Rabbenu Our Rabbi, Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah Ha-Cohain Kook Ha-Rav Shlomo Aviner © Copyright 5777 All rights reserved. Parts of this publication may be translated or transmitted for non-business purposes. Translated by Rabbi Mordechai Tzion Computer typeset by Rabbi Moshe Kaplan To learn more of Rav Aviner's Torah or subscribe to weekly e-mails: www.ateret.org.il and www.ravaviner.com To order this book: Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim PO BOX 1076 Jerusalem, Israel 91009 Telephone: 02-628-4101 Fax: 02-626-1528 or e-mail: [email protected] Table of Contents Introduction .................................. 5 1. His Younger Years.......................... 7 2. Maran Ha-Rav Kook........................ 15 3. Our Rabbi's Personal Traits.................. 32 4. Students .................................. 73 5. Torah Scholars............................ 80 6. Mitzvot .................................. 102 7. Around the Year.......................... 128 8. Leader .................................. 164 9. Eretz Yisrael - The Land of Israel............ 187 10. Ascending on High....................... 223 Introduction Just as we are obligated to learn from the teachings of our great Rabbis, so too are we obligated to learn from their actions, character traits and practices. The entire Torah and Gemara are full of such teachings. The Gemara instructs us regarding honor, love, and awe of Torah scholars. The essence is certainly the Torah learning and the ethical guid- ance we receive from Torah scholars, but there is also a place to have a personal connection with them and witness their proper conduct. Our Rabbi, Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah, wrote a booklet "Le-Shelosha Be-Elul" about the ways and practices of Maran Rav Kook. Rabbenu Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah, a special emissary of G-d, was sent to us to teach the Nation the meaning of rebirth, the meaning of a Nation living independently in its Land, according to its Torah. He came to remind us of things we had forgotten. Now, with the Nation’s rebirth, these portions of the Torah are likewise experiencing a rebirth. At first, Maran Ha-Rav Kook was alone in his generation, and so too his son, Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah, after him. Slowly, however, disciples gathered to them, and more and more people came and lis- e6E Rabbenu tened, until there were dozens, then hundreds, then thou- sands and hundreds of thousands. Now the Nation is full of their students. We pray that this volume will allow a small glimpse into the teachings and the Torah personality of this towering figure, whom we call "Rabbenu," our Rabbi, Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook. Mordechai Tzion In the heart of Jerusalem between the Walls 1. His Younger Years Our Rabbi was born on the night of Pesach in the year 5651 to Maran Ha-Rav Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Cohain Kook and Ha-Rabbanit Raiza Rivka. He was named Tzvi Yehudah after his mother's father, Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah Rabinowitz-Te'omim, the twin brother of Ha-Rav Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Te'omim, the Aderet (the Rav of Yerushalayim, who was Maran Ha-Rav's father-in-law). With all of our Rabbi's great humility, he well understood his worth and would say: "My soul appeared on the night of the Seder." Our Rabbi was his mother's first-born, but not his father's. During the time when Maran Ha-Rav was Rav of Zoimel, there was a plague and his first wife, Ha-Rabbanit Batsheva Alta, the daughter of the Aderet, died when their daughter, Freida Chana, was one and a half. The Aderet wanted Maran Ha-Rav to marry Raiza Rivka, the daughter of his twin brother, Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah Rabinowitz-Te'omim, Rav of Ragoli, who died in the middle of his life at the age of forty-four. His brother's children were raised in the Aderet's house and were like his own children. The Aderet said to Maran Ha-Rav: "It is a pity for me if with the loss of my daughter I also lose you from being a member of my e8E Rabbenu family. Marry my brother's daughter and you will be my son like before" (Shivchei Ha-Re'eiyah, p. 60). Maran Ha-Rav married his wife's cousin, and our Rabbi and two other sis- ters – Batya Miriam and Esther Yael – were born from this marriage. Our Rabbi was born in Zoimel in the area of Kovno in Lith- uania and then moved with his family to Boisk, next to Riga, where Maran Ha-Rav was appointed Rabbi. He learned Gemara from Ha-Rav Reuven Gutfried (Yedidya), the son-in-law of Rabbi Yoel Moshe Solomon, and Ha-Rav Binyamin