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The Doctrine of Pre-Prophetic Creation
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The Doctrine of Pre-Prophetic CinemaPre-Prophetic Cinema
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Part I: The Vision – A Call for a New Cultural Era
The Present Moment: The Rise of Imagination and the Thirst for the Secret (Sod)
Human culture stands at a decisive historical moment. For centuries, Western culture centered pure intellect, analytical logic, and philosophy as the exclusive keys to understanding reality.
However, as Rav Kook foresaw a century ago, we are witnessing a powerful counter-process: “All contemporary culture is built upon the foundation of the imaginative faculty (the power of imagination).” In this era, “the imaginative faculty is increasingly refined... and according to its ascent... the intellectual light withdraws.”
Philosophy, once the queen of sciences, “limps and falters and has no standing,” while “the poets and storytellers, the dramatists and all those engaged in the fine arts take their place at the forefront of culture.”
This process is not accidental. As Rabbi Uri Sherki explains, it stems directly from the profound crisis Western philosophy has faced since Immanuel Kant. When philosophy despaired of its ability to reach absolute truth, it ceded the stage to another power, ancient and equally potent—the imagination
The result is a culture where truth is no longer measured by intellectual standards but examined by its expressions in the human imagination.
This is an era where “truth will be absent and the face of the generation like the face of a dog”—a poignant description of a culture reacting to immediate symptoms without seeking the root, a culture of competing narratives where all truth is relative.
However, the "Pre-Prophetic Cinema" movement does not see this process as a sign of final decline, but as a necessary and planned stage in a comprehensive Divine process. Rav Kook calls this "God’s counsel from afar."
For generations, the imaginative faculty was suppressed and weakened, both in Judaism and in general culture, due to its historical association with idolatry and mythology.
Now, history demands its vindication. The global eruption of the power of imagination, with all its dangers and superficiality, is actually a process of "completing the imaginative faculty," building and purifying it until it becomes a "healthy basis for the supreme spirit that will appear upon it."
In other words, global culture is now unconsciously constructing the vessel—the developed and sophisticated capacity for imagination—that will be essential for receiving a renewed revelation, a modern prophecy.
Within this reality, a deep spiritual thirst is created. When the "revealed aspect" of reality no longer satisfies, the modern soul, especially the creator's soul, cannot be content with the limited.
It demands "secrets of the world, secrets of the Torah, the secret of God (Sod)." The insistence on finding all spiritual satisfaction only in the revealed “depletes the strength... and leads the stormy desire to a place where it finds emptiness and disillusionment.”
Herein lies the call to the Pre-Prophetic creator: not to flee from the imagination dominating the culture, but to dive into it, purify it, and transform it from a tool of shallow entertainment into a conduit flowing the dimension of the secret and inwardness into a thirsty world.
From National Revival to Prophetic Culture
This call for a cultural revolution does not occur in a vacuum. It is intrinsically linked to the process of the Return to Zion and the national revival of the People of Israel in its land.
The vision of Rav Kook, the movement's central inspiration, views the national revival as a comprehensive, spiritual-cultural process, culminating in "the revival of an Israeli prophetic culture in modern guise."
The physical return to the soil of the Land of Israel is the key to igniting a profound metaphysical process in human consciousness.
In exile, spiritual achievement was acquired primarily through intellectual effort and toil against a dark and alienated environment. "Outside the Land," writes Rav Kook, "the main acquisition comes only from toil, inquiry, critique, experience, and delving," while the inner Divine light is only a secondary "aid."
In the Land of Israel, however, the roles are reversed: "The spiritual spring of the inner sanctity... strengthens of its own accord. It only needs aid from practical and intellectual work."
This transition from a spirituality based on effort to a spirituality stemming from abundance changes the central tools of the soul. The intellect, the dominant tool in the exilic struggle, gives way to the direct perception of the soul, which uses imagination as its primary language.
it is no coincidence that "the imagination of the Land of Israel is clear and bright, clean and pure, and capable of the appearance of Divine truth... prepared for the explanation of prophecy and its lights."
The transition from exilic consciousness to the "Torah of the Land of Israel" is not just a geographical change, but the growth of a new Israeli soul, rediscovering the direct and unmediated connection to the sanctity concealed in nature, the body, and matter.
