Abraham Isaac Kook (1864 - 1935) was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the (now) Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, and a renowned Torah scholar. He is known in Hebrew as הרב אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק HaRav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, and by the acronym HaRaAYaH or simply as "HaRav." 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (Standard Hebrew: sing. ... // Chief rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognised religious leader of that countrys Jewish community. ... Palestine and Transjordan were incorporated (under different legal and administrative arrangements) into the Mandate for Palestine issued by the League of Nations to Great Britain on 29 September, 1923. ... Kippot Sruggot: Modern Orthodox Jewish students carry the flag of Israel at a public parade in Manhattan, NY, USA Religious Zionism, or the Religious Zionist Movement, also called Mizrachi, is an ideology combining Zionism and Judaism, which offers Zionism based on the principles of Jewish religion and heritage. ... Yeshiva or yeshivah (IPA: ) (Hebrew: ישיבה pl. ... The yeshiva in Jerusalem founded by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel. ... Torah () is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or law. It is the central and most important document of Judaism revered by Jews through the ages. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... It has been suggested that Aaronites be merged into this article or section. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Backronym and Apronym (Discuss) Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and ABC, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. ...

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook

Popular common picture of a smiling Rabbi A.Y. Kook. ...

Biography

Abraham Isaac Kook was born in Griva, Latvia (a suburb of Daugavpils, then Imperial Russia) in 1865, the oldest of eight children. His father, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ha-Cohen Kook, was a student of the Volozhin Yeshiva, the "mother of the Lithuanian yeshivas", whereas his maternal grandfather was a member of the Kapust dynasty of the Hassidic movement. Daugavpils (Belarusian Дзьвінск Dźvinsk, Russian Двинcк Dvinsk, Lithuanian Daugpilis, German Dünaburg, Polish Dźwinów, Dźwińsk or Dyneburg, Yiddish דענענבורג Denenburg), population 115,265 in 2000 census) is the second largest city in Latvia. ... Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... The Volozhin Yeshiva, also known as the Eitz Chaim yeshiva, was a yeshiva situated in Volozhin, present-day Belarus in the 19th century. ... Yeshiva or yeshivah (IPA: ) (Hebrew: ישיבה pl. ... Kapuster Rebbe, Kapust Chassidic Dynasty The Chabad-Kapust Dynasty was based on the Chabad school of thought. ... It has been suggested that Hasidic philosophy be merged into this article or section. ...

As a child he gained a reputation of being an ilui (prodigy). He entered the Volozhin yeshiva in 1884 at the age of 18, where he became close to the rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the Netziv). Although he stayed at the yeshiva for only a year and a half, the Netziv has been quoted as saying that if the Volozhin Yeshiva had been founded just to educate Kook, it would have been worthwhile. During his time in the yeshiva, he studied about 18 hours a day. A child prodigy is someone who is a master of one or more skills or arts at an early age. ... 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Rosh yeshiva (Hebrew: ראש ישיבה) (pl. ... Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (נפתלי צבי יהודה ברלין also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, 1817- 10 August 1893) was a rosh yeshiva (dean [of a] yeshiva) of the Volozhin yeshiva and author if several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuania. ...

