How Temple Laws Apply To Modern Israel (Tetzave 2021)

Purchase the Land or Take by Force? (Chayei Sarah 2020)

Does Corruption Taint Israel’s Holiness? (Re’eh 2020)

Will Women Bring Redemption? (Pinhas 2020)

Spirituality Needs Body Builders (Hukat 2020)

Temple Sacrifices Today?! (Tzav 2020)

כנפי רוח - ביני לנדאו ותלמידי הישיבה לצעירים

הולכים לפני המחנה - הרב אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק

Here is a nice film about Rabbi Kook (in Hebrew):

Rabbi Shaar Yashuv Cohen zt"l

It is with great sadness that I heard about the passing of Rabbi Shaar Yashuv Cohen:

Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef Shaar Yashuv Cohen, the Chief Rabbi of Haifa, passed away Friday night at the age of 89.

A noted scholar and veteran from the War of Independence, Rabbi Cohen was a leading rabbinic figure in the National Religious community, with more than 40 years of public service, including more than 30 years as Chief Rabbi of Haifa and 36 years as chief of the local rabbinical court.

Here's a picture that I took of the Rabbi exactly six years ago, on the third of Elul, the yahrzeit of Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook. :

Eulogies at the Merkav HaRav Yeshiva:

Kanfey Ruach - Gideon Levine --- כנפי רוח / גייסטיגע פליגלען - גדעון לוין

Goodbye 5775!

Goodbye 5775! As for 5776, bring it on! May you all be written and sealed for a good year!

Read this semi-prophetic dvar-Torah that Rabbi Kook gave in the Hurva Synagogue.

Orot HaDerech - In the Footsteps of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook

This is very nice:

Justice Clarence Thomas, OBERGEFELL v. HODGES and Rabbi Kook

I saw something interesting today in SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas' dissenting opinion on the OBERGEFELL v. HODGES case. This is what he wrote:

Perhaps recognizing that these cases do not actually involve liberty as it has been understood, the majority goes to great lengths to assert that its decision will advance the “dignity” of same-sex couples.The flaw in that reasoning, of course, is that the Constitution contains no “dignity” Clause, and even if it did, the government would be incapable of bestowing dignity.

Human dignity has long been understood in this country to be innate. When the Framers proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” they referred to a vision of mankind in which all humans are created in the image of God and therefore of inherent worth. That vision is the foundation upon which this Nation was built.

The corollary of that principle is that human dignity cannot be taken away by the government. Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved. Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them. And those denied governmental benefits certainly do not lose their dignity because the government denies them those benefits. The government cannot bestow dignity, and it cannot take it away.

This reminded of one of Rabbi Kook's ideas:

The difference between a slave and a free person is not merely a matter of social position. We can find an enlightened slave whose spirit is free, and a free man with the mentality of a slave.

True freedom is that uplifted spirit by which the individual — as well as the nation as a whole — is inspired to remain faithful to his inner essence, to the spiritual attribute of the Divine image within him. It is that quality which enables us to feel that our life has value and meaning.

A person with a slave mentality lives his life and harbors emotions that are rooted, not in his own essential spiritual nature, but in that which is attractive and good in the eyes of others. In this way, he is ruled by others, whether physically or by social conventions.

Vanquished in exile, we were oppressed for hundreds of years by cruel masters. But our inner soul is imbued with the spirit of freedom. Were it not for the wondrous gift of the Torah, bestowed upon us when we left Egypt to eternal freedom, the long exile would have reduced our spirits to the mindset of a slave. But on the festival of freedom, we openly demonstrate that we feel ourselves to be free in our very essence. Our lofty yearnings for that which is good and holy are a genuine reflection of our essential nature.

Do you think that Justice Thomas is familiar with Rabbi Kook's writings?

