Rabbi Avraham HaCohen Kook

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Shavuot: Revealing our inner essence

The deeper meaning of "we will do and we will obey.".

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Bechukotai: Prophetic Letters

Letters are more than just elements of speech. They are the building blocks of creation.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Pirkei Avot: The crown of a good name

A “good name" is not a record of one’s spiritual and moral achievements.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Kedoshim: Lessons in Tzedakah

The Hebrew word for charity, tzedakah, derives from tzedek, meaning “justice."

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Pirkei Avot: Torah and creative labor

The labor demanded of us is the labor of creation: to give voice to Torah, so that its light may spread and uplift the life of the nation.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Psalm 119: King David's nightly schedule

How did King David spend his nights?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi: Passover

Who is free?

What makes a person truly free?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Parashat Tzav: The prohibition of Cheilev

Why does the Torah not require covering the blood after slaughter for cattle, sheep, and goats?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Vayikra: Maimonides and Korbanot

Why did God command that we bring korbanot (Temple offerings)? What is the purpose of this form of serving God?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Psalm 9: Nations who forget God

The Talmudic Sages' views on Persia.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Ki Tisa: The Luchot's miraculous letters

What did our Sages mean when they said that the Mem and the Samekh in the Luchot stood miraculously?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Tetzaveh: Moses and the priestly garments

These special clothes indicate that the kohanim suffer from a fundamental dissonance.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Teruma: The Tachash and the Erev Rav

What is the significance of this unique animal, the Tachash? How are they like the Erev Rav?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Parashat Yitro: Reward and Punishment

How did Moses first present the Torah and its laws to Israel?

Book Review:

Rabbi Kook’s “Shemonah Kevatzim" - now in English

In the book “Eight Journals" Yaacov David Shulman has succeeded in remaining faithful to the Hebrew text while capturing the poetic style of Rabbi Kook’s often intricate prose.

A story about Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Tu B'shvat: Planting a tree in the Land of Israel

“Rabbi," Rabbi Gold asked of Rav Kook, “why were you so deeply moved by the planting of a single tree?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Bo: Training for Greatness

It is not enough to free slaves. They must be trained for independence, courage, and aspiration.

Rare footage of one of Jerusalem's most mysterious rabbis

Rare documentary footage from 1971 shows Rabbi David Cohen, the Nazirite Rabbi, one of Rabbi Kook's greatest disciples.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Va'eira: Priceless jewels on tattered clothes

Two special jewels symbolize two special traits of the Jewish people.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi: Shemot

"I Will Be Who I Will Be"

What do these enigmatic names - ‘I Will Be Who I Will Be’ and ‘I Will Be’ - mean?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Vayechi: When great souls err

Much good can result from recalling the punishment for wrongdoing, even if this motivation may appear beneath one’s spiritual stature.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

VaYigash: The reunion of Joseph and Judah

"The Jewish people are crowned with two qualities, Eidut (testimony) and Torah, one seen in Joseph and the other in Judah."

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Mikeitz: Interpreting dreams

The interpreter has a key function in the realization of a dream: his analysis can determine how the dream will come to pass.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

The single light of Hanukkah

Why does the blessing mention one light when we light an ascending number of candles on the holiday?

Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook:

Rallying Call to Eretz Yisrael

My Jewish brethren, come to Eretz Yisrael - here you will know that you are alive, living a life that is worthy of its name, in the land of life.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

VaYishlach: The prohibition of Gid HaNasheh

The prohibition of gid ha-nasheh is meant to project a broad ethical aspiration, beyond the issue of how we should treat animals.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

VaYetzei: The Prayers of the Avot

Each of the three daily prayers has its own special nature.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Toldot: Jacob's hand on Esau's heel

Isaac appreciated Esau’s ability to hunt and dominate the beasts, the trait needed to dominate bestial peoples. Could Yaakov do the same?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Chayei Sarah: The Torah of the Patriarchs

It is the “Patriarchs’ acts of kindness” and their vibrant, natural Torah that will redeem their descendants in the final generation

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi's prescience:

Returning from the Akeidah

Israel's first Chief Rabbi presciently writes about how a return from almost certain death, similar to the return of the living hostages a short while ago, affects a person and the nation.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Lech Lecha: Father of many nations

Abraham and his revolutionary faith kindled a nascent spark of faith among the nations.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi: Noach

The beauty of Greece

The Talmud states in Megillah 9b: “May the beauty of Yefeth reside in the tents of Shem.” How can that be?