In 1886, he married Batsheva, the daughter of Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim, (also known as the Aderet), the rabbi of Ponevezh (today's Panevėžys, Lithuania) and later Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. In 1887, at the age of 23, Kook entered his first rabbinical position as rabbi of Zaumel, Lithuania. In 1888, his wife died, and his father-in-law convinced him to marry her cousin, Raize-Rivka, the daughter of the Aderet's twin brother. In 1895 Kook became the rabbi of Bausk (now Bauska). Between 1901 and 1904, he published three articles which anticipate the fully-developed philosophy which he developed in the Land of Israel. During these years he wrote a number of works, most published posthumously, most notably a lengthy commentary on the Aggadot of Tractates Berakhot and Shabbat, titled 'Eyn Ayah' and a brief but powerful book on morality and spirituality, titled 'Mussar Avikhah'. 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ... Location Ethnographic region AukÅ¡taitija County Panevėžys County Municipality Panevėžys city municipality Elderate Number of elderates Coordinates General information Capital of Panevėžys County Panevėžys city municipality Panevėžys district municipality Panevėžys rural elderate Population (rank) 115,604 in 2005 (5th) First mentioned 1503 Granted city... Hebrew יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim) (Standard) Yerushalayim or Yerushalaim Arabic commonly القـُدْس (Al-Quds); officially in Israel أورشليم القدس (Urshalim-Al-Quds) Name Meaning Hebrew: (see below), Arabic: The Holiness Government City District Jerusalem Population 724,000 (2006) Jurisdiction 123,000 dunams (123 km²) Mayor Uri Lupolianski Web Address www. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Bauska- town in Zemgale- southern Latvia, 70km from capital- Riga and 20km from border with Lithuania, between rivers Musa and Memele in a place where they join and form Lielupe river. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1904, Kook moved to Ottoman Palestine to assume the rabbinical post in Jaffa, which also included responsibility for the new secular Zionist agricultural settlements nearby. His influence on people in different walks of life was already noticeable, as he engaged in kiruv ("Jewish outreach"), thereby creating a greater role for Torah and Halakha into the life of the city and the settlements. Year 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Holy Land or Palestine Showing not only the Old of Judea and Israel but also the 12 Tribes Distinctly, and Confirming Even the Diversity of the Locations of their Ancient Positions and Doing So as the Holy Scriptures Indicate, a geographic map from the studio of Tobiae Conradi Lotter... Jaffa port Jaffa (Hebrew יָפוֹ, Standard Hebrew Yafo, Tiberian Hebrew Yāp̄ô; Arabic يَافَا ; also Japho, Joppa; also, ~1350 B.C.E. Amarna Letters, Yapu), is an ancient port city located in Israel on the Mediterranean Sea. ... Baal teshuva (or baal teshuvah) (Hebrew: master of repentance) or chozer bi-teshuva (one who returns in repentance) refers to a Jew (often secular) who has adopted strict observance of Judaism, or a more Jewishly observant lifestyle than previously practiced. ... Torah () is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or law. It is the central and most important document of Judaism revered by Jews through the ages. ... Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה; also transliterated as Halakhah, Halacha, Halakhot and Halachah) is the collective corpus of Jewish religious law, including biblical law (the 613 mitzvot) and later talmudic and rabbinic law as well as customs and traditions. ...

The outbreak of the First World War caught him in Europe, and he was forced to remain in London and Switzerland for the remainder of the war. While there, he was involved in the activities which led to the Balfour Declaration, 1917. Upon returning, he was appointed the Rabbi of Jerusalem, and soon after, as first Chief Rabbi in 1921. Kook founded a yeshiva, Mercaz HaRav Kook (popularly known as "Mercaz haRav"), in Jerusalem in 1924. He was a master of Halakha in the strictest sense, while at the same time possessing an unusual openness to new ideas. This drew many religious and non­religious people to him, but also led to widespread misunderstanding of his ideas. He wrote prolifically on both Halakha and Jewish thought, and his books and personality continued to influence many even after his death in Jerusalem in 1935. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Europe at its furthest extent, reaching to the Urals. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Balfour Declaration was a letter dated November 2, 1917 from the British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, to Lord Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation, a private Zionist organization. ... Hebrew יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim) (Standard) Yerushalayim or Yerushalaim Arabic commonly القـُدْس (Al-Quds); officially in Israel أورشليم القدس (Urshalim-Al-Quds) Name Meaning Hebrew: (see below), Arabic: The Holiness Government City District Jerusalem Population 724,000 (2006) Jurisdiction 123,000 dunams (123 km²) Mayor Uri Lupolianski Web Address www. ... // Chief rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognised religious leader of that countrys Jewish community. ... Yeshivat Mercaz haRav is a religious Zionist yeshiva situated in Jerusalem. ... Hebrew יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim) (Standard) Yerushalayim or Yerushalaim Arabic commonly القـُدْس (Al-Quds); officially in Israel أورشليم القدس (Urshalim-Al-Quds) Name Meaning Hebrew: (see below), Arabic: The Holiness Government City District Jerusalem Population 724,000 (2006) Jurisdiction 123,000 dunams (123 km²) Mayor Uri Lupolianski Web Address www. ... Year 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Israeli postal stamp commemorating Rabbi Kook