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef on Rabbi Kook: "He Was an Angel of the Lord of Hosts"

I saw an interesting video at Kikar HaShabbat. In the video Rabbi Yosef's grandson Rabbi Yaakov Sasson tells his grandfather about a book that disparages Rabbi Kook. Rabbi Sasson protested against what was written and wanted to know what his grandfather's opinion was. Here is what Rabbi Ovadiah said:

כן, בוודאי היה אדם גדול. אסור לדבר עליו. הוא היה צדיק יסוד עולם. חכם יהודה צדקה הלכתי אתו פעם למרכז הרב, היה עושה שמחה תודה, הוא היה רוקד. הוא אמר לי (על הריא"ה קוק. י-כ) 'מלאך ה' צבאות', מלאך ה' צבאות, חכם יהודה צדקה לא היה מהמזרחי

Translation:

Certainly he (Rabbi Kook) was a great man. It is forbidden to speak (badly) about him. He was a righteous man, a foundation of the world, Hacham Yehudah Tzadka, I went with him once to Merkaz HaRav, it was Simchat Torah, he would dance. He told me that (Rabbi Kook) is "An angel of the Lord of Hosts". An angel of the Lord of Hosts. Hacham Yehudah was not from the Mizrachi .

Many people commented on the clip. Some of them mentioned that there is nothing new in the clip, as Rabbi Kook is mentioned in all eleven volumes of Yabi'a Omer (Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef's responsa), where is is referred to as Mara D'Ar'a D'Yisrael, the master of the land of Israel.

Update: Here's the clip:

Hakafot Shniyot: MiShebeirach For Rabbi Ovadia Yosef at Rav Kook's House

IMHO this took place at "Beit HaRav", Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook's house and the former site of the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva, and not at the current Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva. The "MiShebeirach" starts at 2:15:

Teshuvah = Health

From Orot HaTeshuvah, chapter 5:

התשובה היא ההרגשה היותר בריאה של הנפש

Teshuvah is the most healthy feeling of the soul.

Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi is Right!

Intermarriage is a red line that must not be crossed:

Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi, a Bar Ilan University lecturer and brother in-law of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, slammed the government's plan to issue currency with the likeness of Hebrew poet Shaul Tchernichovsky. Turning Tchernichovsky into a “national icon” was a terrible idea and would set a bad example – because of his longtime marriage to a Christian woman, he explained.

Be sure to read the entire article. This part of the article was a revelation for me:

Ben-Artzi compared the issue with that of the struggle by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen Kook in the days before the establishment of the state to block the appointment of Max Nordau as the successor to Theodor Herzl to lead the World Zionist Congress. Nordau was married to a non-Jew who could not be converted.

Amy Winehouse's Legacy to the Jewish People and the World

It's been in the news for a few days: Amy Winehouse passed away at the age of 27.

They say she was a really talented singer. I've never heard her sing. I guess that I will take their word for it.

And she was a Jew.

Among the things I saw on the web concerned her burial. One writer mentioned the fact that she chose to be cremated, something which is clearly against Jewish law. True, however, I think that there is a more important lesson to be learned from the singer/songwriter's tragic life and death.

Our Torah teaches us to guard our souls (see what the Rambam writes in Hilchot Rotze'ach U'Shmirat HaNefesh ch. 13 and in Hilchot De'ot ch. 4). The whole idea of someone abusing his body with drugs is totally anti-Torah. Rabbi Kook mentions in the first chapter of Orot HaTeshuvah that the sins that one commits against his own body by living an unhealthy lifestyle must also be repented for.

I find it mind boggling that people waste their time and money on drugs. Why do something so destructive? Why not embrace life? There is so much to do, so much to learn. So much good can be done with money when used properly.

If young people will learn from Amy Winehouse's early demise this one precious lesson, that will be her greatest accomplishment.

