Abraham Isaac Kook: Difference between revisions

| denomination = [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]]

}}

 

==Biography==

Kook was born in [[Daugavpils|Griva]] (also spelled Geriva)<ref name=ShamBook>{{cite book

|title=Stories From the Life of Rav Kook |last1=Friedman |first1=Masha |date=1988 |isbn=0-944921-00-0

|title=The World of the Yeshiva: An Intimate Portrait of Orthodox Jewry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zjfPA1NZFbgC&pg=PA7

|access-date=21 September 2011|date=February 2000 |publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc.|isbn=978-0-88125-641-3|pages=6–8}}</ref> whereas his maternal grandfather was a follower of the [[Kapust]] branch of the [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic movement]], founded by the son of the third [[rebbe]] of [[Chabad]], Rabbi [[Menachem Mendel Schneersohn]].<ref>"Chazon Hageulah," p. 11, Jerusalem 1941 (Hebrew)</ref> His mother's name was Zlata Perl.<ref name=ShamBook/>{{rp|p.56}}

 

===London and World War I===

 

===Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem===

==Controversy==

=== Criticism from rabbinic scholars ===

 

In 1921 his detractors bought up the whole edition of his newly published ''Orot'' to prevent its circulation, plastering the offending passages on the walls of [[Meah Shearim]].<ref name="KaplanShatz1995">{{cite book |author=Shalom Carmy |title=Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Jewish Spirituality |publisher=NYU Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-8147-4653-0 |editor=Lawrence J. Kaplan |page=227 |chapter=Dialectic, Doubters, and a Self-Erasing Letter (Notes) |editor2=David Shatz |editor3=Kayann Short |editor4=Abouali Farmanfarmaian |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5gUCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA227}}</ref> Later, an anonymous pamphlet entitled ''Kol Ha-Shofar'' appeared containing a declaration signed by rabbis Sonnenfeld, Diskin and others saying: "We were astonished to see and hear gross things, foreign to the entire Torah, and we see that which we feared before his coming here, that he will introduce new forms of deviance that our rabbis and ancestors could not have imagined …. It is to be deemed a sorcerer's book? If so, let it be known that it is forbidden to study [let alone] rely on all his nonsense and dreams."<ref name="Mirsky2014">{{cite book |author=Yehudah Mirsky |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDt9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 |title=Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution |date=February 11, 2014 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-16424-4 |page=168 |quote=There quickly followed a pamphlet banning Orot, which included frontal attacks on Kook and Charlap, and a declaration signed by Zonnenfeld, Diskin, and others: "We were astonished to see and hear gross things, foreign to the entire Torah, and we see that which we feared before his coming here, that he will introduce new forms of deviance that our rabbis and ancestors could not have imagined… He turns light to darkness, and darkness to light... It is to be deemed a sorcerer's book, and let it be known that it is forbidden to study [let alone] rely on all his nonsense and dreams.}}</ref> It also quoted [[Aharon Rokeach]] of [[Belz (Hasidic dynasty)|Belz]] who stated "And know that the rabbi from Jerusalem, Kook - [[Yimakh shemo|may his name be blotted out]] - is completely wicked and has already ruined many of our youth, entrapping them with his guileful tongue and impure books."<ref name="Uffenheimer2005">{{cite book |author=[[Rivka Schatz Uffenheimer]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqfXAAAAMAAJ |title=הרעיון המשיחי מאז גירוש ספרד |publisher=Magnes Press |year=2005 |isbn=9789654931830 |page=234 |language=he |quote=בקונטרס זה מופיע בפעם הראשונה דימויו של הרב קוק לשבתי צבי "וקאי באיסורא כיחידאי דאיהו נמי שיטתיה כיחידאי הש״ץ״. ולפני שהוא מביא ממאמרי הרב באות ׳תעודות׳ כגון מכתב בנו של הרבי מבלז, המזכיר את דברי הרבי: "וידוע דהרב דשם מירושלים ושמו קוק ימ"ש הוא רשע גמור וכבר טימא כמה צעירי עמנו ע"י מצודתו של חלקות לשונו ובספרים הטמאים, וד' יזכנו ויעביר רוח הטומאה מכל נפוצות עמו, ונזכה לעלות לציון ברנה, וכשנזכה שיהי' עת רצון מהש"י ולא עתה על ידיהם}}</ref> Returning to Poland after a visit to Palestine in 1921, Rabbi [[Avraham Mordechai Alter]] of [[Ger (Hasidic dynasty)|Ger]] wrote that he endeavoured to calm the situation by getting Kook to renounce any expressions which may have unwittingly resulted in a [[Chillul Hashem|profanation of God's name]]. He then approached the elder rabbis of the Yishuv asking them to withdraw their denunciation. The rabbis claimed that their intention had been to reach a consensus on whether Kook's writings were acceptable, but their letter had been surreptitiously inserted by Kook's critics in to their inflammatory booklet without their knowledge.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

 

When Jewish prayers at the [[Western Wall]] were [[Western Wall#September 1928 disturbances|broken up by the British in 1928]], Kook called for a fast day, but the ultra-Orthodox community ignored his calls.<ref>{{cite book |author=Yehudah Mirsky |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TB_BAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA197 |title=Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution |date=February 11, 2014 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-16555-5 |page=197 |quote=When Rav Kook called for public fasts on October 22, 1928, to protest the indignities at the Kotel, the ultra-Orthodox ignored him, as they studiously ignored every prayer meeting and fast day that he called.}}</ref>

 

 

[[Yitzchak Zelig Morgenstern|Rabbi Yitzchak Zelig Morgenstern]], the Rebbe of Sokolov also wrote against Kook, saying, "Rav Kook, although he is a full and robust ''talmid chacham'' as well as an excellent orator, cannot be considered among the successors and perpetuators of the ''geonim'' (genius rabbinic scholars) and ''tzaddikim'' (righteous leaders) of the past generations. Rav Kook is already connected with the spirit of the time, and speaks greatly about the ''techiyas umaseinu'' (our national rebirth). And despite the moral and religious decline of our generation, he sees in his mind's eye the ''techiyas hale'um'' (nationalistic rebirth) and the like, and he assigns to the Chief Rabbinate an important role in that process."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sonnenfeld |first=Shlomo Zalman |title=B'Dor Tahafuchos |pages=358 |language=Hebrew}}</ref>

 

=== Support from rabbinic scholars ===

 

There are also some rabbis who spoke very highly of Kook in greetings of the letters they sent to him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additionally, although the [[Yisrael Meir Kagan|Chofetz Chaim]] never spoke in praise of Kook, he did condemn the pamphlet that was put out against him.<ref name="SzalaiHorváth2007">{{cite book |author1=Anna Szalai |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQM_AQAAIAAJ |title=Previously unexplored sources on the Holocaust in Hungary: a selection from Jewish periodicals, 1930-1944 |author2=Rita Horváth |author3=Gábor Balázs |publisher=International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem |year=2007 |isbn=978-965-308-300-4 |page=32 |quote=According to the report, Chofetz-Chaim condemned the pamphlet against Kook as well.}}</ref>

==Gallery==

<gallery>

File:ירושלים - הרב קוק-JNF040046.jpeg|Rabbi Kook in 1920

File:Memorial Plaque to Abraham Isaac Kook in Daugavpils, Latvia.jpg|Memorial Plaque in [[Daugavpils]], [[Latvia]]

* [[Religious Zionism]]

* [[Torat Eretz Yisrael]]

 

==References==

[[Category:Jewish ethicists]]

[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Israel]]