Kook built bridges of communication and political alliances between the various Jewish sectors, including the secular Jewish Zionist leadership, the Religious Zionists, and more traditional non-Zionist Orthodox Jews. He believed that the modern movement to re-establish Israel as a state had profound theological significance. Per this ideology, the youthful, secular and even anti-religious Labor Zionist pioneers halutzim were a part of a grand divine scheme whereby the land and people of Israel were finally being redeemed from the 2,000 year exile (galut) by all manner of Jews who sacrificed themselves for the cause of building up the physical land, as laying the groundwork for the ultimate spiritual messianic redemption of world Jewry. He once commented that the establishment of the Chief Rabbinate was the first step towards the re-establishment of the Sanhedrin. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (308x683, 38 KB) Licensing This image is of a postage stamp. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (308x683, 38 KB) Licensing This image is of a postage stamp. ... This 1974 stamp from Japan depicts a Class 8620 steam locomotive. ... Zionism is a political movement that supports a homeland for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, where Jewish nationhood is thought to have evolved somewhere between 1200 BCE and late Second Temple times,[1][2] and where Jewish kingdoms existed up to the 2nd century CE. Zionism is... Orthodox Judaism is the formulation of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts (The Oral Law) and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim. ... Labor Zionism (or Labour Zionism) is the traditional left-wing of the Zionist ideology. ... The Jewish diaspora (Hebrew: Tefutzah, scattered, or Galut גלות, exile) is the dispersion of the Jewish people throughout Babylonia and the Roman Empire. ... In Judaism and Jewish eschatology, the Messiah (Hebrew: משיח; Mashiah, Mashiach, or Moshiach, anointed [one]) is a term traditionally referring to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line who will be anointed (the meaning of the Hebrew word משיח) with holy anointing oil and inducted to rule the Jewish people during... // Chief rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognised religious leader of that countrys Jewish community. ... For the tractate in the Mishnah, see Sanhedrin (tractate). ...

His empathy towards the anti-religious elements aroused the suspicions of his more traditionalist haredi opponents, particularly that of the traditional rabbinical establishment that had functioned from the time of Turkey's control of greater Palestine, whose paramount leader was Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, Kook's greatest rabbinical rival. Kook once quoted a rabbinic axiom that "one should embrace with the right hand and rebuff with the left". He remarked that he was fully capable of rejecting, but since there were enough rejecters, he was fulfilling the role of embracer. However, Kook far from embraced all of the elements of modern Zionism. He was critical of the secularists when they went "too far" in desecrating the Torah, for instance, by not observing the Sabbath, or kosher laws. Haredi Judaism, also called ultra-Orthodox Judaism, is the most theologically conservative form of Judaism. ... Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld (1849 - 1932) was the Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazi Haredi Jewish community of Jerusalem during the years of the British mandate and co-founder of the Edah HaChareidis. ... == == <nowiki>[[[[[[[[[{{pov|date=18:21, 30 January 2007 (UTC)}} {{Christian theology}} {{dablink|This article concerns the Sabbath in Christianity. ... The circled U indicates that this product is certified as kosher by the Orthodox Union (OU). ...

Kook fathered three children through his two wives: two daughters and a son, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook. His nephew was Hillel Kook. Prophet of Greater Israel, his teachings inspired the modern religious settlement movement in the territories. ... Hillel Kook (1915-2001), also known as Peter Bergson, was a Revisionist Zionist activist, politician, and prominent member of the Irgun. ...

Legacy

Relationship with Religious Zionism

While Rav Kook has been exalted as one of the most important thinkers in Religious Zionism, there is substantial evidence that he never saw himself or his ideas in these terms. Indeed, there are several prominent quotes in which Kook is quite critical of the Religious Zionists (Mizrachi), whom he saw as naive and perhaps hypocritical in attempting to synthesize traditional Judaism with a modern and largely secular ideology. In one letter, he said: The Mizrachi (acronym for Merkaz Ruchani or religious centre) is the name of the religious Zionist organization founded in 1902 in Vilna at a world conference of religious Zionists called by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines. ...

"This gave rise not long ago to the Mizrachi association. But this is not a complete remedy, since in the end we are still strengthening secular Zionism....We can never guard ourselves from the influence of the secularists......How then are the Mizrachim protected from the evil influence of lawless Zionism on their children!"

