Cook, Abraham Yitzhak

The early years

Parents came from a family of rabbis. His father, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman, a graduate of the Volozhin Yeshiva came from the Mitnagdim family, mother Zlata Perla from the Lubavitcher Hasid family. My father did not hold any position for a long time, and the family existed on income from the sale of alcoholic beverages, which was occupied by the mother. After the monopoly on trade in vodka was introduced, the family lost their sources of income, and my father began working as a teacher in the yeshiva. The family had four sons and three daughters ^[1] . According to the testimony of Abraham Yitzhak himself, parents argued whether to raise children as Hasidim or their opponents, “mitnagdim,” as a result, both influences took place ^[2] .

As a child, young Abraham Yitzhak showed outstanding abilities, at the age of 9, his father took him out of the heder , since he had outgrown all the teachers, and began to study it himself. By age 11, Abraham Yitzhak wrote his first book - Comments on the Psalms (Theilim). At 13, he moved to Lyutsin to his mother’s uncle, Rabbi Eliezer Don-Ihe, studied with him and Rabbi Jacob Rabinovich. In 1880 he returned to Mane, studied with his father and Reuven Halevi - Rabbi of Dvinsk ( Daugavpils ). 1883 in Smorgon with Rabbi Chaim Abraham Shapiro. From 1884 to 1888, he continued his studies at the Volozhin yeshiva, the central yeshiva of Lithuanian Jewry with Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin , a supporter of religious Zionism, on the recommendation of a future father-in-law, the latter gave Abraham Yitzhak the title of rabbi ( smikh ). In yeshiva, Yosef Dov Soloveichik (Beit Alevi) , who was a staunch opponent of all forms of Zionism, also taught. There, Rav Cook came up against the ideas of Haskala and secular Zionism . Rav Cook was distinguished by a love of Hebrew, and already there he wrote poems on it. In addition, he wrote a successful biographical essay about the head of Yeshiva Volozhin N. Ts. J. Berlin ^[3] .

In 1885, at the age of twenty-one, he married the nineteen-year-old Bat Sheva Alta, daughter of Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinovich-Teomim, Rabbi Panevezys , also called the acronym ADERET (1843-1905). Adereth had a strong influence on Rabbi Cook, and they were spiritually close all his life. The wedding took place at the bride's place of residence, and the young ones remained to live in her family and with the support of the latter. In Panevezys, Rabbi Cook studied with his father-in-law and learned from him how to manage the community. There, Rabbi Cook studied Kabbalah under the Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak Rabin. Since Rabbi Cook had already had successful journalism experience, he decided to publish a Torah magazine, Heb. עיטור סופרים (Ornament of scribes) ", which would be to promote the unity of religious Zionists, non-Zionists, Hasidim and non-Hasidim. I managed to release two numbers. ^[4] .

In the house of the father-in-law reigned very constrained conditions; Aderet himself was forced to sleep in his office on old chairs. In 1888, the daughter of Frida Khan was born to Rav Cook, and the tightness became completely unbearable. In the same year, Rabbi Cook received an invitation to take the post of Rabbi Zheimeli . Rav Cook did not really want to occupy a position related to public work, but under the influence of the famous rabbi Hafets-Khaim, who loved him, and agreed, he agreed. He was 23 years old. Khafets-Chaim continued to take part in the fate of Rabbi Cook and sympathized with him. So, in 1923, Khafets-Khaim left the meeting of the congress Agudat Israel in protest against attacks on Rabbi Kuk.

In Jaimeli, the family befell: Batsheva-Alta, the wife of Rabbi Cook, died, leaving him with a year and a half daughter in her arms. The Adereta family, who shortly before that had lost another daughter, invited her son-in-law to her. Cook lived in Panevezys for two months and returned to Jaimeli, and left his daughter with Aderet. The latter proposed to Rabbi Cook again to marry, now on Raise-Rivka, daughter of the late twin brother Aderet Zvi-Yeuda Rabinovich. Rav Cook postponed a new marriage and focused on the Torah and the duties of the rabbi. In 1891, Rav Cook published the first major work on halacha (Jewish religious law) in Warsaw, it was a book about the fulfillment of the Tefillin commandment (phylactery) under the title “Havash pe'er” (“Covering the Head with Beauty”). Rabbi Cook himself had three pairs of Tefillin for the careful fulfillment of this commandment as a gift from his father-in-law: according to Rashi , according to Rabein There, and another pair of small size to wear constantly. After this book, Cook took up the composition “Ein Ay” (“Eye of Abraham Yitzhak”) - a commentary on Haggadot (Talmudic traditions) .

