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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