Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (1986 – 1935), the celebrated first Chief Rabbi of pre-State Israel, is recognized as one of the most extraordinary Jewish thinkers of his time. His fame as a scholar, poet, rabbinical authority, and great leader was eclipsed by his prominence as a religious mystic. As a mystic he searched for unity in all aspects of the world and of life. He wrote many books on a wide range of subjects, always with a philosophical/kabbalistic frame of reference. He was blessed with a poet’s felicity with language and never had to rewrite anything.
Rabbi Chanan Morrison studied at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva (started by Rav Kook in 1924) for several years and became enchanted with Rav Kook’s writings. Gold From the Land of Israel is a companion to the weekly Torah portion based on the writings of Rav Kook. Rabbi Morrison runs RavKook.n3.net, a website dedicated to presenting the Torah commentary of Rav Kook. Translating any of these writings is an arduous task. Instead, Rabbi Morrison has summarized basic ideas and presented them in a format accessible to the contemporary English language reader.
This book, with several short essays on each parsha, elucidates his thoughts on many fascinating topics, including: Can we reconcile the Torah’s account of creation with modern science? What is the Torah’s view on vegetarianism? What is the purpose of death? Why do bad things happen the Third Temple have animal sacrifices? Who is God? How can one attain joy in serving God? How should we balance our time between Torah study and work? Why must kohanim avoid cemeteries?
These snippets from the vast writings of Rav Kook are indeed gold. Hopefully, the reader will be inspired to seek out the original writings contained in the helpful bibliography.