5. Tishrey 5777. Kuuntelin juuri Israelista puheen, jossa muisteltiin rabbi Hananin opetusta ja mainittiin louksim, että Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kookin (1865- 1935) opetus on Israelin maan lakia. Olen saanut ortodoksijuutalaiselta ystävättäreltäni kymmeniä vuosia sitten Jerusalemista pienen vihkosen hebreaksi ja siinä kerrotiin rabbi A.I. Hookista ja hänen opetuksistaan.
LÄHDE: Dr. Arnols M. Eisen.
Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935) was the first Ashkenazic chief rabbi
of the Palestine mandate, among other achievements. He is considered
one of the fathers of religious Zionism. The following article examines
his Zionistic beliefs. Reprinted with permission from The Land of Israel: Jewish Perspectives, edited by Lawrence A. Hoffman (The University of Notre Dame Press).
Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel], Kook wrote, was the
spatial center of holiness in the world, radiating holiness vertically
to the Jews who lived upon the Land as well as horizontally to other
portions and peoples of the earth. The spirit of the Land was entirely
pure and clean, while spirit elsewhere was mired in kelipot, or “husks” of impurity. The air of the land really did “make one wise,” as the Rabbis had said.
In
a typical elevation of sociology to theology, Kook argued that the
Jewish imagination outside the Land had become stunted and even
deformed. The cause was not merely assimilation to Gentile cultures
possessed of far less light and holiness than Israel. In addition, the
Jews had depleted over two millennia the store of creativity carried
away with them into exile. During their absence, the flow of spirit had
ceased; its gradual diminishing was responsible for the character of galut
[Diaspora] life. Realizing these facts, the Jews had grasped the
urgency of return. Moreover, since the entire world was poor in holiness
and sunk in wickedness, it was utterly dependent upon the Jews for a
renewal of light and spirit. Israel’s return to the Land would thus mark
the end of a worldwide era of darkness and initiate the redemption of
all humanity.
It is astounding to react such claims in a 20th-century work.
Instead of engaging in apologetic, Kook merely notes that the unique
qualities of the Holy Land cannot be comprehended by reason. Once his
assumptions have been granted, however, they legitimate a powerful
critique of galut life and galut Judaism, and sanctify political
activities and conceptions that would otherwise have been unacceptable.
The Jewish spirit meant to guide the rest of creation had sunk to
imitation of “the uncircumcised” Gentiles, while the Jewish body,
sorely neglected in exile, had suffered a comparable impoverishment The
full and varied character of Jewish life could not achieve expression,
given oppression and exposure to foreign winds.
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