There, Rabbi Cook wrote his first article on Kabbalah , the content of which he saw in a dream that he considered prophetic. In addition, he studied Kabbalah with various other authorities, such as Shlomo Elyashiv , the author of the book “Leshem, Shvo ve'ahlama” (“Opal, Agate and Amethyst” (from the breastplate )), grandfather J. Sh. Elyashiva ^[5] .

After a year of widowhood, Cook agreed to the proposal of the former father-in-law to marry Raise-Rivka, the cousin of the late wife. In 1889, the only couple was born the only son of Zvi Yehud , named after his mother’s early dead grandfather ^[6] . In 1895, Cook had a plan to publish the journal Shalom La'am (Peace to the People), the plan was not realized, one article for the magazine appeared in print after the death of Rabbi Cook.

Cook made strong friendships with the rabbi of the neighboring city of Bauska, Mordechai Eliasberg , a prominent member of the Hovevei Zion Zionist movement. After the death of Eliasberg in 1889, Rav Cook delivered a funeral speech in Bauska. The young rabbi liked the community, and there was talk of inviting him to the community. This took place, however, later, in 1895 . During his stay in Bauska, Rabbi Kuk again became a father - the daughter of Batya-Miriam was born. In Bauska, Cook approached Bnei Zion (Sons of Zion), a branch of the Zionist organization, and even organized a society of Zionists living on the Torah, which culminated in the appearance of Tipheret Bahurim (The Beauty of the Young Men). Within the framework of this organization, the works of the founder of orthodox modernism Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch were studied; so Rabbi Cook got acquainted with the Gaskal movement. In the same period, Cook first wrote an article outlining his Zionist views, although not going as far as later works ^[7] .

Palestine

In 1904, Adereth (the former father-in-law of Cook Rabinovich-Teomim) became the rabbi of Jerusalem. A year later, he sent Cook himself an invitation to take the post of Rabbi Yafo and New Ishuv (the Jewish population of the Land of Israel ).

1914 found Cook in Europe on a trip to the congress of Agudat Israel , because of the outbreak of war, the Russian national Cook could not return back to the Land of Israel under the rule of a hostile Turkey. Rav Cook was appointed rabbi in London . During this period, disagreements of Rabbi Cook with the movement of Agudat Israel began . At the same time, he argued with the leaders of the Mizrahi movement. On the basis of his ideas, Degel Jerushalaim tried to create a movement, but the movement was not widespread. The followers of Rabbi Cook eventually sided with the Mizraha movement, becoming the most influential movement in it.

In 1919 he returned to Mandatory Palestine. He was invited to the post of rabbi of Jerusalem (1919). In 1920, at the Congress of Rabbis of Mandatory Palestine, he was elected the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi. As a result, Rabbi Yosef Haim Zonenfeld , who had a negative attitude towards Zionism , refused to recognize the authority of the chief rabbinate and in the same year created and headed Ed Hareed , a separate religious community with a separate school and kashrut system . During his life in Jerusalem, Cook created the Yeshiva Merkaz aRav , which became the main educational institution for the training of rabbis and public figures of a national religious orientation.

In the last years of his life, he actively participated in the acquittal of Stavsky , accused by representatives of Hagana in the murder of Chaim Arlozorov ( 1933 ).

He died in 1935 . Tens of thousands accompanied him on his last journey, among which were all the major rabbis and public figures.

• Places associated with the name of Rabbi Cook
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  Jerusalem, st. Rabbi Cook, a sign at the intersection with st. Neviim

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  General modern view of Rav Cook Street in Jerusalem

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  To the house of Rabbi Cook in Jerusalem, next to the house of the doctor Tycho

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  Beit David District of Jerusalem, where Rabbi Cook lived

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  To the house of Rabbi Cook in Jerusalem

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  View of Rabbi Cook's house in Jerusalem, entrance

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  View of the house in Jerusalem from the back

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  Rabbi Cook Street in Bnei Brak, the inscription reads: the chief rabbi and the person who strengthened the spirit of the first inhabitants of Bnei Brak

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  Mossad HaRav Cook Publishing House in Jerusalem

Family

The rabbi was married twice: the first time on Bat Sheva Alta, the deceased daughter of the rabbi Eliyau David Rabinovich-Teomim, the second time on his niece Reise-Rivka, the daughter of Zvi-Yeuda Rabinovich, the twin brother of Eliyahu David ^[6] . From the first marriage , the daughter of Frida-Khan ^[8] was born in 1888 , who married her uncle, Israel Rabinovich ^[9] . From the second wife, the rabbi had three children: the son of Zvi Yehud (1889-1982) ^[10] , (who occupied the post of the head of Yeshiva Merkaz aRav after the death of his father), the daughter of Esther Yael ^[9] , who died in an accident at the age of 12 ^[11] and the daughter of Batya-Miriam ^[12] (the wife of the rabbi Eliyahu Raanan ).

