Rav Abraham I. Kook (d. 1935)

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A very great and holy man, whose love for humanity was sterling.

ravkook.net

 

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The ideological conflicts in the human race, among all people, and
particularly among Jews, are based on the issues of morality. Everyone
knows that wisdom and talent refer to capacity, to strengthen the
intellectual or practical capacities. Morality seeks to perfect the human
will that it seek the good. If man's capacity should increase but his will
for the good remain undeveloped, then the increase in his powers can
only lead to disaster. When the love of self rises beyond the equitable
through the loss of moral sensitivity, it is bound to make life more difficult
to the extent that one's powers increase, and this love itself, being without
a proper base in the spiritual, eternal life, will degenerate progressively
to crude and ugly desires. On the other hand, with a good moral state,
which engenders refinement of soul, a higher sense of holiness and a love
for people, it becomes possible for man to structure the limited forces
operative in his humble capacities in such a way that they will engender
good and blessing for him and the world.
It is true that the full benefit will surely come through the complete
union of these two forces, the capacity and the will, in their full state
of excellence. When these join together they will become as one, like
all the forces which manifest themselves to us in the wide domain of
creation, that are united in their source. And the more a person will
grow in knowledge, the more will he recognize the unity of the forces
which manifest themselves in diverse forms . . . This is the most significant
perception of the full unity of capacity and will, as the highest expression
in man's development. But the decisive force in the continuing
development of man, from stage to stage, from generation to generation,
and from epoch to epoch, to the end of time, despite intervening periods
of retreat, is the force of morality and justice. This is the will. It also
stimulates the development of wisdom and talent, which is the realm
of capacity. "The world rests on one foundation, and his name is zaddik"
[the righteous person] (Hagigah 12b).

Essential Writings of A I Kook, by Ben Zion Bokser

 

[rylah]

The ideological conflicts in the human race, among all people, and
particularly among Jews, are based on the issues of morality. Everyone
knows that wisdom and talent refer to capacity, to strengthen the
intellectual or practical capacities. Morality seeks to perfect the human
will that it seek the good. If man's capacity should increase but his will
for the good remain undeveloped, then the increase in his powers can
only lead to disaster. When the love of self rises beyond the equitable
through the loss of moral sensitivity, it is bound to make life more difficult
to the extent that one's powers increase, and this love itself, being without
a proper base in the spiritual, eternal life, will degenerate progressively
to crude and ugly desires. On the other hand, with a good moral state,
which engenders refinement of soul, a higher sense of holiness and a love
for people, it becomes possible for man to structure the limited forces
operative in his humble capacities in such a way that they will engender
good and blessing for him and the world.
It is true that the full benefit will surely come through the complete
union of these two forces, the capacity and the will, in their full state
of excellence. When these join together they will become as one, like
all the forces which manifest themselves to us in the wide domain of
creation, that are united in their source. And the more a person will
grow in knowledge, the more will he recognize the unity of the forces
which manifest themselves in diverse forms . . . This is the most significant
perception of the full unity of capacity and will, as the highest expression
in man's development. But the decisive force in the continuing
development of man, from stage to stage, from generation to generation,
and from epoch to epoch, to the end of time, despite intervening periods
of retreat, is the force of morality and justice. This is the will. It also
stimulates the development of wisdom and talent, which is the realm
of capacity. "The world rests on one foundation, and his name is zaddik"
[the righteous person] (Hagigah 12b).

Essential Writings of A I Kook, by Ben Zion Bokser

I'm left speechless, now words to describe the gratitude for opening this theme.
It's both the most natural section on the board, yet at the same time, the least place I would expect this to appear.

Only question - how did You come at the knowledge of the giant genius that was Rabbi Kook ztz"l?

 

[Skull]

[
I'm left speechless, now words to describe the gratitude for opening this theme.
It's both the most natural section on the board, yet at the same time, the least place I would expect this to appear.

Only question - how did You come at the knowledge of the giant genius that was Rabbi Kook ztz"l?

Always been attracted to Light filled Sages. In this lifetime, it was the Paulist Press book of 1978 on Rav Kook that Bokser also compiled.

 

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The Lights of Faith

Faith in God is not an expression of reason or feeling, but it is the
most basic self-revelation of the soul's essence, which needs to be directed
according to its own disposition. When we do not destroy the path that
is natural for it, it needs no other substantive resources to support it.
It finds everything within itself. At a time when its light is dimmed, then
reason and feeling come to clear a way for it. But even then it must
know its worth, that its aides - reason and feeling - are not of its essence.
And when it will remain fixed in its position, then will reason and feeling
succeed in clearing the way and in finding rational and moral means of
removing the stumbling blocks from its path.
Religious faith - which is a response of God's presence - is illustrated
in the illumination of prophecy and, on a lower level, through the
influence of the holy spirit, though these sometimes also join with reason
and feeling on the path of their manifestation.
It is well to know that one cannot turn to God with reason and
feeling, and certainly not through the experience of the senses. One can
turn to God but with faith alone. Prayer is an expression of faith. Love
and fear (awe) are also expressions of faith. We sometimes speak of "faith
based on sense experience", or "the feeling of faith", and certainly when
we say "the knowledge of faith", and "the rationale of faith", these are
all borrowed terms. Faith in its essence is none of these, but higher than
they. It is not deficient in anything. It embraces in a higher and perfect
unity the most significant and strongest substantive elements in all of these.

 

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Even great knowledge in itself will not be sufficient if it is not also accompanied with the other ethical virtues, without which it is impossible for the truth to be disclosed.

Essential Writings of A I Kook, by Ben Zion Bokser

 

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CHAPTER 1. Religious Zionism and the Global Renaissance of Judaism

Rabbi Kook’s religious revolution is distinguished by the fact that it exists entirely within the framework of Orthodox Judaism, presenting itself as “Modern Orthodoxy.” But what exactly does that mean? Is it not a contradiction in terms? Can one preserve intact all of the religion’s content, laws, and commandments and at the same time modernize?

In order to see how this could possibly be done, we will introduce an analogy from an apparently different sphere altogether. Imagine that we have a painting hanging on the wall, which we gaze at and study for a long time. We study it for a day, a year, ten, a hundred, nearly two thousand years. We have learned the painting by heart, we know its every line and detail, and we believe that we understand its meaning. Then, suddenly, the entire wall is lit up, and we realize it is all one great picture, and that our original painting is merely a fragment of the whole. In that moment, although the painting remains unchanged, all of its meaning changes. We had thought that a person in the painting was sitting alone, but when the wall is illuminated, we see that someone sits opposite him; they converse. This is Modern Orthodoxy: all of the details remain, but the meaning changes – or, rather, becomes clear.

To turn from the analogy back to Judaism: for millennia we thought that Judaism occupied only the “religious sphere,” that science, literature, art, government, and other such “worldly” concerns were not an essential aspect of religion. Rabbi Kook showed us that the whole wall – the universe, all of culture and civilization – is a unified whole to be interpreted in a religious context. He broadened Judaism to the dimensions of civilization – not only “Jewish civilization” (the Jewish life that had taken shape in the Diaspora over the last millennium), but also all of human civilization.

We will examine the ways in which he did this below:
Rabbi Kook's Religious Revolution