Rabbi Avraham HaCohen Kook

The story of the gold watch

Beware of humiliating Talmidei Chachamim. A lesson for today...

Chayei Sarah: Isaac's afternoon meditation

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi, iconic leader of Religious Zionism: "The soul is always praying. It constantly seeks to fly away to its Beloved.”

Vayeira: The Salt of Sodom

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: A certain spiritual peril lurks in any meal that we eat.

Lech Lecha: Malki-Tzedek and Abraham

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: "A cohen is not an intermediary but someone who purifies us and enables us to approach G-d directly."

Noah: The rainbow in the clouds

The sign that God showed Noah, the “rainbow in the clouds,” is a metaphor for a fundamental change.in ethical guidance for the human soul.

The Titans: The men of renown in Genesis

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: They were called nefilim, great orators whose words were empty and actions as leaders unscrupulous. A lesson.

Sukkot: The Water-Drawing Celebration

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: "The divide between means and ends goes back to the beginnings of creation, but in mitzvas they are one .."

Yom Kippur: The value of Life

Israel's first Chief Rabbi on a short Yom Kippur prayer that explains the meaning of our existence.

Rav Kook on teshuva: Awakening our hearts and minds

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: Which stimulus is truly fundamental to the process of true teshuva?

Ki Tavo: First Fruits, led by an ox and a flute

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: What was the significance of the ox? Why the golden horns and olive-twig crown? And why was the flute chosen?

Ki Teitze: The rebellious son - preventive medicine

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: Is this mitsva purely theoretical or does it have a deeper purpose?

Early Zionism's educational failures were caused by controversy

Early on, Rabbi Kook saw the poor level of Torah education at the Moshavot..Zealots prevented changing that, and many other things.

Angels walking among us

The story of one of those who look like regular people, but turn out to be angels who take advantage of every second of their lives

Psalm 4: Controlling negative impulses

Israel's first Chief Rabbi on self control.

Rabbinate celebrates 100 years

New line of stamps to feature chief rabbis

The line was launched at a meeting commemorating the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Kook, the rabbinate's founder.

The young Rabbi Kook: For 3 Elul, his yahrzeit

The iconic leader of religious Zionism who was Israel's first Chief Rabbi, was a Torah giant even as a young man.

The Changing of an Era: Rav Hutner and Gedolim in Eretz Yisrael

Gedolim, like Rav Kook, with whom Rav Hutner connected in the Land of Israel, were born in Eastern Europe. Part IV of a series.

Re'eh: Uprooting Idolatry in the Land of Israel

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: The essence of the Torah’s wisdom is the inner truth of a united reality. Where is this revealed? In the Land.

Killing terrorists for a better world

Rabbi Kook loved man but hated evil. In his thought, the IDF's recent achievements against terror have significance far beyond Gaza..

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Vaetchanan: With all your soul

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: What need was there for Rabbi Akiva to recite this final Shema?

Devarim: Right versus Might

Israel's first Chief Rabbi's prescient words: There are nations addicted to brute force and aggression and It becomes part of their pshyche.

The 9 Days: A time for rebuilding the world with love

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: We must counter baseless hatred, sinat chinam, with baseless love, ahavat chinam.

Mattot: Beauteous and Evil

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: Beware of beauty that covers up morally repulsive behavior.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Pinchas’ Ancestry

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: Ancestry does have an effect on motivation as well as action.

Balak: Eliminating Idolatry

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: Why is idolatry so intrinsically vile? Because instead of elevating us, it lowers us to coarse physical levels.

Chukat: "Speak to the Rock"

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: The paradigm here shifted from speaking to striking, from receptive listening to coercive force.

Redemption: First return to Eretz Yisrael, then doTeshuva

Ezekiel: The Redemption may come not as the reward for changing our ways, but in order to end the desecration of His Holy Name in galut.

Korach: Who needs the priesthood?

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: Kohanim are not meant to be intermediaries to God, but to enable immediacy to God.

Shlach: Holiness of Earth and Air

Do the sections following the Sin of the Spies - Temple wine libations and tzitzit - have any connection with the story of the spies?

The Land of Israel, Torah and the Nation are One

Rabbi Yossi bar Chalafta said to Rabbi Yishmael his son: 'If you wish to see the Shechinah in this world, learn Torah in Eretz Yisrael.'

Behaalotecha: Aaron's punishment

Speaking against Moses, led to a punishment for Miriam, but what about Aaron? Rabbi Akiva vs. Rabbi Yehudah.