Kabbalah as the basis of teaching

The foundation of the teachings of A.I. Cook is Kabbalah , which, in fact, forms the basis of religious Zionism. The followers of the school r. Cook is by far the largest religious group in Israel. .

Kabbalah, in the view of r. Cook, is the "Dialogue of God with the Jewish people." He considers the Jewish people as a single organism (and uses the conceptual apparatus of Kabbalah to understand the dynamics of social processes within the people, that is, gives a “sociological projection of Kabbalah”). However, p. Cook does not consider people as "initially empty vessels that do not have their own content and are filled only with the light that they perceived from above ," but emphasizes the personal character of each, its unique I, the individual self and the people’s I. According to this approach, only by realizing the creative potential of one's “I” do people and people gain the meaning of their life.

Rabbi Cook's Concept of Dialogue with God

Rabbi Cook explains that in the issue of understanding life as a Dialogue with God in Judaism there are not one (the usual level of monotheism), but two central ideas. The first is the above idea of ​​an individual dialogue between a person and God; and the second idea is a nationwide dialogue between man and God, that is, the same thing, but at the level of not only the individual, but also the people. In other words, a people as a whole in all their generations is also a Person, a people has freedom of choice, can do good or bad, can act - and its decisions and actions are that word that the people want to say to God, and that happens to the people, there is the word of God addressed to him. And if in an individual case the Dialogue develops within the framework of an individual biography, then in the national plan, the Dialogue unfolds over many centuries of national history.

And since the Dialogue with God is not primarily our words and our prayers, but our actions, in order for the people to enter into a full-fledged dialogue with God, the people need the opportunity to act as a whole, and for this we need a national body , a national body, one or another form of state, without it a dialogue cannot be complete. (In the same way as if a person’s soul does not have a body shell, that is, “the soul is in the afterlife”, then it cannot conduct a full-fledged dialogue with God, as it cannot make decisions and act).

As applied to the Jewish people, it follows that Zionism and the creation of the State of Israel return the Jewish people to a full-fledged national dialogue with God. The main religious significance of the State of Israel is not that Shabbat and Kashrut are respected in Israel, for all their importance, but that the very creation of the State forces the Jewish people to make decisions and act as a whole, and this brings to life a nation-wide dialogue with God. Nationwide actions create a nationwide responsibility; and this not only promotes the people and educates them, but also makes it possible to realize the “national level of monotheism” in order to further transmit them to humanity.

Rabbi Cook explains that the relationship between the ideas of individual and nationwide dialogue with God has changed over the course of the four thousand-year history of the Jewish people. In the beginning, in the era of the forefathers and the gifts of the Torah, both of these ideas were laid, and in the time of Tanakh (until the 5th century BC), these two types of dialogue manifest themselves and develop. However, all of humanity as a whole could not immediately perceive both of these levels of the Dialogue, it was not yet ready for this. Therefore, during the Second Temple, the awareness of individual dialogue is preserved in Jewish culture, and the feeling of a nationwide dialogue with God is gradually being destroyed, so that by the end of the Second Temple era it almost completely disappears (as a result, the Jewish state collapses). It was at this point that Judaism emanated from Christianity, which brings the idea of ​​monotheism to humanity at the level of an individual dialogue with God, and it begins to spread Jewish ideas throughout humanity. Further, Islam connects to this work, which carries the ideas of monotheism of another part of humanity. The Jewish people, having gone into exile and dispersion, almost completely lose the level of a nationwide dialogue with God and concentrates on correcting themselves on an individual level.

The loss of the national level of the Dialogue is also the reason why the Jewish people could not make such a contribution to world civilization in the era of the diaspora, from the 3rd to the 19th centuries, for more than one and a half millennia, which would be comparable to our contribution to civilization during our lives in the Country of Israel from the XIV century BC. e. to the 2nd century AD e., expressed in the creation of the Bible, which laid the spiritual foundations of Western culture.