Creation in the Land of Israel, therefore, is fundamentally different from creation anywhere else in the world.
The Israeli creator is not called to create meaning ex nihilo, but to connect to an existing abundance of sanctity and life flowing from the earth, air, and light unique to this place.
They are called to be an artist of listening, capable of translating the Divine Will hidden in nature ("Eretz" [Land] from the root "Ratzon" [Will]) into a new artistic language.
The Mandate of the Pre-Prophetic Artist
Within this historical and metaphysical context, the artist's role is reshaped. They are no longer merely an entertainer, aesthetician, or social critic.
The Pre-Prophetic creator is a pioneer, a pathfinder, an active partner in preparing human consciousness for a new era of revelation.
Their role is twofold: they serve as "Chimney Sweeps of the human imagination," whose task is to remove the soot and blockages created in the collective consciousness, thereby "reopening the channel between God and humanity."
Simultaneously, they develop and refine the tools—intellect, emotion, and imagination—which the future prophet will use in perfect harmony.
This is a call for spiritual alchemy. The mission is not to escape contemporary culture, but to engage with its raw material—the powerful, yet often contaminated, imagination—and purify it.
Just as one cannot fight corrupted imagination with pure logic, it is necessary to counter it with "Sacred Imagination, Alternative Imagination."
The creator, as an expert in the language of imagination, is uniquely capable of performing this task. They do not retreat into an ivory tower of holiness, but descend into the heart of the darkness of contemporary culture, armed with inner light, aiming to redeem the sparks of sanctity hidden within it and elevate them.
The ultimate goal is to generate a "New Israeli Wave," to transform Israel into a "global center of pioneering and avant-garde creation."
This creation will not be sectarian or "religious" in the narrow sense, but will be Jewish at its root, Israeli in its expression, and universal in its message. It will be the new tidings of the Hebrew spirit to the world.
Part II: The Source – The Inner Spring of Creation
The Soul Creates Always
The Western conception of creation often relies on the myth of external inspiration—the muse visiting the artist, a moment of unexpected grace.
The Doctrine of Pre-Prophetic Creation offers a cognitive revolution and posits a completely opposite model: the source of creation is not external, but internal, and it flows ceaselessly.
For one who "has the soul of a creator," creation is not a choice or a profession, but an existential necessity. It is a natural eruption, "the flame of the soul ascends of its own accord, and it is impossible to halt it in its course."
The foundational principle is that the soul is in a constant state of creation: "The soul, after all, sings always; might and joy it has donned, supreme pleasantness surrounds it."
Hence a critical distinction: "As long as a person must wait for times when the spirit of creation will rest upon them... this is a sign that the illumination of their soul has not appeared upon them." Waiting for inspiration is merely evidence of a disconnect between the person and their deepest self.
This insight completely changes the essence of artistic work. The task is not to "seek" inspiration, but to "ascend to the height of encountering one's soul."
Creation shifts from an act of doing to a state of being. The creator does not "make" art; they become a person from whom art flows naturally. Any feeling of "toil and labor" in the creative process is a sign of misunderstanding its true nature.
In the moment of pure creation, "the person resembles their Creator, for the Holy One, Blessed be He, created His world without toil and labor."
The effort does not disappear, but it is shifted: the struggle is no longer against external raw material or a creative block, but an inner effort of purification and ascension, aimed at removing the barriers separating the consciousness from the ever-creating soul.
When this state of being is achieved, creation flows as a natural abundance, a direct expression of the self.
The Primacy of The Will (Ratzon)
If the soul is the spring, what is the nature of the water flowing from it?
The Doctrine of Pre-Prophetic Creation, drawing from the Esoteric Torah (Kabbalah), identifies the most primary and fundamental force in the universe as "The Will" (Ratzon).
This is not psychological "willpower," but the supreme metaphysical principle, the inner essence preceding intellect, emotion, and language.
In Kabbalah, the highest and most fundamental Sefirah, "Keter" (Crown), is identified with The Will.
The Will is the operating system of all reality.
The connection between The Will and expression is embedded in the roots of the Hebrew language itself. The word "Ot" (letter) stems from the root "Le'avot"—to will, to desire. The letters, the building blocks of all expression, are the crystallization of a primary Will.