“Like Father, Like Son”:

Rabbi Avraham HaCohen and Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook

On the book that presents intimate descriptions of two giants of Torah and their teachings, set against the dramatic rebirth of the Land of Israel and the Statehood of Israel in our times.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Breishit: The Torah of Eretz Yisrael

According to Rav Kook, the Torah of Eretz Yisrael is fundamentally different in its method and scope.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Succot: Completing the Days of Awe

Why does this holiday of rejoicing immediately follow the High Holidays?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi: Ki Tavo

Don't study alone!

To withdraw into solitude, imagining that this leads to closeness with God, is foreign to the Torah’s vision.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Ki Teitze: Rationale for Mitzvot

Should we try to understand the true reasons for the Torah’s commandments?

For his yahrzeit:

The third of Elul: Rabbi Kook's final requests

On the 90th yahrzeit of the Torah luminary who was the great visionary of Religious Zionism and the first chief rabbi of Israel, read about his final moments.

Rav Kook on the Sabbath Amidah Prayer

Unlike the weekday Amidah, which contains nineteen blessings, the Amidah for Shabbat contains only seven. Why?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Parashat Eikev: What does G-d want of you?

Most of us know the famous verse asking that question and the answer that follows it. But what does it mean?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Psalm 144: No breach in our street

In times of turmoil, we turn to ancient words of hope, to visions of a world where peace is not just a fleeting wish but a lived reality.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Vaetchanan: Introducing prayer with praise

How does prayer work?

Personal Growth series:

A timely message from Rabbi Kook

Rav Kook viewed Jewish infighting in Eretz Yisrael as a greater desecration than exile itself. “Let us come to know one another under the inclusive name Yisrael, not by factional or partisan titles,” he implored.

Tisha B'Av and anticipating Redemption

The question צָפִיתָ לַיְּשׁוּעָה? Did you anticipate Redemption? is an important measure of one’s life.

Rav Kook on Pinchas:

Our offerings of bread, fire and fragrance

The meaning of the words describing the korban tamid: offering, bread, fire, and fragrance.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Psalm 126: We Were Like Dreamers

By anticipating our national destiny — by dreaming of it, speaking of it, praying for it — we nurture the seed. with the power to help bring it to fruition.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi: Chukat

Beyond human logic

It is impossible to deduce what God truly wants simply by observing the ways of the world. Our service of God can only be guided by those directives which God explicitly transmitted through His Torah.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Korach: Holiness in the midst of the community

'Genuine holiness is an altruistic striving for good for its own sake, not out of self-interest.'

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Parashat Shlach: The sin of Tzelofchad

We should learn from Tzelofchad’s mistake, and stay focused on that which is enduring and eternal, and not confuse the way-station for the final destination.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Beha'alotcha: Great dreams

Dreams, Rav Kook wrote, perform a vital function in the world. Great dreams are the very foundation of the universe.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi: Naso

The benefits of the Sotah Waters

The Sages debate the exact nature of the positive effect of the Sotah waters.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Bamidbar: Flags of love

The Jewish people sought to uncover and emphasize every individual’s personal strengths, and thus chose banners for each tribe, but no banners flew over the central Tent of Meeting.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Behar-Bechukotai: Jubilee - National reconciliation

Why was the formal proclamation of the Jubilee year postponed until Yom Kippur?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Emor: The Omer Controversy

What is the nature of the Jewish people? Is the nation merely the combined contribution of each individual Jew? Or are the Jewish people as a whole a national collective with its own special holiness?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Shmini: Immersion in water

When we immerse ourselves in water, we are forced to recognize our existential estrangement from the physical universe.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Destroy chametz, gain freedom

Why Clear Out Chametz?

Let us go to the Seder together!

Let us recognize that we are children of royalty, a nation whose eternal destiny is freedom, that Israel is neither a servant nor a home-born slave, nor an object of contempt.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Vayikra: The goal of Temple offerings

The offerings of the Jewish people aspire to a far greater objective that of Noah who also brought offerings to Hashem.

Shabbat Parshat Hachodesh:

The month of transformation and unity

Based on the teachings of Israel's first Chief Rabbi and Founder of Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Rav Avraham Yitschak HaCohen Kook zts"l.

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi: Vayakhel

Art and Creation

What is the difference between wisdom, insight, and knowledge? How do they apply both to the Creator of the universe and to the human artist?