Rav Kook & Rav Sonnenfeld

Great Rivalries of Jewish History Philip Moskowitz Boca Raton Synagogue R. Avraham Yitzchak Kook

1865 - 1935 Biography of R. Kook

Born in 1865 in Latvia

Received a traditional Jewish education (was a student in Volozhin)

Was close to the Netziv

Was also exposed to non-traditional learning

Kabalah, Tanach, Biography of R. Kook

In 1904, R. Kook comes to Palestine and becomes the of Yafo

Is stuck in during WWI and upon returning to Palestine in 1921 he becomes the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim.

Dies in 1935 Basic Philosophy

R. Kook saw the world through a Kabalistic, redemptive lens

• Sources #1 and #2 - Orot

Relationship to Zionism

• Source 3 - Igeret, letter #473 • Source 5 - Souls of Chaos - 1913 • Source 6 - Eulogy for Herzl - 1904

The role of secular studies

• Source 4 - Igrot, letter #602 • Source 7 - Speech at Hebrew University - 1925 R. 1848 - 1932 Biography of R. Sonnenfeld

Born in Semenitz, Slovakia in 1848

Was orphaned at the age of 6

Went to public school for elementary school and then to in Verbau

A young genius - Source #8 Biography of R. Sonnenfeld

Went to learn in Pressburg with the Ksav Sofer

in 1873, he went with his Rebbe, R. Avraham Shaag, to

In Yerushalayim, R. Shaag, together with R. Shmuel Salant and R. , he tries to preserve Kedusha.

• Ex) 1875 - New library in Yerushalayim

R. Shaag - (1801–1876)

• Outstanding student of Nodah B’Yehuda • “A lion shaag [has roared]; who will not fear?” [Amos 3:8].” • He was a member of the Jewish Congress of 1869 • Outspoken against the Reformers in Hungary • “Here lies a next to his Rebbe” Biography of R. Sonnenfeld

Had a rare ability to submit himself to other sages

Quickly becomes 2nd in command to R. Salant

In 1878, R. Yehoshua Leib Diskin arrives in Yerushalayim from Rumania-Hungary, and brought with him the battles of Europe against modernity and secularization.

R. Diskin becomes a leader in shoring up the city’s defenses against progressive elements

R. Sonnenfeld and R. Diskin become very close. Biography of R. Sonnenfeld In the winter of 1885, R. Sonnenfeld becomes very sick and Yosef was added to his name.

Michael Pines - secular education

• In 1878 was sent by the Montefiore Fund to open a new school. • R. Pines was an accomplished Talmud Chacham and had a broad secular education. • Vision of the new school - “the lot go the city’s residents would vastly improve if there would be progressive schools in in tune with the spirit of the times.”

• in 1882, Diskin declared a cherem against Pines “There is a danger hovering over our Torah observance. I have heard that Michael Pines has established himself a house of prayer and Torah study. But, I have it on reliable authority that he is a heretic and heresy will be taught there. Therefore, it is forbidden to enter that house!”

• At the funeral of the Aderes, anyone who enrolled their children in a prohibited school, couldn't touch the coffin.

• Source #9 Biography of R. Sonnenfeld

R. Shmuel Salant dies in 1909 and begged R. Sonnenfeld to be his successor.

The post of Rav of Yerushalayim remained vacant for more than ten years. This lack of leadership gave voice to the New Yishuv. New Yishuv vs.

Old Yishuv

• Motives for aliyah were religious and spiritual • It had no responsibility for the country’s physical or economic existence.

• Their contribution is Torah study and prayer • Jews in the diaspora had a responsibility to support them. New Yishuv vs. Old Yishuv New Yishuv

• Diaspora assistance was meant to be temporary • the goal was to create a society with a normal economic, self sustaining structure.

• With the second Aliyah - introduced a socialistic orientation and actively anti- religious approach (“We come here to be free of the yoke of Torah and Mitzvos and free of the lies of faith and religion” ~ R. Yosef Chaim Brenner)

• Source #10

R. Kook & R. Sonnenfeld The Historic Trip

In 1913, Rav Kook and Rav Sonnenfeld visit all of the pioneering agricultural settlements in the north and center of Israel.

Sought to address observance of the agricultural laws on secular farms, public Shabbat and kashrut observance, and the character of Jewish education. R. Kook & R. Sonnenfeld Flash Points

1. Zionism

• Avraham, Sarah, and Yishmael (Bereishis 21: 9-10) • Pinchas and Zimri • Source #11 • “We are at war with them and there is no room for compromise. I cant speak peaceably with them; they are my enemies. The rabbi of Jaffa tries to draw them near in all sorts of way, but not me. I suspect them of every sin.” R. Sonnenfeld to Hillel Zeitlin R. Kook & R. Sonnenfeld Flash Points

2. Chief Rabbinate

• Va’ad Hakelali and Va’ad Ha’ir • Forming of the Edah Chareidis • R. Kook - Rabbi of Yerushalayim (Teves 1920)

• R. Sonnenfeld - Rav and Av Beis Din of Yerushalayim (Iyar 1920)

• “Yafer Rav” R. Kook & R. Sonnenfeld Flash Points

3. Kotel controversy -1928

• All chairs and benches must be removed from the Kotel plaza

• Kol Nidrei 1928 - Tensions over the Mechitza

• October 22, 1928 - R. Kook calls for a public day of fasting

R. Kook & R. Sonnenfeld Flash Points

4. Orot - published in 1920 “We were astonished to see and hear gross things, foreign to the entire Torah, and we see that which we feared before coming here, that he will introduce new forms of deviance that our and ancestors could not have imagined…He turns light into darkness and darkness to light…It is to be deemed a sorcerers’s book, and let it be known that it is forbidden to study, let alone rely on all his nonsense and dreams.”