Rabbi Sherki notes the constant tension between the infinite Will and the limited Wisdom as one of the central dynamics of existence.
The creator's role is to bridge this gap: to take the infinite Will pulsing in their soul and give it expression through the finite tools of art.
This conception places Pre-Prophetic creation in a revolutionary stance.
Art stemming from the primacy of The Will is not primarily concerned with conveying ideas (the domain of the intellect) or expressing emotions (the domain of the heart), but with the embodiment of The Will. It aspires to be not an object of contemplation, but an event, a force, an occurrence in the world.
A Pre-Prophetic film is not something one merely watches; it is something one encounters.
It seeks to act directly on the viewer's Will—to awaken it, purify it, and connect it to the General, Divine Will that sustains all existence.
Creative Intellect vs. Depicting Intellect
The distinction between these two types of Will leads directly to a crucial distinction made by Rav Kook between two modes of creative consciousness: "Depicting Intellect" and "Generative Intellect"
Depicting Intellect (שכל מצייר): This is the dominant intellectual force in Western culture. Its role is to observe reality, document it, analyze it, reflect it. It acts as a mirror to the existing world. Most art, even the most critical, operates within this paradigm. It reacts to reality, interprets it, but does not claim the ability to create it anew.
Generative Intellect (שכל יוצר): This, according to Rav Kook, is "the wonder of the virtue of Israel." It is a supreme cognitive force, similar to the Divine creative power, which is not content with describing the world but is capable of "creating, generating, forging a new reality." This view positions the artist in a stance of active partnership in the ongoing act of creation.
This distinction shifts the role of art from the realm of epistemology (the study of knowledge) to the realm of ontology (the study of being).
The central question is no longer "How does my art represent the truth about the world?" but "What reality does my art bring into the world?"
This connects directly to the Kabbalistic view that speech, thought, and creation indeed forge actual spiritual realities: "In every moment new worlds come and are born, created and formed."
Hence the immense responsibility of the Pre-Prophetic creator. They do not merely create representations; they create worlds.
Every creation is an ontological act, introducing a new quality into existence.
Therefore, the creator's self-critique must change. Instead of asking, "Is my film faithful to reality?" they must ask: "Does the reality my film creates reveal the viewer's inner self? Does it reveal the secret and the hidden light of all existence?"
Part III: The Inner Crucible – The Psychology of the Pre-Prophetic Creator
The path to creation stemming from the soul is not a pastoral journey, but a demanding inner quest, fraught with psychological and spiritual challenges. The Doctrine of Pre-Prophetic Creation does not ignore these difficulties but maps them and offers a way to confront them, transforming them into necessary stages in the creator's development.
The Preliminary Act: Purification and Refinement
Before the creator touches their tools, their work begins within.
Rav Kook states emphatically that one “shall not dip their pen without purity of soul and sanctity of idea. At the very least, the thought of Teshuvah (Return/Repentance), profound reflections of Teshuvah, must precede every creation.”
This is not a call for moral perfection or asceticism, but a demand for awareness and intention. It is a conscious act of inner alignment before the creative act begins.
Inner preparation is not an optional addition but a fundamental condition. Inner work, such as the rectification of character traits and actions, does not produce the creation but removes the obstacles preventing its revelation.
They "clear the path of stumbling blocks, which are the evil thoughts, the corrupted traits and deeds," and when the path is clear, "the soul ascends of its own accord to its supreme desire."
This process is like clearing clouds hiding the sun; the work does not create the sunlight but allows it to shine in its full intensity.
The emphasis is radically shifted from the final product to the process and the source.
As Rabbi Sherki explains, if the creator purifies themselves, the creation stemming from them will naturally be purified. A murky source cannot produce clear water, even if the plumbing system (the artistic technique) is the most sophisticated.
Therefore, in a house of study (Beit Midrash) for Pre-Prophetic creation, the practice of introspection, awareness, and ethical development will be an integral and central part of the curriculum, equal to technical training.
Facing the Chaos (Tohu): Creative Anxiety
When a new idea flashes in the creator's consciousness, it first appears in its raw, primary state—a state of pure potential, formless.
At this critical moment, the creator might be seized by the "Awe of Chaos" (Yir'at HaTohu)—a profound anxiety facing the infinity and raw power of the new thought.