In our time, according to Rabbi Cook, these processes have come to an end, that is, humanity has gradually digested the idea of ​​monotheism at the level of an individual dialogue with God, this has become clear to humanity as a whole, and the Jews have corrected themselves on an individual level during this time. The time has come, he said, to begin transmitting to mankind a second portion of the divine light. In order to make this possible, Zionism arose, which is building the state of Israel, and the Jewish people again fall into a situation of a national dialogue with God. And although Zionism did not plan this at all, and despite the fact that the Jewish people, at least on a conscious level, often do not want it, the people are forced (that is, the existence of the State of Israel and what happens to it makes it) begin to lead and gradually become aware of this dialogue with God, then to pass it on to humanity. This will manifest the further realization of the Jewish mission (or, equivalently, Jewish chosenness), which, as our prophet Isaiah puts it to us, is to be a “lamp for the peoples of the world”, to advance humanity.

In addition to the national level of dialogue with God, Rabbi Cook also gives us an idea of ​​the Dialogue of God with humanity as a whole, but this “universal dialogue with God” does not cancel, but complements the nationwide dialogue of each nation, and can only be built on its basis.

The Concept of Continuing Revelation

If God conducts a dialogue with the people as a whole, and even more so with the whole of humanity (and not just separate dialogues with each individual), then this is one common dialogue throughout the history of the people, lasting in all its generations. And if this is a truly lively dialogue, then in this dialogue God must continue to say something new to the whole people that was not previously open to people. (If God does not say anything new, then in fact there is no dialogue, but there is only an imitation of dialogue on the part of God - in which the believer does not suspect him). In an individual dialogue, a new one is opened for an individual, in a national dialogue, a new one for the whole world. Иными словами, из идеи общенационального диалога естественным образом следует концепция Продолжающегося Откровения, идущего в самом ходе исторического процесса. Для этого Откровения совсем не обязательны чудеса или пророки; Бог говорит с евреями в самом ходе истории, в ходе развития цивилизации, через то, что происходит с народом и с человечеством.

Но если рассматривать ход истории, развитие культуры и цивилизации как Продолжающееся Божественное Откровение — это означает, что у евреев есть не один источник Откровения (как обычно считается в религии), а два. Первый источник откровения — это исходное раскрытие Божественности, происходящее при возникновении религии — при праотцах, и Даровании Торы на горе Синай; и содержание этого Откровения передается нам через традицию. Но кроме этого «исходного Откровения» есть ещё и «текущее» Продолжающееся откровение. Бог не устранился из истории, Он продолжает говорить с еврейским народом и человечеством; и это Откровение проявляется в ходе развития всех аспектов культуры, науки, этики, общества, социума и государства. Таким образом, это развитие не только не только имеет духовную ценность, но и более того — содержит в себе Откровение; и поэтому евреи должны постоянно стараться понять, что именно Бог в ходе истории хочет сказать им.

При этом, разумеется, нельзя отбросить ничего из Исходного Откровения — ведь оно представляет собой слово Бога, а Божественное Слово не отменяемо. Но и нельзя отвернуться также и от Продолжающегося Откровения, раздающегося в ходе истории — ведь религиозные люди не хотят пренебречь тем, что Бог хочет им сказать. Поэтому они должны полностью сохранить все аспекты религии (= ортодоксальность), и при этом воспринимать то духовно новое, что открывается в мире (= модернизм), и стараться интегрировать Исходное Откровение с Продолжающимся Откровением (= ортодоксальный модернизм).

Суметь интегрировать эти два вида откровения так, чтобы не потерять ни того, ни другого — это необычайно сложная и творческая задача, ввиду которой творческий импульс (а творчество, наверное, есть самый Божественный аспект человека как «образа и подобия Бога», и неслучайно первое описание Бога, которое дает нам Тора в самом начале книги Бытия, это «Бог как Творец») — инсталлируется в самую сердцевину религиозного мироощущения.

Ортодоксальная модернизация и программа развития иудаизма

Раввин Кук не только декларирует необходимость ортодоксальной модернизации, но он также даёт схему этой модернизации и разрабатывает её механизм. Этот процесс развития иудаизма путём «извлечения искр Божественного света из современных нерелигиозных идеологий». Более того: раввин Кук даже дал свою программу развития иудаизма на ближайший исторический период, порядка пары столетий. Подобная вещь — разработка программы развития религии — является совершенно уникальной.

Видение мессианского избавления

Раввин Ц.-Г. Калишер , провозвестник идеи религиозного сионизма ( 1860 год ), рассматривал создание еврейского государства как начальную стадию мессианского процесса. Тем самым, уже в его подходе концепция « Машиаха » становится не только эсхатологической, но и возвращается в рамки текущей истории. Однако, в учении раввина Кука проблема соотношения реального «светского» сионистского движения и мессианского процесса получает гораздо более широкую разработку.

