Rav Avraham Itzhak Hacohen Kook

This is the first comprehensive philosophical-theological study of the mystical thought of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), the Chief Rabbi of Palestine prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, and the great representative of the most significant renewal of the Jewish mystical thought in modern times. Rav Kook was the spiritual and hallachic authority who laid the foundation of religious Zionism. Discontent with "Hamizrakhi" political pragmatism, he envisioned Zionism as a movement of return and all-encompassing Jewish renaissance. This book dissolves the mist enveloping Rav Kook's writings and offers an understanding of his spiritual world. It presents and analyzes the systematic elements in his teaching and reveals the spiritual interests and fundamental approaches of his religious thought.

Incidents from the life of a European Jew who fulfilled a lifelong dream when he became the first Chief Rabbi of Israel.

"Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook zt"l had brilliance and depth of knowledge that were simply otherworldly; his devotion to God was supernal; and his character traits were heavenly. At the same time, however - and perhaps more important - he was an exemplary human being. Although he strove for personal, spiritual perfection, he was more concerned with helping others come closer to God. He was constantly involved in the affairs of his people, doing everything in his power to ease their pain, raise their pride, and pave the way for their ultimate redemption in their ancestral Land."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

DIV The life and thought of a forceful figure in Israel’s religious and political life /div

Teshuvah means "return." It is the return to God, The return to health, The return to our soul, The return to the universe, The return to a mended planet, The return to happiness, The return to home. Lights of Teshuvah is the quintessential work of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), first Chief Rabbi of the holy land, who was a Talmudic genius, a communal leader, a saintly personality, an impassioned visionary, a fighter for social justice, a poet and-most of all-a mystic. He was also a deeply original thinker, the breadth, inclusive spirit and transcendent ecstasy of whose teachings embrace the entirety of creation. Rabbi Kook was a poet of the soul and a spokesperson for a complete human spirit that embraces contradiction, that reconciles the poles of this-worldly and other-worldly experience. His writings celebrate the union of legalism and poetry, particularism and universalism, faith hidden in atheism and atheism hidden in faith, the spirit revealed from the flesh, and beauty revealed through ugliness. Rabbi Kook sang of universal creativity, of an unceasing fecundity that is the natural song of all being. He championed the poetic and creative spirit within each individual. "Every time our heart beats with a true expression of spirituality," he wrote, "every time a new and exalted thought is born, we hear the likeness of a Godly angel's voice at the doors of our soul asking that we allow him entry so that he may appear to us in the totality of his beauty." Ultimately, Rabbi Kook's robust message is one of life and growth, hope and optimism. "Death is a false phenomenon," he taught, and "to the degree that the quantity of movement toward wholeness grows, evil decreases and goodness is revealed." ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR Yaacov David Shulman is the author, translator and editor of fifty books of Jewish spiritual and literary meaning. His translations of Rav Kook are available at ravkook.net, and his latest work is available at dotletterword.com. For a full listing of his work, visit his Amazon author's page or shulman-writer.com. You may reach him at yacovdavid@ gmail.com.

"In truth, all darkness is merely diminished light" (Orot Hakodesh II, p. 455).This profoundly optimistic statement can serve as the summation of the teachings of a remarkable thinker of the twentieth century, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook (1865-1935), first Chief Rabbi of the holy land, was a Talmudic genius, a communal leader, a saintly personality, an impassioned visionary, a fighter for social justice, a poet and-most of all-a mystic. He was also a deeply original thinker, the breadth, inclusive spirit and transcendent ecstasy of whose teachings embrace the entirety of creation. Rav Kook's teachings are exalted, piercing and universal. "From the well of kindness," he proclaims, "your love for humanity must burst forth-not as an arbitrary obligation, for then it would lose the most clear aspect of its brilliance, but as a powerful movement of the spirit within you."Rav Kook was a poet of the soul and a spokesperson for a complete human spirit that embraces contradiction, that reconciles the poles of this-worldly and other-worldly experience. His writings celebrate the union of legalism and poetry, particularism and universalism, faith hidden in atheism and atheism hidden in faith, the spirit revealed from the flesh, and beauty revealed through ugliness.Rav Kook's writings are the gifts of a universal teacher. Although he is principally known to the English-speaking world for his teachings on repentance and Zionism, he was a polymath who addressed every possible topic, and always brilliantly: poetry and war, divine immanence and evolution, social justice and aesthetics. All of these caught his attention and were refracted through his ever-searching mind and soaring soul.Rav Kook sang of universal creativity, of an unceasing fecundity that is the natural song of all being.He championed the poetic and creative spirit within each individual. "Every time our heart beats with a true expression of spirituality," he wrote, "every time a new and exalted thought is born, we hear the likeness of a Godly angel's voice at the doors of our soul asking that we allow him entry so that he may appear to us in the totality of his beauty."Ultimately, Rav Kook's robust message is one of life and growth, hope and optimism. "Death is a false phenomenon," he taught, and "to the degree that the quantity of movement toward wholeness grows, evil decreases and goodness is revealed."In an era searching for guideposts, access to Rav Kook's formulations can provide a valuable resource. Note: There is an overlap of material with "Eight Journals: A Sampler."