The "Tohu" (Chaos) is not emptiness, but infinite potential, similar to the "Tohu VaVohu" before creation.
The fear is not of the nothing, but of the infinite; it is the anxiety facing the immense responsibility of giving form, of choosing.
Every choice of a developmental path for the idea necessarily means relinquishing all its other possible paths.
This fear can lead to creative paralysis, leaving the idea in its raw state ("the raw thought as it is"), or alternatively, to a limited and uninspired execution, where "the thought does not breach all the walls of its imprisonment."
In both cases, "the creation is flawed, and the world, in need of the thoughtful creators, dwells in darkness, hunger, and thirst."
The Redemption of Soulic Creation: From Fear to Liberty
Overcoming the Awe of Chaos is not just a psychological challenge; it is described in Rav Kook's writings as a spiritual act of "Redemption" (Geulah).
The creator must "redeem the parts of their soul from their exiles, to release the prisoners of their thoughts from their bonds, to say to the bound, ‘Go forth,’ to those in darkness, ‘Be revealed.’”
This is an act of liberation, of granting form and freedom to the bound inner forces.
This act of redemption is intimately connected to the spark concealed in the creator's soul.
When they muster courage and create, "an inner appearance comes to them from the light of the Messiah, concealed in their soul, and they generate redemption, and bring forth a new light in their world." (The "light of the Messiah" is a perception or illumination that comes from the future and illuminates the present).
Every true creative act is thus a microcosm of the cosmic redemption process. Just as the future redemption will bring the entire world from a state of brokenness and concealment to a state of wholeness and revelation, so the creative process takes a raw, chaotic, and hidden idea (Tohu) and brings it to a clear, complete, and revealed expression (Tikkun).
This act demands "absolute liberty" internally and a deep faith in the power of The Creating Soul.
The Dialectic of Anguish and Delight
The romantic perception tends to describe creation as the fruit of serenity and transcendence.
The Doctrine of Pre-Prophetic Creation offers a more complex and honest picture. Pure creation, writes Rav Kook, involves the "Anguish of Creation" (Tza'ar HaYetzira), a pain paralleling the prophet's anguish at the moment of revelation.
The source of this anguish is the powerful, almost violent, encounter between two opposing currents in the creator's soul.
On one hand, "revelations of existence ascend from the depths, from the misty life within the flesh," and on the other hand, "revelations of life descend, from the sphere of the most supreme soul."
This clash between the earthly and the heavenly, between matter and spirit, involves the agony of the "destruction of inner worlds"—old consciousness patterns must be broken to make room for a new creation.
However, and this is the key point, "Great are the agonies of creation... yet how great is also the delight of creation."
The greatest delight is not a reward waiting at the end of the road, but is concealed within the anguish itself. The engine of creation is not a linear and smooth process, but a dynamic and tension-filled union of opposites.
While many spiritual perceptions advocate transcending the body and matter, the Doctrine of Pre-Prophetic Creation insists that the most authentic creation occurs precisely at the point of maximum friction between body and soul.
The anguish is the energy released in this encounter, and the delight is the light born from their successful union.
The creator, therefore, must not flee from the anguish, but "rejoice in the sufferings, for they are the sources of delights," understanding that precisely in the depths of pain lies the most sublime delight.
Part IV: The New Language – A Practical Lexicon for Pre-Prophetic Art
The transition from sublime philosophy to the artistic act requires translation. This section aims to provide a practical toolbox, a lexicon of concepts and techniques derived directly from the movement's foundational principles, offering new ways to think about cinema, narrative, and the craft of creation itself.
The Frame as a Sacred Space: Olam, Shanah, Nefesh (Space, Time, Soul)
The wisdom of Kabbalah, in Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Creation), offers a three-dimensional map of reality, which reveals itself as a precise guide to the architecture of cinematic creation.
According to this model, every revelation stands on three foundations: Olam (Space/World), Shanah (Time/Year), and Nefesh (Soul/Consciousness).
Their Hebrew acronym, ASHAN (עש"ן), means "smoke," hinting at the moment of revelation at Mount Sinai (“And Mount Sinai was altogether in smoke”), teaching that the encounter with the Sacred occurs precisely through what seems elusive and intangible, similar to the cinematic experience itself.
