Rav Kook, Notepad

1, 12

Spinozism thought that the Divine Essence is the sum of everything, and was thus forced to think that there is no ruling force, except that of slow progress with no leaps, for this is how the sum of everything usually appears. But with knowing that the overall sum of everything is but a small feeble revelation that is greatly mitigated from the true everything, we should not learn from the revealed sum, but from the great might of the higher everything, and since in all that is abstract there is leaping just as there is slowness, then they are all part of the way in which reality progresses. Furthermore, they are intertwined, following their encounters with the genuine revelation of everything, Attika Kadisha [lit.: the Ancient Holy].

Thus, as one's understanding widens, it finds reality ever richer. This in turn demonstrates that the more the power of understanding ascends, the more it will come on its own to that formidable state of knowing the great richness of reality, ever growing in infinite richness, greatly surpassing the sum of all that is apparent and known, immeasurably greater than that which is apparent and all things related to it; it also overcomes the richness of diverse forces shaping reality, so that it is not just the poverty of slow evolution at work - though it too is executed completely, which all its requirements fulfilled - but also that which is wider, i.e. the leaping that makes it whole. Miracle and nature, Circles and Straightness. "Naught, for there shall be no poor among you", "land in which without poverty you will eat bread in it", that is Ar'a Kadisha [lit.: the Holy Land], Knesset Israel [trans.: the Essence, or Whole of, (the Nation of) Israel].

Rav Kook, Notepad,

117

The Spinozistic system with its flaws, is the complete opposite of Israel's light. Therefor it was the hand of G-d in that feeling of the righteous Rabbis in Amsterdam to distance him from Israel. This system created the modern era, all the way through its many atrocities, including antisemitism, in such a way that Spinoza and Bismarck are like Bila'am and Haman. Would he not have been distanced, he would have blended with the Israeli collective and create barren works, yet they would have been received like the Guide to the Perplexed, the Kuzari etc. Over time he would have definitely compose some Halachic or traditionally theological innovations fitting his talents, casuing his opinions regarding the divine to be accepted as well, and they would - heavens forbid - blast the foundation of the enemies of Israel, although those consequences would only appear after many days and events have already passed. Still, since he was after all of the seed of Israel, his internality has a fundamental principle which, after much purification, could be included. Rabbi Mendelsohn began purifying it, but hasn't finished the repairing. Yet the BESHT purified it without knowing whom was he purifying, for he did not need its source, since he drew his knowledge from its internal source and purified it. And so the process is not finished, its completion still ongoing, until when it completed entirely, Spinoza will exit the category of the accursed and will enter the category of the blessed [lit. Baruch, or Benedict].

Rav Kook, Notepad, 135

One of the major flaws of Spinoza's method, one that reveals its filthiness in full, is that according to it, the human mind does not not to be constantly engage with divinity, that that link of eternal grasping was completely severed, and observing the order of providence has no status, and naturally it results in one abandoning the pursuit of G-d, which he has already attained in a blurry manner, yet imagines he already grasped it in full, and naturally it results in him turning downwards and heading further and further down, and the great aspiration of the natural thirst to find delight in G-d he then replaces with the thirst of every brute and murky lust, until evil is inevitably born. Thus those who cause G-d's name to be forgotten are called the doers of evil, even though they did not actively do evil themselves, nevertheless they are serve as the basis for all that is evil in the world. And Israel, whose heritage is the land of Yaakov without boundaries, You will give truth to Yaakov, they serve as witnesses to banish the filth of this lie, the opposite of those who tested the Lord and tried to set limits for the Holy of Israel, and they remembered not His Hand, the day in which He redeemed them from foe. He stands and shakes [lit. delineates] the earth: he beholds, and causes the nations to tremble [lit. frees them]; and the everlasting mountains are dashed in pieces; the eternal hills bow. His ways are as of old.

House of Yaakov, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.