Kook, Abraham Isaac

Kook, Abraham Isaac

▪ chief rabbi of Palestine
born 1865, Greiva, Courland, Latvia
died Sept. 1, 1935, Jerusalem

      Jewish mystic, fervent Zionist, and first chief rabbi of Palestine under the League of Nations mandate to Great Britain to administer Palestine.

      After serving as rabbi in a number of small towns in eastern Europe, in 1904 Kook became rabbi of the seaport city of Jaffa in Palestine, and he established a yeshiva, or Jewish academy, there. During World War I, Kook, who had left Palestine for a visit to Germany, was interned as an alien, but he escaped to England via Switzerland. He became rabbi of the congregation Machzike Hadath in London, where he aroused popular support for the Balfour Declaration (1917), which furnished the basis for the League of Nations Palestinian mandate. After the war, in 1919, Kook was appointed rabbi of the Ashkenazic (German and Polish) communities in Jerusalem and in 1921 was elected chief rabbi of Palestine, a post he held for the rest of his life.

      According to Kook's philosophy of repentance, man's separation from God is not an objective fact but a consequence of human “forgetfulness” of a higher existence. Thus repentance, to be achieved through Torah, can restore man's unity with the divine.

      A mystic by nature, Kook viewed Jewish national revival as part of the divine plan for strengthening faith against the rising tide of heresy. He expounded this philosophy in several cryptic essays, many of which were published posthumously under the title Orot ha-qodesh, 3 vol. (1963–64; “Lights of Holiness”).

      Other important works are Iggerot ha Reʾayah (1962–65; “Letters” [Reʾayah is a play on the letters of his name and the Hebrew word for “vision”]); Orot (1961; “Lights”); Orot ha-Teshuvah (1955; Rabbi Kook's Philosophy of Repentance, 1968); Eretz Hefetz (1930; “Precious Land”); Eder ha-Yekar ve-Ikvei ha-ton (1967; “The Precious Mantle and Footsteps of the Flock”); and (among a number of Halakhic writings) Shabbat ha-Areẓ (1937) and Mishpat Kohen (1966).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Abraham Isaac Kook — (1865–1935) was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halachist, Kabbalist and a renowned Torah scholar. He is known in Hebrew as הרב אברהם …   Wikipedia

  • KOOK (Kuk), ABRAHAM ISAAC — (1865–1935), rabbinical authority and thinker; first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of modern Ereẓ Israel. Born in Greiva (now Griva), Latvia, Kook received the type of Jewish education that was customary in 19th century Eastern Europe. At a very early… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Abraham Isaac Kook — en 1924 Abraham Isaac Kook, né à Grīva, aujourd hui en Lettonie, le 8 septembre 1865, et mort à Jérusalem le 1er septembre 1935, est un rabbin connu po …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Abraham Isaac Kook — Kook am 15. April 1915 Großrabbiner Abraham Isaak Kook (Kuck) (* 8. September 1865 im lettischen Grīva; † 1. September 1935 in Jerusalem), hebräisch ‏הרב אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק‎, HaRav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, auch unter dem Akronym …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Kook (Kuk), Abraham Isaac — (1865–1935)    Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine. Kook was the first legally recognized Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the Land of Israel and is remembered as one of the greatest. His Zionist views aroused opposition among Orthodox colleagues when he… …   Who’s Who in Jewish History after the period of the Old Testament

  • Kook — may refer to:A Yiddish surname meaning look * Abraham Isaac Kook, Chief Rabbi in the British Mandate of Palestine, considered to be Israel s first Chief Rabbi. * Zvi Yehuda Kook, son of the above, prominent Religious Zionist rabbi. * Hillel Kook …   Wikipedia

  • KOOK, SAUL ḤONE BEN SOLOMON ZALMAN — (1879–1955), Israeli Hebrew writer and scholar. Kook, who was born in Grajewe (Poland), was a younger brother of Rabbi Abraham Isaac kook . He studied in yeshivot and with his brother, whom he followed, settled first in Jaffa in 1904, and later… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • A.I. Kook — Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac Kook en 1924 Abraham Isaac Kook, né à Grīva, aujourd hui en Lettonie, le 8 septembre 1865, et mort à Jérusalem le 1er septembre 1935 …   Wikipédia en Français

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