This model provides three fundamental questions for constructing any scene or frame:
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Olam (Space): Beyond the location or set, this is the mise-en-scène, the architecture of the frame. How does the physical space express the inner state of the soul? Is the composition open and expansive (aspect of 'Hesed') or closed and constricting (aspect of 'Din')? The cinematic space is not a backdrop, but a living entity with a Will, a potential sanctuary for an encounter with the sublime.
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Shanah (Time): This is the inner pulse of the film, its breath. The editing rhythm, the duration of the shots, the camera movement—all shape the experiential time. Pre-Prophetic Cinema is not bound solely by linear time; it strives to create a state of consciousness where past, present, and future resonate with each other, a time that not only tells a story but prophesies.
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Nefesh (Soul/Consciousness): This is the human dimension that gives meaning to space and time. It is the journey of the character, and through them, the viewer, through the world the film creates. The creator's role, as the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot teaches, is to find "for every thing its place" (Olam) and "for every person their hour" (Nefesh and Shanah).
Editing as a Redeeming Act: Time as a Spiral
The Jewish conception of time is neither a straight line nor a closed circle, but a spiral with direction and hope.
The word "Shanah" (Year) is related to "Shinui" (Change), and "Chodesh" (Month) to "Chidush" (Renewal).
This conception offers three revolutionary concepts of time for the editor:
Et (The Moment/The Shot), Olam (Eternity/The Whole Narrative), and
Moed (The Encounter/The Cut).
The cut is not just a technical splice, but a "Moed," a moment where the editor, as a partner in creation, brings the momentary and the eternal together, creating new meaning.
From here, a "Soul Montage" can be developed, an editing theory based on the dialectical structure of the Sefirot in Kabbalah, striving for the unification of opposites:
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The 'Hesed' Cut: A connection creating expansion and flow (e.g., dissolve, smooth transition, connection based on harmonious movement).
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The 'Din/Gevurah' Cut: A connection creating constriction and tension (e.g., jump-cut, sharp graphic contrast).
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The 'Tiferet' Connection: The synthesis. This is not just a new intellectual idea (as in Eisenstein), but a moment of beauty and harmony unifying the two poles. It is the perfect connection between a shot of expansion and a shot of constriction, generating a moment of poetic truth, an aesthetic revelation.
Furthermore, the ability to do "Teshuvah" (Return/Repentance) teaches that time is not irreversible.
The flashback, then, is not just a tool for revealing information, but an opportunity for "cinematic Teshuvah"—presenting a past event in a new light that changes the meaning of the present.
Narrative Structures of Revelation: PaRDeS, Midrash, and Talmud
Western cinematic language is largely bound by Aristotelian narrative structures. The Jewish tradition offers an alternative narrative toolbox—models for multi-layered meaning and revolutionary approaches to storytelling—that can lead to a quiet revolution in how we experience images and time.
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Film as PaRDeS: The Architecture of Meaning (סרט כפרד"ס): A Pre-Prophetic film is not flat. Like the Torah, it is built layer upon layer of meaning. The model for this is the ancient Jewish hermeneutic framework: PaRDeS (Orchard/Paradise). This describes four layers of depth, which are four layers of cinematic being:
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Pshat (פשט) – The Visible Reality: The narrative layer, the plot, the physical actions. This is the necessary foundation, the outer garment of truth.
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Remez (רמז) – The Symbolic Reality: The layer where the physical world hints at what lies beyond. A network of visual motifs, symbols, and hidden connections creating the film's inner language.
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Drash (דרש) – The Human Reality: The psychological and moral layer, where the film interprets the human condition. It is created through the connection and collision of elements (montage, character development, emotional journey).
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Sod (סוד) – The Revealed Reality (Metaphysical): The layer where the film becomes revelation. The "Sod" (Secret) is not a decipherable message, but a direct experience of inner reality.
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Any attempt to "translate" (Targum) the secret into logical language is, in Gematria (numerical equivalence) and in essence—Tardema (Slumber). Therefore, the film's role is not to explain the secret, but to place one secret against another. As Rav Kook teaches: "Secrets must be explained... precisely by secrets."
The Synthesis: The goal is to understand that The Secret (Sod) is the True Literal Meaning (Pshat). The highest revelation is seeing the simple, everyday reality in its infinite depth.