Основные элементы революционных идей раввина в этой области следующие:

а) Концепция двух стадий мессианского процесса — Машиах Бен-Иосеф и Машиах Бен-Давид.

б) Динамика соотношения религиозных и нерелигиозных групп в сионизме и в процессе развития Государства Израиль ( Арфилей Тоhар § 247).

в) Понятие «Мессианский свет», как категорию «Хесед», дающий возможность положительно оценить всевозможные различные течения в современной жизни (Арфилей Тоhар § 184).

г) Машиах как стадия развития еврейского народа. Анализируя стих из пророка Иеремии «Машиах — дыхание уст наших…», рав Кук разрабатывает концепцию, согласно которой приход Машиаха — это не «вмешательство извне», а собственное продвижение.

Текст некоторых изданий подвергся редакции учеников рава Кука, в некоторых случаях смягчивших формулировки. Некоторые письма и дневники были сданы из тех же соображений в архив ^[13] .

Цикл «Орот»

Основные взгляды раввина Кука, посвященные философии иудаизма, еврейскому национализму, этике, проблемам современного общества.

• Сборник «Орот» («Источники света»)
• Сборник «Орот ха-Кодеш» («Светильники святости»)
• Сборник «Орот ха-Тшува» («Светильники раскаяния»)
• Сборник «Орот ха-Тора» («Светильники Торы»)
• Сборник «Орот ха-Эмуна» («Светильники веры»)
• Сборник «Орот ха-Тфила» («Светильники молитвы»)
• Сборник «Орот ха-Микдаш» («Светильники Храма»)
• Сборник «Орот ха-Невуа» («Светильники пророчества»)
• Сборник «Орот ха-Раяа» («Светильники рава Кука»)
• Сборник «Орот ха-Ханука» («Светильники хануки»)

Философия, мораль и Аггада

• «Мусар авиха» («Моральное учение отца твоего»)
• «Эйн Айя» — комментарии к талмудическим аггадот из трактатов Брахот , Зраим и Шаббат .
• «Арфилей тоhар» («Облака святости») перевод избранных отрывков на русский язык см.
• Дневники и письма. Некоторые части до сих пор не изданы по решению учеников автора ^[14]
• Сборники статей, особенно «Шмона квацим» («Восемь сборников»)
• «Рош милин» («Начало слов»)
• «Хазон ха-Цомхонут веха-Шалом» («Мечта о вегетарианстве и мире») — о вегетарианстве.
• «Олат ха-Раяа» («Жертва всесожжения от рава Кука») — комментарий к еврейскому молитвеннику .

Талмуд , Галаха

• «Хаваш пе'ер» («Покрывающий голову красой») — о выполнении заповеди Тфилин (филактерии) . Первая книга рава Кука по галахе.
• «Шабат ha-Арец» («Субботний год для земли») — взгляд раввина Кука на соблюдение законов седьмого года.
• «Мишпат ха-коэн» («Суд коэна») — законы, связанные с Землёй Израиля
• «Да'ат ха-коэн» («Суд коэна») — законы, связанные с томом Йоре Деа из кодекса « Шулхан арух »
• «Бе'ер Элияу» («Колодец Элияу») — законы, связанные с томом Хошен Мишпат из кодекса « Шулхан арух », комментарий на комментарий Виленского гаона к Хошен Мишпат
• «Хуккат ха-Арец» («Закон земли») — законы, связанные с запретом на Килаим (смешанные посадки)

• Кук, Авраам Ицхак. Heb. ‏ Орот ‏‎ (Огни) = ивр. ‏ אורות ‏‎. — Палестина : Моссад аРав Кук, 1921. — Т. 1. — 192 с. (иврит)
• Rozenak, Avinoam. Rav Cook = Heb. הרב קוק . - Jerusalem: Merkaz Zalman Shazar letoldot Israel, 2006 .-- ISBN 965-227-220-5. (Hebrew)
• Pinch Polonsky . Rav Avraham-Yitzhak Cook. Personality and teaching . - Mahanaim- Beit aRav, 2006 .-- 570 p.

• Cook Avraham Yitzhak ha-Kochen - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
• Biography r. Cook on the Mahanaim site
• Rav Avraham-Yitzhak ha-Cohen Cook and the philosophy of religious Zionism on the site of “ Mahanaim ”
• Rabbi biography on the Toldot Yeshurun website
• Articles and translations from Rabbi Cook on the Arizal Living Kabbalah website
• Articles and translations from Rabbi Cook on the site "Hasidus in Russian"
• Rav Abraham-Yitzhak ha-Cohen Cook. Translations and comments on the Blackberry-books website