INDIVIDUAL SPIRITUALITY AND COLLECTIVE SPIRITUALITY Ari Ze’ev Schwartz. The Spiritual Wisdom of Rav Kook. Urim, 2025. pp. 313, (5). Reviewed by Bezalel Naor This is the author’s second collection of Rav Kook’s writings. (The first was entitled, The Spiritual Revolution of Rav Kook [2018].) The book is divided into two parts: Individual Spirituality […]
In the On Principle Podcast, Episode 103, Portal to Prophecy Rabbi Bezalel Naor discusses”Hadarav”- His Inner Chambers, a collection of Rav Kook’s writings. To listen to the interview, click here: https://jewishpodcasts.fm/onprinciple/80761
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook. Orot ha-Torah. Translated and annotated by Rabbi Chanan Morrison. Whirlwind Press, 2024. Bilingual edition. xxvii, 204 pp. REVIEWED BY BEZALEL NAOR The indefatigable Rabbi Chanan Morrison has now published his translation of Rav Kook’s gem, Orot ha-Torah (Lights of Torah). The book is available in English-only and bilingual editions. Rabbi […]
Theodicy is a philosophical problem that disturbs all religious people. In layman’s terms: Why do bad things happen to good people? The Mishnah (Avot 4:15) records in the name of Rabbi Yannai: “We have no explanation, neither for the serenity of the wicked, nor for the suffering of the righteous.” According to a tradition preserved in the […]
‘Master of Wars, Sower of Righteousness’: The Impact of the Great War upon Rav Kook by Bezalel Naor INTRODUCTION World War One (”the Great War”), which left Rav Kook stranded in Europe, first in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and later in London, England, left a profound impact on the Rav’s thought. An important cluster of […]
Review Essay by Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer The Souls of the World of Chaos by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook Translation, Introduction and Notes by Bezalel Naor Orot/Kodesh 5783/2023 Today is an appropriate day to write this review. It is 3 Elul, Rav Kook’s 88th Yahrzeit. It is also shortly after the end […]
There’s a story that mathematician and physicist John von Neumann was told that besides him, there were only five people in the world that truly understood quantum mechanics. He replied incredulously, “Really, who are they?” I don’t know how many people truly understand the esoteric works of Rav Avraham Kook, but I know Rabbi Bezalel […]
The Souls of the World of Chaos Book Reception & Panel Discussion Panelists include: Rabbi Bezalel Naor, Author, Souls of the World of Chaos Rabbi Mark Gottlieb, Rav, Lev Le’Daas Rabbi Shmuel Braun, Rav, Lev Le’Daas Moderator: Rabbi Alec Goldstein, Founder of Kodesh Press Congregation Lev Le’Daas June 18th, 2023, Teaneck, NJ
Valley Beit Midrash – Rav Kook’s Universalism
What the Straus Center Is Reading — Souls in the World of Chaos Souls in the World of Chaos features a translation, introduction and notes by Bezalel Naor of one of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook’s lesser-known essays, included in the 1950 edition of Orot. The essay first appeared in 1913 and described the Second Aliyah in spiritual […]