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Midrashic Cinema (קולנוע מדרשי): The Midrash creates meaning by layering image upon image and using different languages simultaneously. In cinematic translation, this is a film unafraid of radical montage, combining diverse visual styles (documentary, animation, narrative) to create an associative flow that speaks directly to the viewer's subconscious and conveys meaning beyond the boundaries of the literal text. It seeks to transform "frozen text" back into "living speech."
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Talmudic Directing (בימוי תלמודי): One of the prominent features of Talmudic discourse is the deliberate blurring between the center and the periphery. The discussion can deviate from the central topic to a seemingly negligible detail, understanding that a great truth might be concealed within it. In cinematic translation, this is a revolution in mise-en-scène. The "Talmudic" camera does not focus solely on the protagonist; it might suddenly linger on an object in the room or a secondary character. Every detail in the frame becomes a potential central meaning, inviting the viewer into an intensive dialogue of discovery.
The Redeemed Gaze and the Third Archetype
At the foundation of Pre-Prophetic creation lies the deepest human need: to be seen. Not just physically, but to be seen in full complexity, with a comprehensive and loving gaze.
As analyzed in the article on Chaplin's "City Lights," redemption arrives at the moment someone truly sees you, beyond the masks and illusions.
This task requires the development of a "Redeemed Gaze"—a gaze adopting an elevated, Divine viewpoint that sees the inner good in every person, and simultaneously, an intimate gaze allowing a person to see themselves deeply.
This gaze is essential to break the false dichotomy of Jewish representation in cinema, trapped between the "Dreyfus Archetype" (the Jew as victim, righteous and weak) and the "Conqueror Archetype" (the Israeli as forceful, strong, and unjust).
Global cinema, and consequently Israeli cinema, has been trapped since the Dreyfus affair between these two flat representations.
Israeli creation struggles to this day to break free from this false dichotomy.
It fears the third possibility, the truly complex hero.
The new Israeli cinema is called to create the missing "Third Protagonist": The Archetype of the Prophetic Creator.
This figure, whose prototypes are Moses and Theodor Herzl, is complex. It combines knowledge of the practical world (the "political science" Moses learned in Egypt) with spiritual depth (the "sciences of prophecy" learned in Midian), and is capable of connecting the universal with the national.
This is a protagonist who does not just react to reality but creates it through the power of their vision and Will. Creating such figures is one of the missions of Pre-Prophetic Cinema
The Pre-Prophetic Poetics (הפואטיקה הקדם נבואית)
At the heart of the "Pre-Prophetic Cinema" doctrine lies a revolutionary call: the search for a new artistic language, one that is not content with familiar expression but strives to be a vessel for revelation.
This is an aspiration to create "Crowns for the Letters" (Tagim La'Otiot)—new layers of meaning born from the artistic act itself, a revolutionary language stemming from deep inner listening to the secret of existence and clothing it in a modern, groundbreaking guise.
This new language requires a New Poetics, one that replaces Aristotle's drama of conflict with a poetics of Encounter, similar to the act of the High Priest.
Instead of conflict and constant war between gods and humans, it offers encounter and partnership in the act of creation.
Unlike Greek drama, which staged actors wearing masks of gods to "play" and direct revelation, Pre-Prophetic poetics does not need this.
It does not need to direct revelation, because it aspires to stem itself from revelation.
The creation becomes a dialogue between the creator's soul and the viewer's soul, and since the soul is infinite, it becomes a rare encounter between "two pieces of eternity."
To achieve such an encounter, the creator themselves must undergo an inner journey, a graded "Ladder of Creation" beginning with strengthening the body, continuing through the purification of imagination and emotion, ascending to the clear intellect, and culminating in receiving inspiration from a supreme source, from the "sparkling of the Holy Spirit."
The creator who undergoes this process learns to direct with humility and listening. In such a Directing Lesson, nature is no longer a still background, but a living entity with a Will.
The director's role is not to control reality, but to turn the creation into a conduit through which the sanctity in nature can be revealed.
Thus, the artistic act becomes an "Initiated Exile." This idea resonates with Shklovsky's theory of "Defamiliarization" (Hazara), but it is deeply rooted in Hebrew thought, which recognizes the power of exile—departure from the familiar place—to refresh consciousness.
