3rd of Elul, 90 Years Since Rav Kook's Passing
„The old shall be renewed, and the new shall be sanctified.”From Igrot HaRe'iyah 164
Nine decades since the passing of Rav Kook on the 3rd of Elul, 5695, his voice continues to resound with power. He lived and acted at the very height of a process of national and spiritual revival in the Land of Israel, and before a world undergoing renewal and an unprecedented leap, in its capabilities, its culture, and its wars. Rav Kook saw the beauty in seeking, and also the danger. Out of immense clarity he called: 'The old shall be renewed and the new shall be sanctified.' Neither to flee from tradition nor to abandon progress, but to discover how the two meet and enrich one another. The old reveals new faces, and the new is filled with the light of the generations. Rav Kook's conception is not a middle ground or a compromise. Rav Kook created a revolution in which the eternal Torah illuminates contemporary culture and contemporary culture refines and enlarges the Torah within our souls. Thus is built a living, deep, and inspiring society. A people whose roots are planted in the soil of the past and whose branches blossom toward the skies of the future. Ninety years have passed since the passing of Rav Kook, and his voice grows ever stronger: calling us to revive the old, to sanctify the new, and to build from them the great revival of the people of Israel in its land. Beloved children returning to their soil and reviving the soul.
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From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.