Rather than being seen as a Religious Zionist leader or proponent, Kook should be properly understood as a pragmatic consensus-builder. Kook never shied away from criticizing his peers, including the Zionists (religious and secular), as well as the increasingly cloistered traditionalists living in the Holy Land, whose way of life he characterized as being similarly affected by the negative and abnormal conditions of the Jewish exile, and therefore just as "inauthentic" as that of their Zionist counterparts. Kook was interested in outreach and cooperation between different groups and types of Jews, and saw both the good and bad in each of them. His sympathy for them as fellow Jews should not be misinterpreted as any inherent endorsement of their ideas, Zionists or otherwise. That said, Kook's willingness to engage in joint-projects (for instance, his participation in the Chief Rabbinate) with the secular Zionist leadership must be seen as differentiating him from many of his traditionalist peers. In terms of practical results, it would not be incorrect to characterize Kook as being, at the least, a proto-Zionist. Rightly or wrongly, his perceived openness to the Zionist movement can be seen as a major stepping-stone to the Religious Zionist movement gaining momentum and legitimacy after his death.

The Israeli moshav Kfar Haroe, founded in 1934, was named after Kook, "Haroe" being the Hebrew acronym הרא"ה – "HaRav Avraham HaCohen". His son Zvi Yehuda Kook, who was substantially more explicit in his Zionism, took over teaching duties at Merkaz Harav after his death, and dedicated his life to interpreting and disseminating his father's philosophy. Kook's popular image as a Religious Zionist can be partially attributed to his son's wide influence in the Religious Zionist community, and substantial success in combining his father's teachings with his own beliefs. Moshav (Hebrew: מושב Translit. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Prophet of Greater Israel, his teachings inspired the modern religious settlement movement in the territories. ...

Religious Zionism

External links

• Selected Teachings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (and others), orot.com
• Introduction to the Thought of Rav Kook, vbm-torah.org
• Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, ou.org
• Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), Prof. Eliezer Segal
• Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, jewishvirtuallibrary.org
• Rav Avraham Itzhak HaCohen Kook (1865 – 1935), zionist.org.uk
• Life and Priciples, mizrachi.org
• Lectures on Rav Kook's writings, machonmeir.org.il
• Time-line of Rav Kook's life
• The Yeshiva he founded...today
• Rav Kook and Rav Shlomo Elyashev zt'l ("Leshem")
• Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, from Ou.org
• Kook Family Tree
• Chapters from Orot, from zehut.net (in Hebrew)

Resources

• Writings
  • Orot, Abraham Isaac Kook, translation Bezalel Naor, Jason Aronson 1993. ISBN 1-56821-017-5
  • Orot ha-teshuvah, Abraham Isaac Kook, translation Alter Ben-Zion Metzger, Bloch Pub. Co., 1968. ASIN B0006DXU94
  • Abraham Isaac Kook: The Lights of Penitence, The Moral Principles, Lights of Holiness, Essays, Letters, and Poems, translation Ben Zion Bokser, Paulist Press 1978. ISBN 0-8091-2159-X
  • The Essential Writings of Abraham Isaac Kook, translation Ben Zion Bokser, Ben Yehuda Press 2006 (reprint). ISBN 0-9769862-3-X

• Analysis
  • The Philosophy of Rabbi Kook, Zvi Yaron, Eliner Library, 1992.
  • Essays on the Thought and Philosophy of Rabbi Kook, ed. Ezra Gellman, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8386-3452-4
  • The World of Rav Kook's Thought, Shalom Carmy, Avi-Chai Publishers, 1991. ISBN 0-9623723-2-3
  • Rav Avraham Itzhak HaCohen Kook: Between Rationalism and Mysticism, Benjamin Ish-Shalom, translation Ora Wiskind Elper, SUNY Press, 1993. ISBN 0-7914-1369-1

Rabbi Shalom Carmy is a tenured professor of Jewish Studies and Jewish philosophy at Yeshiva University. ... // Chief rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognised religious leader of that countrys Jewish community. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for full calendar). ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, also known as Isaac Herzog, was the first Chief Rabbi of the Republic of Ireland and, later, of the British mandate in Palestine and Israel, once formed. ... Rosh yeshiva (Hebrew: ראש ישיבה) (pl. ... Yeshiva or yeshivah (IPA: ) (Hebrew: ישיבה pl. ... Yeshivat Mercaz haRav is a religious Zionist yeshiva situated in Jerusalem. ... Year 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Prophet of Greater Israel, his teachings inspired the modern religious settlement movement in the territories. ...