook.
Many years later, Agnon recounted several stories about Rav Kook in his collection of essays, “Between Me and Myself” (1976). Among these stories is the following incident, which illustrates the rabbi’s exceptional qualities of selflessness and magnanimity.
'Those Who Are Insulted but Do Not Insult'
It’s a common phenomenon in human nature that we like those who like us, while hating those who hate us. If someone wrongs us, we do not forgive. And if we have the opportunity, we will ruin his life.
There are some who don’t even like their friends and will belittle them. And there are some who ingratiate themselves with their enemies. These are common traits, apparent in the way most people relate to friends and foes.
I have had the privilege of knowing saintly individuals, but they are few. They do not hate their adversaries, and they remain silent in the face of their attacks. Even if they have the opportunity to thwart these attacks - for their own benefit - they leave them alone and do not obstruct the assault.
One such remarkable individual was our revered teacher and master, the gaon Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook, may his memory be for a blessing. His adversaries caused him many terrible afflictions. Commensurate with his saintliness, those adversaries who hated him without reason grew in number.
Despite this, he accepted these sufferings with love. In fact, he would rejoice over every insult that came his way. Our Sages taught about such individuals:
“Those who are insulted but do not insult, who hear themselves reviled but do not respond, who act with love and rejoice in suffering - about them verse says, ‘May those who love [God] be like the rising of the sun in its strength’ (Judges 5:31)” (Shabbat 88b).
The Jerusalem Printer
I will relate one incident out of a thousand that I know about our great master.
It once happened that Rabbi Zusha Brandwine, owner of a printing press in Jerusalem, was away from his press for several days. When he returned, he found a stack of notices that had been printed on his machines. He examined one and saw that it was replete with curses and insults directed at the holy servant of God, our master Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.
Horrified, he cried out in anger, “Who committed this despicable act? Who printed such slanderous notices? Quickly, remove all of the copies and destroy them. Every last letter!”
The head typesetter approached him. “Rabbi Zusha, don’t be angry. Your friend came here and gave us this notice to print. He paid in full on condition that we print it today. We shook hands on the deal, agreeing to print it today, so we cannot backtrack on our word. We will not go back on our promise.”
Deeply pained, Reb Zusha stood up, not knowing what to do. The client was a childhood friend. And the printers were business partners, sharing in profits as well as losses. Yet our master Rav Kook was the person he respected most in the entire world. And now his own printing press was publishing such slanderous notices!
Thinking the matter over, he decided to seek Rav Kook’s counsel. He went to the rabbi and recounted the entire incident.
“Your printing press is not the only one in Jerusalem,” Rav Kook responded. “If you destroy the slanderous notices, their authors will find another press to print them. Then you will incur a financial loss, and the materials will be printed anyway. Return to your shop and deliver the defamatory notes to their author. He will do what he believes is right, may the merciful God forgive him.”
Can there be found such a person, bearing God’s spirit, who sees his enemies embittering his life, yet chooses to sit still and remain silent?
(Mei-atzmi el Atzmi, pp. 200-201)