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THE ETHICAL FOUNDATIONS
OF RAV KOOK'S NATIONALIST VIEWS

On the Significance of Rav Kook's Teaching for our Generation*

By Harav Yehuda Amital

"It is forbidden for fear of Heaven to push aside one's
natural morality, for then it would no longer be pure fear of
Heaven. The sign [by which one can recognize] pure fear of
Heaven is when the natural morality which is rooted in man's
honest nature ascends by means of [the fear of Heaven] to
higher levels than it would have attained without it.

But if there should be a fear of Heaven, such that without its
influence, life would tend to function better, and would
actualize things beneficial to the individual and society,
whereas with its influence that actualizing power would
diminish -- such a fear of Heaven is invalid."(1)

1
Fifty years have passed since our master, Rav Kook z"l,
left us. However, if we ask ourselves how many years have passed
since his words were formulated and most of his teachings
written, we get to the number eighty or almost ninety years.
And since then, vast changes have occurred in the Jewish world
and in the world at large.

There are two events which profoundly influence what is
taking place in our generation, which no one foresaw in Rav
Kook's lifetime: the Holocaust and the Israel-Arab conflict.
Likewise, it is doubtful whether Rav Kook foresaw the phenomenon
of waves of immigration of ordinary, simple Jews from East and
West, and the mass abandonment of the yoke of mitzvot which
followed in its wake, unmotivated by ideological or intellectual
considerations. As to the general world - without referring to
the enormous technological changes affecting all walks of life -
it is sufficient for us to point to two things: the breakdown
of the ideal of the perfection of the world in the socialist
spirit, and the deep crisis in which Western culture finds
itself. In light of all this, a question mark may be added to
the subject of this lecture - the significance of Rav Kook's
teaching for our generation? Is it at all possible to speak of
the significance of things that were written at such a great
qualitative distance?

Among the scholars researching his teachings today, one
can discern two approaches. As we know, Rav Kook's teaching
includes important and profound ideas relating to the principles
of Judaism, its values and fundamental concepts. These
teachings will remain valuable for generations, independent of
the circumstances or the events of his lifetime. On the other
hand, his oeuvre also includes analyses and explanations of the
significance of historical events and spiritual movements of his
time; characterizations of his generation and its spiritual
problems, as well as expectations and forecasts of the
development of spiritual, psychological and historical
processes: a sort of historiosophy of his contemporary scene.
There is an approach which says, "Let us put aside the realia in
Rav Kook's teachings and leave that to the historians; let us
concentrate on those chapters of thought which are of value to
all generations." For them the question is narrowed down: is
the value of those chapters only in that they enrich Jewish
thought in general, linking up to the thought of great Jewish
scholars of former generations? Or do they perhaps have a
special significance for the perplexed of our times? There is
also another approach among circles devoted to Rav Kook's
teaching. These try to explain all the events of our times and
all the problems of our generation according to their
formulation in Rav Kook's teachings from eighty years ago. In
general, both approaches may be said to suffer from
exaggeration.

With regard to the question of whether his philosophical
teachings are significant for our generation, the answer is a
firm yes. His teachings seriously grapple with most of the
problems that preoccupy the modern educated person. Problems
such as faith and heresy, holy and profane, freedom of choice,
the chosenness of the people of Israel, exile, redemption, the
relationship between Israel and the nations of the world,
relations between man and society, personal and public morality,
the perfection of the individual and the community, the service
of the heart and the practical mitzvot, spiritual ideals and
punctiliousness with regard to the mitzvot, Zionism and the
state, Providence and history, law and morality, freedom and
compulsion, war and peace, mysticism and realism, vision and
reality, faith and science, certainty and presumption, etc.,
etc. - all these problems are given rich expression in his deep
thinking. And if it is true that in matters of opinions and
beliefs, it is the intellectual community that is dominant and
trend-setting for the broader community, then we see that his
teaching is meaningful for a very broad public.