Some Pics From Dimona

I was in the town of Dimona recently. Yeah, that's the place with the nuclear reactor near by. It's a nice town and here are a few pics:





This shot was taken from inside the Yeshiva high school. Nice mural:



This is the exit gate from the Yeshiva high school, with a very educational message written above it:

Third of Elul - Yahrzeit of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook

Today I was at an memorial for the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Kook's passing away. It was held in in the recently reopened Hurva synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City. Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, the dean of Merkaz HaRav spoke first:



Later on, Rabbi She'ar Yashuv Kohen, the Chief Rabbi of Haifa, spoke:



Here's a picture of the synagogue taken from the entrance. Notice that what was left of the synagogue's eastern wall was included in the new building. Speaking from the pulpit is Rabbi Yehoshua Magnes:



And now, lehavdil, is Zionist leader Menachem Usishkin's elegy for Rav Kook, as brought to us by Rabbi Chanan Morrison:

Today, Usishkin announced, the Jewish people is cloaked in deep mourning. One of the preeminent scholars of our generation has departed.

But I will not speak about his greatness in Torah. The speaker after me [Rabbi Meir Berlin] will speak of this. I will speak, not of the Gaon [brilliant scholar] Kook, but of the man, Rabbi Kook....

The first time I heard his name was from that unique individual of our generation, Chaim Bialik. After Bialik's first visit in Eretz Yisrael, he gave me a report of everything he saw. But his greatest enthusiasm was about a Jew whom he had met, then rabbi of a small community in Jaffa. He told me wonders about this man's wisdom, his Torah and breadth of knowledge, and his tremendous expertise. Not only in Torah, but also in all the latest philosophies. And over all of this, Bialik added, hovers a personality of giant stature in its depth, love and dedication, and in its way of relating to the new phenomena in the world.

When I made my second trip to Eretz Yisrael, I knew of course that I must meet this man whose fame precedes him. I then recognized that Bialik's words were true. [Rav Kook] was flowing with ideas - brilliant, sparkling ideas in all aspects of life. When one spoke with him - or more precisely, when he spoke, for it was impossible to have a conversation with him, he would always fill the conversation, while others would listen and absorb - one would gain from him such a wealth of ideas and views, that sometimes one had to struggle to fully grasp their depth. One could not help but be enthralled with the brilliance of his ideas and the beauty of his imagery. After conversing with him, one always left the room with some new view, some new concept, some new insight, whether or not one agreed with him.

Even though his views on life, especially regarding our [national] life in Israel, were original and dazzling, he remained with both feet firmly entrenched in our ancient traditions. He did not move a hair's breadth from the tenets of our fathers and our ancestors. Yet he possessed a radically different approach on how to bring understanding of this tradition to the new and renewed world that confronts us.

First of all, there must be a soul-connection between the previous generation and the new generation. His admiration for youth in general, and particularly the youth living in Eretz Yisrael - youth who are thousands of miles away from his own worldview - this was a father's understanding of his son, a father who wishes to instruct his son and draw him close with insight and love.

Many of you have heard his remarkable reply to a prominent rabbi - a rabbi who criticized him for his cordial relationship with the anti-religious youth. 'How can you join forces with these people in common causes?'

And the Rav responded:
As you know, the Holy Temple had [separate] courtyards for kohanim and for Levites and for regular Israelites and for women. And there was one place called Kodesh HaKodashim, the Holy of Holies, which only the High Priest was allowed to enter once a year, on the holiest day of the year.

All this was true when the Temple was standing. Then there were separate areas for each sector of the nation, and each person knew where he was permitted and where he was forbidden to enter.

However, what do you think it was like when they were building the Temple? Then there were certainly no barriers. The workers went to any place that required their skills. Even into the Holy of Holies. [See Me'ilah 14a: 'They build with the mundane and sanctify it afterward.']

Nowadays, the Rav concluded, we are building the Third Temple. We are in the period of building. There are no - and there must not be any - barriers between the young generation and us, between the religious and the secular. We are all busy with one project; we all work toward one goal. First, let us build the Temple. Afterward we may speak...

This was his philosophy, from the first day that he arrived in the country, until his final day.