Rabbi Avraham HaCohen Kook

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.”

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Vayishlach: The service of pillars and altars

One rock or many stones?.What typifies the Jewish people? What makes them a klal?

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Psalm 34: Freeing ourselves from bad habits

First, we must learn to identify ourselves as servants of God.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Toldot: Harnessing the power of Esau

Jacob held on to Esau’s heel holding him back. The name Jacob refers to this aspect of restraint, reining in fierce forces of our nature.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Vayeira: The journey to Moriah

Rabbi Kook shows how the text hints at Abraham’s remarkable strength and composure as he readied himself to fulfill God’s command.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Psalm 140: The Tzaddik and the Yashar

The difference between them concerns their atitude to contributing to the world's progress as well as to its spiritual level.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

The Sabbath Influence

The very fact that the Sabbath is able to influence the days of work reveals the soul’s innate closeness to God.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Breishit: Letters of Creation

Why the Torah begins with the letter bet and not aleph has a meaning connected with the nature of light.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

All of Israel in One Sukkah

Now, after the High Holydays, we can attain a comprehensive unity, one that extends its holy light over all. Op-ed.

How to be happy on Sukkot during these crazy times

If I get punished, I want it to be for the sin of focusing too much on the good that Hashem has given us. Op-ed.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

The dual call of the Shofar

Why do we need two sets of shofar blasts?

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Nitzavim: Dances of teshuvah in Poriah

Many of those present cherished the memory of that winter night when young secular pioneers sang and danced with the Chief Rabbi of Jaffa.

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Ki Tavo: The Splendor of Tefillin

Tefillin, containing passages from the Torah mentioning God’s Name, are a visible sign for others that “God’s Name is called upon you."

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Ki Tetze: Advice to a troubled father

We should never give up on a single Jewish soul. “A myrtle among the reeds is still a myrtle and is called a myrtle“ (Sanhedrin 44a).

Rabbi Kook’s concept of unity

Rabbi Avraham Kook ztz”l proposed a unified concept that would contain all the customs, along with the Ingathering of the Exiles.

Gimmel Elul: Rabbi Kook and our longings for Jerusalem

Israel's third president told a story about Rav Kook that is especially appropriate on his yahrzeit.