Here we should also stress his constant struggle against
the superficial approach to basic concepts of Judaism and his
continual call for deep study of the theoretical part of the
Torah, so that a situation should not arise with "generations
whose general conceptions have all matured and developed while
they have not dealt at all with the realm of divine concepts;
thus that generation will be left in a lowly and pathetic
condition, with religious breaches constantly multiplying."(2)
These words are especially meaningful in our times, when the
educated public is growing and the media continues to expand
the public's knowledge even after it has left school.

Commonly, man's first conceptions of the world surrounding
him make way, with the expansion of his knowledge, for more
developed and more scientific conceptions. How sad it is that
at the same time, his first concepts relating to Torah (e.g.
faith, the unity of God, Providence, prophecy, redemption, etc.)
remain unchanged since his childhood. Rav Kook speaks with pain
of those whose concepts of faith and trust in God "are
permanently confused in quaint imaginings, just as they appear
to the mind at the beginning of knowledge, and warped - because
of abandonment and ignoring of these sublime concepts - in ways
of imagining which are far from the ways of Torah."(3) Because
of this, Rav Kook never ceased demanding, at every opportunity,
increasing in-depth study of the realm of belief. It would seem
that this demand of his has vital significance not just for our
generation. Our concern and responsibility for the nation's
spiritual future oblige us to pay serious heed to this demand.

We must not be blind to the fact that religious Jewry of
today displays great vitality in flourishing and prospering with
its "simple religiosity," "proste frumkeit" in Rav Kook's
phrase,(4) without elevating its religious and Godly concepts.
We must not be blind to the presence of men of science among
those who are "returning in teshuva" whose spiritual baggage is
limited to the Kitzur Shulchan 'Arukh, with no interest in
religious thought.

I think it would be irresponsible on our part to proceed
in the confidence that there will be no religious crisis in the
future arising from the poverty of religious thought and
confused, sometimes childish, conceptions of the principles of
faith. Who knows if another generation may not arise for whom
it will again be impossible "to explain even simple faith to
average people except by expounding upon the divine secrets
which stand at the peak of existence."(5)

Even many of Rav Kook's thoughts on the historiosophy of
his day are applicable to our time. But not everywhere is it
possible to separate the historiosophical from the philosophic
sections of his thought. There are also parts of his teaching
that were not completely understood in their time, and even if
they were understood, did not receive the proper resonance, nor
were they accorded appropriate weight. And it is precisely in
our days that we can understand them in all their depth and
recognize their actual and vital significance. I have chosen
here a section of his teaching that seems to deal with a general
problem which bears no connection to the realities of his day.
Yet, after careful study, it becomes clear that it is anchored
in his nationalist and Zionist perception, and it has great
significance precisely in our time.

I wish to refer here to one of the sections in Rav Kook's
teaching dealing with an ancient problem: the proper place and
weight of autonomous duties, that is, the moral duties that a
man assumes out of an inner awareness and the demand of
conscience. Rav Sa'adia Gaon, Rabbenu Bachya, and Rambam have
all dealt with it. But while they mainly dealt with duties
already included in the 613 commandments and emphasized chiefly
the importance of the motivation of the inner conscience, Rav
Kook's teaching deals with the moral duties that were not
included in the obligatory Halakhah. As has already been said,
his perception in this matter is anchored in his nationalist and
Zionist perception, especially in its moral foundations. And as
we know, these moral fundamentals are the cornerstone of his
nationalist perception. I shall therefore begin with a brief
explanation of this understanding of his.

2
Nationalism in Israel has its source, in Rav Kook's
opinion, in our father Abraham's striving to found a nation. In
the words of Rambam in his Guide (III:51), "The chief aim of the
whole life of the Patriarchs was to establish a nation that
would know God and serve Him." This striving to establish a
nation derived from a universalistic stance whose source was in
the attribute of lovingkindness (chesed) which characterized
Abraham's world: a lovingkindness that was not limited just to
hospitality, or to supplications on behalf of the people of
Sodom, but one whose aim was to do good to all mankind. Abraham
our father saw the world suffering endlessly, with persecutors
suffering as well as the persecuted, and the laws of the jungle
ruling. He understood that only in keeping the way of the Lord,
to do righteousness and justice, was there hope for mankind.
Abraham our father understood that mere preaching would not
succeed in bringing mankind to the way of the Lord. According
to our sages, some attempts of this kind had already been made
in the schools of Shem and Eber, but they had not succeeded.
Therefore Abraham our father longed "to establish a great human
community that would 'keep the way of the Lord to do
righteousness and justice.'"(6)