Naso: The blessing of a Kohen - Rav Kook and Avraham Lipkowitz

'One day I noticed that the Rav had raised his eyes from the Torah text he was studying..I dashed to the Rav to request a blessing...."

The Kotel Affair, 1930

Rav Kook was subject to intense British pressure to grant the Arabs ownership of the Kotel in exchange for the right to pray there. Then...

Bechukotai: Why Exile?

Israel's first Chief Rabbi and advocate for returning to the Land, on the anguished question: Why should the Jewish people be in exile?

'The People shall rise up like Lions'-Lag Ba'Omer and Rav Kook

The incredible wonder of Lag Ba’Omer in Israel, where the revival of the Jewish Nation in Israel is a wonder that is impossible to explain.

Firsthand memories of Rabbi Kook

Rabbi Greenblatt passed away last week, after almost 100 years in which he was able to study, teach and share his memories of Rav Kook.

The Ingathering and Medinat Yisrael

In 1907, decades before the Holocaust, Rabbi Kook called out to the entire House of Israel with a plea:to come to Eretz Yisrael. Op-ed.

Rav Kook on Yom Ha'atzmaut: The drama of the Balfour Declaration

Rav Kook, in England, fought the letter written by Jewish leaders against a Jewish state - and won.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Kedoshim: Admonish your neighbor

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: Not remonstrating wtih someone doing something wrong shows that instrinsically, you do not really object..

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Matza of love

Israel's first chief rabbi: In the Torah, the Jews were told to eat matza two weeks before Pesach, so what is the real reason we eat matza?

Passover: The Hillel Sandwich

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: If we know the significance of matza and maror, we will understand Hillel's way of eating them.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Metzora: The Power of Speech

Israel's firrst Chief Rabbi and iconic leader of religious Zionism: Why do only Jews get tzora'at? What are the two levels of speech?

"Tevel” – the Land of Israel is affected by everything

Young Israeli Torah scholars: Rabbi Kook z”tl writes that wars raging anywhere in the world influence Am Yisrael.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Psalm 24: Climbing and Standing

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi: We aspire to attain higher levels, to ascend God’s mountain. And we stop to stand still and internalize His laws.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Tazria: Man versus Mosquito

Israel's first Chief Rabbi and the iconic leader of Religious Zionism: What comes first in value - quantity or quality?

Rabbi Kook was no liberal pacifist about war

In the midst of WWI when the nations were engaged in a savage outburst of killing and destruction, Rav Kook penned prophetic words.

Rabbi: How should we relate to people in Ukraine's war zone?

As Torah-true Jews, should we ignore it or pray for those in the war zone, feel vindicated because of their history, or actively help them?

Rav Kook on Vayikra: Black Fire on White Fire

Israel's first Chief Rabbi and the iconic leader of Religious Zionism: What was the nature of the Divine call to Moshe?

Rosh Chodesh: Our Prayers for the New Month

Israel's first Chief Rabbi and iconic leader of Religious Zionism explains the prayer for the New Month.

Vayakhel: Technology and the Sabbath

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: Our progress in science and technology is also part of creation.

The religious value of national Independence

Jewish independence in Eretz Yisrael ushers in the Messianic era.

New photograph of Rabbi Kook unveiled

Rabbi Kook museum publishes photograph of Rabbi Kook with mayor of Chicago from rabbinical delegation to the US in 1924.

Yitro: Blessings on Miracles

Israel's first Cheif Rabbi: 'A blessing for a miracle must include recognition of the benefits of the miracle’s accompanying details.'

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Beshalach: Innate and acquired holiness

“Until Your people have crossed, O God; until the people that You acquired have crossed over.”- why is the crossing mentioned twice?

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Bo: The Exodus and Tefillin

Rabbi Kook:We bind these memories of G-d's role in history to our hand, heart, and mind, and transform our coarse nature to a holy one.'

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Va'eira: God's Name

Israel's first chief rabbi, Torah luminary and iconic leader of Religious Zionism: The Names of G-d are connected to living in Eretz Yisrael

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Shemot: Moses hid his face

Did Moses' covering his face reflect awe or unwarranted timidity?

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Vayigash: The first Exile

The Jewish people have spent more years in exile than in their own land. Why?

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Hannukah: Flickering lights in dark times

The special rules of Hannukah lights parallel the Maccabean struggle against the Greeks but also how Judaism meets foreign philosophies.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Vayeshev: The reality of dreams

Berachot 55a: “Even if most of a dream comes true, not all of it will come to pass.”