| AdminHistory | Born in Greiva, Latvia, son of Rabbi Shelomoh Zalman Kook and his wife, Faigah Leah, 1865; attended academies of Volozhin (1884-1886) and Ponovezh (1887-1888); appointed rabbi of Zaumel, Lithuania, 1888, and Bausk, Lithuania, 1895; married Batsheva Rabinowicz-Teumim; married Raiza Rivka Rabinowicz-Teumim, 1890; emigrated to Palestine, becoming rabbi of Jaffa and surrounding towns, 1904; visited Europe to participate in a conference of Agudat Israel, 1914, where he was stranded by the outbreak of the First World War and set up home in Switzerland; appointed rabbi of the Spitalfields Great Synagogue (Machzike Hadath), London, 1916; returned to Jaffa, 1919, and appointed chief rabbi of Jerusalem; Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine, 1921-1935; set up Merkaz ha-Rav yeshivah in Jerusalem, 1924; combined mysticism with philosophy as well as an interest in social questions and advocated the synthesis of religious and secular studies; identified with the Zionist movement, although often critical of it, viewing Zionism as a process of redemption, of repentance, and of an overall Jewish renaissance; supported foundation of the Hebrew University; sought to promote religious-secular understanding; died 1935. Publications include: 'Eder ha-Yekar' (1906); 'Shabat ha-Arets' (1910); 'Degel Yerushalayim' (1918); 'Orot' (1920); 'Igerot ha-Re'ayah (1923); 'Orot ha-Teshuvah' (1925); 'Erets Hefets' (1930);and the posthumously published 'Mishpat Kohen' (1937); 'Da'at Kohen' (1942); 'Orot ha-Kodesh' (1963-1964); and 'Shemonah Kevatsim' (1999). |