"This is the longing that comes from the clear and mighty
awareness and the universal and lofty moral demand to deliver
mankind from the terrible suffering of spiritual and material
troubles and bring it to a life of freedom, full of splendor
and sensitivity, illuminated by the divine idea, and to cause
all men to prosper. For the fulfillment of this longing, it
is really necessary that this society should possess a
political and social state with a seat of national government,
at the peak of human culture, 'a wise and understanding people
and a great nation': and the absolute Godly Idea should reign
there, reviving the people and the land with its life. By
this it will be known that not just wise individual virtuosos,
pious men, Nazirites and holy men, live by the light of the
Divine Idea, but also whole nations, culturally and
politically developed; whole nations including all the various
human strata, from the highest artistic intelligentsia, the
elites, learned and holy, to the broader social, political,
and economic classes, and until the proletariat in all its
groups, even the lowest and earthiest."(7)

"Two things illumine Israel," writes Rav Kook, "pure
morality in all its strivings in the entire world, in man and in
every living creature in the whole of existence; and the
knowledge that everything stems from calling on the Name of the
Lord."(8) When the people of Israel will succeed in bringing
this message to the world, mankind will be healed. This is a
long historical process, and for the sake of fulfilling this
mission the people of Israel must pass through many fiery
crucibles until it will be worthy to have the verse fulfilled:
"And many nations shall go forth and say: Come, let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob, and
He will teach us of His ways, and we shall walk in His paths;
for the Law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem."(9)

This great destiny, as distant as it appears, is what
gives meaning and significance to Jewish existence; it is
planted in the depths of the Jew's inner consciousness; it is
the source of his longing for redemption. In the words of Rav
Kook, "The powerful desire to be good to everyone, without
limitation of the quantity of those benefiting nor of the
quality of the benefits - this is the inner kernel of the
essence of the soul of the Community of Israel. This is its
inheritance and the legacy from its ancestors, and this is the
secret of the nation's longing for redemption which gives it
strength to live and exist, to the wonderment of every thinking
person."(10) Note Rav Kook's expression: "This is the secret
of the nation's longing for redemption." In other words, it is
not its terrible suffering that is the source of its longing for
redemption, but rather its striving to do good to mankind, for
this is the essence of its soul.

This is how Rav Kook perceived the inner purpose of
Zionism in his day. He did not accept Herzl's conception of a
safe haven for the Jewish people. "It is not the sound of a
despised nation seeking for itself a safe haven from its
persecutors, that is fit to revive this eternal movement."(11)
He saw the movement for the return to Zion in his days as the
beginning of redemption, that is to say, a process fulfilling
the prophetic vision of the return to Zion, a process leading
toward the divine mission of the perfection of mankind. "There
is no doubt that this great movement is the atchalta degeulah
('beginning of redemption'), may it come speedily, in our
days."(12)

We learn of the motivations for his enthusiastic
relationship to the national revival movement from what he wrote
in the booklet Ne'dari Bakodesh: "If the idea of our national
revival were not so lofty and elevated to the point where it
includes the everlasting vision embracing the whole of mankind
and all existence, we would not be able to be connected to it
with so much of our inner soul."(13) Here Rav Kook did not
explain why he would not be able to be connected with the
movement for national revival without its universal aim.
Apparently, he saw this as self-evident, with no need to explain
it. But what is not explained here is explained elsewhere in
his writings.

"There are some righteous men, very great and mighty, who
cannot limit themselves within the confines of the community
of Israel (Keneset Yisra'el) alone, but who are always
worrying and concerned for the good of the whole world.
Nevertheless, they too are connected inwardly particularly
with Keneset Yisra'el, because Keneset Yisra'el is the essence
of all that is good and most excellent in the entire world,
and whatever love and goodness may come to Keneset Yisra'el,
she returns it and envelops all creation with it.

