The Optimism of Rav Kook

Rabbi Avraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935) is one of the most prominent rabbis of the 20 th century. His prominence is not only due to his genius as a Talmudic scholar. What made him distinctive (and in some circles despised) was his optimism. Rabbi Kook viewed the nascent Zionist movement as a harbinger of a new era in Jewish history. Rabbi Kook embraced a secular and even anti-Halachic movement as being part of a necessary renaissance of the Jewish people.

In this series with Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman explore some of Rabbi Kook’s writings which expresses this sense of optimism and of living through a seismic change in the history of our people.