3rd of Elul – 87th Anniversary of Rav Kook's Passing
„And from the imprints of my thoughts, which will gather into flocks, my letters will be taken and become sayings; and the sayings in a booklet will become books; and the books, in every city, will be scattered abroad.”From Reish Milin
On the 3rd of Elul 5695 (1935), after a prolonged struggle with cancer, the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel passed away, the one who came to be called by his students simply "the Rav." This is how he asked to be called, and he insisted that no superfluous titles of honor be added to his name. The "maxim" we chose today was written by Rav Kook out of a faith and knowledge that accompanied his life, according to which "we shall not be at all frightened by those who frighten us away from the soaring of thought," from the ability to express opinions and positions, to ask questions, to be incisive and true out of pleasantness and respect. Throughout his life the Rav fought for the unity of the Israeli public — the religious, Haredi, and general Jewish community. He sought to shatter the "names of idols" (as he called them in his essay "Masa HaMachanot," written near his death) of "religious and secular," asked that we stop cataloging one another and instead build together the "stature of the human being" in reality. He did not indulge himself or his surroundings in the slightest; he was no "cuddly religious figure," yet his grasp of reality embraced complexity and diverse opinions and positions as an opportunity and as a repair of the world. In recent years we have merited to build an enterprise to make Rav Kook accessible, one who lives today — 86 years after his passing — more than ever. Hundreds of books have been written about his teaching from different directions and angles, explaining something of his so vast and immense figure. Our small part is in "Mishpetei HaRav Kook" — the book, the Facebook page, the Instagram, and the daily WhatsApp groups that try to make the teachings accessible to all who desire them. I am very glad that you — Haredim, religious, and secular, women and men, from Israel and from all over the world — are part of this enterprise, and you are invited to spread further the special teachings of Rav Kook. May the memory of the righteous be a blessing.
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In honor of this special day, 50% off the book Mishpetei HaRav Kook at Yediot Books:
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From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.