Lectures on the Teachings of Rabbi Kook – Part 1

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook has long been regarded as the shaper of Religious Zionism, and his teachings and thought are studied in wide circles. This book, the first of two parts, presents Rabbi Shagar’s lectures on the teachings of Rabbi Kook, whom he saw as a guide for himself and for the entire public. It discusses central themes in Rabbi Kook’s teaching from Rabbi Shagar’s unique perspectives. Rabbi Kook’s thought is compared with other approaches in Jewish, Zionist and general thought: on the one hand, Rabbi Shagar seeks to clarify its innovation in comparison with Hasidut, which was a central source of inspiration for him; on the other, he compares it with the views of the Mitnagdim. Rabbi Shagar emphasizes the existential dimension of Rabbi Kook’s thought and describes his special path in the service of God, which took shape, among other things, as a response to the enormous changes Judaism faced in the modern era – modernity, the humanist turn, secularization, and the return to the Land and to nature.
The book discusses fundamental issues in Rabbi Kook’s teaching: the conception of the Divine, the teaching of the Land of Israel and its meaning, the attitude to secular people and to secularism, to nationalism and to the State, to the Land and the soil, to Torah study, to prayer, to repentance and more.
Whereas until now Rabbi Shagar was known mainly for dealing with the spiritual questions of the individual, especially in light of Hasidic teaching, here his deep connection to general, public questions, inspired by Rabbi Kook, is revealed. The book offers a contemporary, sincere and open interpretation of Rabbi Kook’s thought, whose importance today cannot be overstated.

Rabbi Shimon Gershon Rosenberg – Shagar (1949–2007) was a Zionist Torah scholar, rosh yeshiva and religious thinker, known as one of the innovators of Hasidic study in our generation and as one who carried on a lively dialogue with existentialist and postmodern thought. He left behind many writings in a variety of branches of Torah and Jewish thought. The publication of his writings in recent years has strengthened his standing as one of the most prominent religious guides of our generation.
This volume is the first in the series “Chochmat Lev”, which presents Rabbi Shagar’s lectures and studies in Jewish thought, which he taught for more than twenty-five years. In his teaching he sought to connect thought to the dilemmas and challenges of the service of God – his own and his listeners’ – emphasizing its existential meaning and out of a searching quest for God.