The Kabbalist Rav Yaakov Moshe Harlap on the Binding of Isaac (For the Ascent of the Soul of Ari Fuld who died ‘al Kiddush Hashem between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, 5779) Translated by Bezalel Naor The Sages said: Recite before me on Rosh Hashanah [verses of] Malkhuyot (kingship), [verses of] Zikhronot (remembrances), and [verses […]
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the appearance of the classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a collaborative work by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. The film traces the evolution of mankind “from ape to angel,” starting with prehistoric hominids and ending with the Star Child, with much attention lavished […]
King, Prophet and Priest (Based on the Exegesis of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra to Song of Songs 7:5) For the Third of Ellul, Yahrzeit of Rav Kook zt”l פרק שירה מאת בצלאל נאור לשלושה באלול–יום השנה של רבינו הראי”ה קוק זצ”ל צוארך כמגדל השן,[1] עיניך בריכות בחשבון על שער בת רבים, אפך כמגדל הלבנון צופה […]
בצלאל נאור מצות ישיבת ארץ ישראל א] רבי אבא הוה קא משתמיט מיניה דרב יהודה, דהוה קא בעי למיסק לארעא דישראל, דאמר רב יהודה, כל העולה מבבל לארץ ישראל עובר בעשה, שנאמר “בבלה יובאו ושמה יהיו עד יום פקדי אותם נאום ה’ [והעליתים והשיבותים אל המקום הזה]” [ירמיה כז, כב]. אמר, איזיל ואשמע מיניה […]
The Torah commanded that the first fruits (bikkurim) be placed in a basket and brought to the site of the future Temple. There, the basket is presented to the kohen or priest and the owner recites a lengthy narrative (mikra bikkurim) which recounts the collective history of the People of Israel. The narrative commences with the tribulations […]
Messiah’s Donkey of a Thousand Colors To the State of Israel on Its Seventieth Birthday In Perek Helek, the final chapter of Tractate Sanhedrin (98a), famous for its discussions of eschatological issues, we find a focus on the speed of Messiah’s arrival (or lack thereof). Rabbi Joshua ben Levi juggles two sets of seemingly opposite prophecies. In the […]
The Universalism of Rav Kook by Bezalel Naor Stereotypes are difficult to overcome. Until recently, the stereotype of Rav Avraham Yitzhak Hakohen Kook (1865-1935) was of a nationalist (perhaps even ultranationalist) who lent his rabbinic aegis to the Zionist enterprise in the first third of the twentieth century. In his seminal work Orot [Lights] (Jerusalem, […]
We usually associate the term “Neo-Hasidism” with thinkers such as Martin Buber, Hillel Zeitlin and Abraham Joshua Heschel. It may come to many of us as a surprise that Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook also proposed a new Hasidism, but it should not.[1] During Rav Kook’s lifetime, there were those who perceived him as the founder […]
“BE-ZOT YAVO AHARON EL HA-KODESH” “WITH THIS SHALL AARON ENTER INTO THE HOLY PLACE” (LEVITICUS 16:3) A DISCOURSE OF THE STAROSELYER REBBE Rabbi Aharon Halevi Horowitz of Staroselye (1766-1828), was the eminent disciple of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Habad Hasidism. Rabbi Aharon studied under the master for thirty years. The Alter Rebbe […]
The Third of Ellul: Yahrzeit of Rav Kook The third day of Ellul marks the 82nd anniversary of the passing of the Gaon and Tsaddik, Rav Avraham Yitshak Hakohen Kook (1865-1935). One of the Rav’s remarkable deeds that the general public is unaware of, was the Rav’s concerted effort to reestablish the great spiritual teachers […]