In this second shiur of the My Generation series, we continue exploring Rav Kook’s Meimor HaDor — his lament over the emotional collapse and inner defeat of the generation.

Rav Kook describes a world where individuals, families, and communities are wrapped in emotional pain and existential angst, leading to isolation, despair, and even psychosomatic suffering. Yet beneath the surface of this darkness, something sacred is taking shape — a new light beginning to emerge, and new-old souls descending into the world.

The old structures must decay for something more whole to be born. What appears on the outside as disintegration is, on the inside, the beginning of renewal.

We also learn a powerful piece from Orot Yisrael 5:13, where Rav Kook speaks of the birth of a “new Jew,” one who transcends outdated forms to embody a more complete spiritual consciousness.

All of this, he writes, unfolds specifically in Eretz Yisrael, the spiritual ground of transformation.

Topics:

The emotional pain of the generation

Isolation, despair, and psychosomatic suffering

Rebirth through decay and disintegration

“New-old souls” and spiritual evolution

Orot Yisrael 5:13 – The birth of a new Jew in Eretz Yisrael