Menasheh Levin, author of "Otzar Ha-Geonim," who came to dwell in the shadow of Maran Ha-Rav's Yeshiva in Boisk and then became our Rabbi's personal teacher (Sichot Ha-Re'eiyah, pp. 223, 233-234). Our Rabbi learned Tanach from Ha-Rav Moshe Dr. Zeidel, who also came to receive abundant holiness from Maran Ha-Rav. The essence of his learning, however, was from the mouth of his father, Maran Ha-Rav. Maran Ha-Rav Kook was appointed Rav of Yafo and the surrounding settlements (i.e. Petach Tikva, Rishon Le-Tzion, Gedera, Rechovot, etc.) in the year 5664. After lengthy and exhausting negotiations with the community, the final letter with the travel expenses arrived, and Maran Ha-Rav Kook left a note for his daughter to pick up the letter. But our Rabbi, out of a love of Eretz Yisrael, rushed to get the letter himself in order to receive a letter from Eretz Yisrael. Our 1. His Younger Years e9E Rabbi made Aliyah with his family shortly after his Bar Mitz- vah. When our Rabbi was fifteen, he ascended to Yerushalayim to learn in Yeshivat Torat Chaim in the Old City. Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, Rav of Yerushalayim, Rav Yitzchak Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Israel, and Aryeh Levin, the Tzaddik of Yerushalayim, also learned in the famous Torat Chaim Yeshiva. Yeshivat Torat Chaim On Ta'anit Esther 5728, after the Six-Day War, the students of Mercaz Ha-Rav went to Daven at the Kotel. A student of our Rabbi, who had a car, took him home as usual. It was in the middle of the day and our Rabbi asked: "Don't you have a class now?" He answered: "Yes, but our Sages say that serving Torah scholars is greater than learning." Our Rabbi agreed by his silence. When they were near Sha'ar Shechem, our Rabbi asked to stop. Without saying a word, our Rabbi got out of the car and he began to quickly march on the bridge to go through Sha'ar Shechem when two stu- dents escorted him, one on each side. When he was close to Sha'ar Shechem, he began to run down the stairs and the students followed him. He momentarily stopped where the street splits and he continued on Ha-Gai Street. During that period, there were many Jews on the streets of the Old City. Our Rabbi recognized from a distance a Jew who he knew. e10E Rabbenu They stopped and talked, and our Rabbi pointed toward a particular spot. The Jew said: "I am certain that it is here" and pointed to the entrance of Yeshivat Torat Chaim (which is now the location of Ateret Yerushalayim – formerly Ateret Cohanim). Our Rabbi ran in the direction of the Yeshiva and ascended the stairs. The students asked him: "Ha-Rav, what is going on?" but he did not answer. He stopped in the hall in front of the window, held the bars, pulled himself up as much as he could and looked into the main room for a few minutes. When he came down, the students asked what this was all about. He responded: "I learned Torah here when I was young. This was the Yeshiva of Rabbis Epstein and Winograd. Abba Ha-Rav ztz"l sent me to learn Torah here." It was possible to make out some shtenders and tables with books on them. Everything was covered with ten cen- timeters of gray dust which had accumulated over the last ten years in this place since it had been abandoned. Our Rabbi was completely moved and slowly returned to the car. On the way, he related stories about the period he learned in the Yeshiva. For example, the Rabbis complained to the Turkish authorities that the muezzin was bothering the learn- ing in the Yeshiva, and as a result, the Turkish silenced the muezzin during the classes in the Yeshiva. Finding a place to learn Our Rabbi aided his father in his many public and private matters which he dealt with as Rav of Yafo and the sur- 1. His Younger Years e11E rounding settlements. When it became clear that this was be- coming too distracting to our Rabbi's Torah learning, he moved to the Old City of Jerusalem, hid himself and learned in Yeshivat Porat Yosef. When it was too disturbing there as well, he considered traveling to one of the major yeshivot outside of Israel. He consulted with Maran Ha-Rav Kook and Ha-Rav Binyamin Menasheh Levin and in the end decided to travel to Halberstadt in Germany in order to teach Torah to a group of young men. His good friend, Ha-Rav Dr. Moshe Auerbach, the principle of the "Netzach Yisrael" School in Petach Tivkah, also advised him to go and learn with his brother Ha-Rav Dr. Yitzchak Auerbach, the Rav of Halberstadt. While he was in Halberstadt, our Rabbi taught Gemara, Kuzari and Tanach to the young men (Tzemach Tzvi, letter #21). In order to become closer to these young men in Germany, our Rabbi neatened his beard a little and wore similar clothing to them.