The Israel Film Archive has granted Arutz Sheva-Israel National News an exclusive look at a rare 1971 documentary film directed by Natan Gross, which documents the life of Israel's first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.
The film features special footage of Rabbi David Cohen, the Nazirite Rabbi, one of Rabbi Kook's greatest disciples, a year before his death.
The film, titled "Haroeh, the life and thought of Rabbi Kook," was produced by "Nehora - the Israeli Institute of Films on Jewish Subjects," together with "Shevet Films Ltd." The film discusses the various stages of Rabbi Kook's life, and for the first time provides footage of the Nazirite Rabbi, the editor of Rabbi Kook's Orot Hakodesh book series, and a key religious Zionist thinker.
The 23-minute film is in Hebrew and includes Hebrew and English subtitles. It is narrated by Pinchas Har Zahav and Daniel Pe'er, and filmed by Adam Greenberg, Yachin Hirsch, and Alex Ben Raf. Among those to share historical testimony in the film are the painter Nahum Gutman, Hatzofeh newspaper editor Shabtai Don-Yichye, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, Rabbi Yeshayahu Hadari, and others."
The footage of Rabbi Cohen, which has never before been published, gives a peek into the life of one of the spiritual giants who worked to spread the teachings of Rabbi Kook.