Just as Shabbat and Shmita (Sabbatical year) are mechanisms of "initiated exile" in time and space, forcing us to fight the force of habit and see reality anew, so creation operates.
It takes us from our familiar place, distances us from common perceptions, and thus opens us to acquire new knowledge in an experience of exile and redemption in miniature.
This approach unites two seemingly opposite ways of creation: that of Eisenstein, the active creator building meaning from the clash of images, and that of Tarkovsky, the listening observer revealing hidden truth.
The prophetic creator is both the listener and the intervener; they draw from existence and simultaneously generate reality within it.
The final result of this process is a multi-dimensional creation, a Film as PaRDeS: it has a revealed narrative layer (Pshat), a symbolic layer (Remez), a psychological and moral layer (Drash), and at its peak—a metaphysical layer where the film becomes revelation (Sod).
The Synthesis of All Songs (The Song of Songs)
Modern consciousness is characterized by fragmentation and conflict. Ideologies struggle against each other: individualism versus nationalism, nationalism versus universalism, humanism versus an ecological-cosmic view.
Rav Kook, in his essay "A Quadruple Song," diagnoses this situation poetically and precisely.
He describes four basic "songs" existing in being: The Song of the Soul (individual), The Song of the Nation (nation), The Song of Humanity (humanity), and The Song of the World (cosmos).
The tragedy, he explains, begins when each song becomes a separate ideology and starts fighting the others.
The solution is not in choosing one song over the others, but in creating harmony.
Herein lies, according to Rav Kook, the unique virtue of the soul of Israel: the ability to sing a fifth song, "The Song of Songs."
This song has no content of its own, but its role is "to unify and include all the other songs," so that "all of them together merge within it at all times and in every hour."
This is not just a poetic metaphor, but a concrete artistic and cultural mission.
Pre-Prophetic creation aspires to be the embodiment of "The Song of Songs." It seeks to create works of art that demonstrate, on an aesthetic and emotional level, how the different and seemingly conflicting aspects of human identity can coexist in harmony.
In this way, art becomes a model for a whole and unified human consciousness, offering a remedy, even for a moment, to the rifts and fragmentations of the modern world.
Sacred Audacity: A Call to Action
The path to realizing such a radical vision cannot be polite or hesitant.
It demands spiritual courage, daring, what Rav Kook and the Kabbalists call "Sacred Audacity" (Chutzpah D'Kedusha).
This is not insolence, but the courage to break conventions, "to establish illegal outposts in the field of creation," and to forge new paths "to the wondrous, the sublime, the roots," without waiting for approval from any artistic or spiritual establishment.
This is a call for creators to be pioneers, to be a true avant-garde, and to embrace the messianic daring inherent in the "Creative Intellect."
To the creators, readers of this manifesto, we call:
Awaken, revolutionaries! Arise, heroes of valor, courageous spirits. Do not wait any longer for inspiration to come from outside; listen to the song of your soul that flows always.
Do not fear the chaos of the new idea, the Tohu preceding creation; redeem the prisoners of your thoughts and grant them form and liberty. Do not recoil from the Anguish of Creation; know that within it is concealed the most supreme delight.
Stop merely depicting the world as it is, and start creating it as it ought to be. Refine your Will, elevate it to the roots of reality, and connect it to the Divine Will that sustains everything. Create works that are an encounter, that are a prayer, that are a revelation. Create art that unifies the Song of the Soul, the Nation, Humanity, and the World.
Our creation will not be rebellion for the sake of rebellion, but a new creation. If the revolutionaries of the past discovered the subconscious, we are called to rediscover the super-conscious, the power of the soul, the sanctity concealed in reality, and the miracle hidden in the mundane.
This is a call for a great cultural revolution, seeking to restore the Hebrew spirit to its rightful place as a creative and leading force in the world. This is a call to transform Israel into a center of daring, original, and groundbreaking creation, a creation that will have a message for itself and the entire world.
This is a preliminary matter, it is only in the making. This site is an invitation to a journey. For every creator who feels the same thirst
And here I appeal to creators, secular and religious, to feel that this is your stage.
To take an active part in the discourse and creation, to join the journey, to influence, and to jointly create a new body of knowledge and creation, unlike anything else – Israeli, Jewish, and universal.
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