These righteous men cannot be nationalists in the superficial
sense of the word, for they cannot tolerate any hatred or
injustice, nor any limitation or shrinking of goodness and
lovingkindness; they are good to all, like the attributes of
the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is good to all and Whose
mercies extend over all His works. Yet they yearn for
salvation with mighty fervor because they know clearly and
believe with all the fullness of their pure souls that the
salvation of Israel is the salvation of Lord - the salvation
of the world and the fullness thereof, of everything in it,
from the greatest heights to the lowest depths."(14)

But there is a further reason for his emphasizing the
universal aim of the idea of national revival. Rav Kook was
afraid that the Zionist idea, based simply and solely on the
search for a safe refuge for the people - an idea completely
divorced from the prophetic vision of the return to Zion,
divorced from the universal moral purpose - was likely to lead
to a moral breakdown and to the adoption of the doctrine of
reliance on physical strength. Thus he writes,

"Nationalist feeling is a sentiment exalted in its honest
naturalness, but when it is not properly directed and does not
turn to the higher goal of the absolute happiness of general
perfection, it will eventually burst the bounds of morality
when it oversteps its boundaries by raising a hand to capture
castles that do not belong to it, without righteous judgment
and with no holy goal or purpose."(15)

It is worth emphasizing that these things are said with
reference to nationalism in Israel; that is, Jewish nationalism
which is divorced from the vision of universal redemption is
likely to wither to the point of breaking the bounds of morality
and seizing castles that do not belong to it, with no justice or
righteousness.

Rav Kook was also aware of the religious and moral
problems endemic to a framework of national sovereignty:

"It is indeed an especially difficult task to observe the
general Torah of the state - a much harder task than the
observance of the Torah of the individual. For the Torah and
its commandments are for the purpose of refining mankind; but
the work of refining society as a whole, with its political
needs, is much more complicated than the work of refining each
individual in himself as a private person. For behold, in
regard even to simple human morality, where man's natural
sense of justice aids him, our eyes see that while, so far as
individuals are concerned, it does at least have some hold on
life, humanity as a whole has still not reached a point at
which [such simple morality] is accepted as an obligation in
public or party policy. And it is for this reason that, as we
know, the same evil inclination that is present in an ordinary
private person is many times stronger in public political man,
so that [with him] all concepts of good and evil,
righteousness and wickedness, become entirely lost in the
diplomatic maelstrom and the seething flow of politics, which
is like a turbulent sea."(16)

For this reason, Rav Kook demands that it is precisely in
the movement leading to national and social growth that we are
duty-bound to raise the moral level and the connection to our
holy foundation.

"Among the strengths of our holy Torah is that it is the Law
of life and the fountain of truth. Far be it from us to think
that the stormy waves of political striving are to be
permitted to blind our eyes so that we cannot see ahead; and
most certainly we dare not permit the separatist party
tendency, which may awaken particularly at a time when the
political movement is about to be formed, to cause us to act
against the attributes of righteousness and truth, of
universal and particular human love, of the love of Israel and
Israel's special duty of holiness. For our obligation is not
only to be holy people as individuals, but also, and
especially, to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."(17)

By this reasoning, Rav Kook saw it as a vital necessity to
emphasize the connection between the national revival movement
of his day and the prophetic vision of the return to Zion,
which incorporates the people of Israel's divine mission to be a
holy nation and kingdom of priests for all mankind.

3
Now we may ask: What is that Torah that is to "go forth
from Zion" and that will excite many nations to declare, "Come,
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord... and He will teach
us His ways?" Are only the laws contained in the Shulchan
'Arukh Choshen Mishpat intended?

Moreover, these laws are obligatory, and that is
apparently their strength. The nations of the world were
commanded, in the framework of the Seven Noahide Laws, to set up
a judicial system of their own, according to their own
understanding. Will the laws of the Choshen Mishpat become
mandatory in the future for the sons of Noah as well?

Here we return to the question raised earlier on the place
of the moral duties which one arrives at by an inner awareness.

To the question, "Does the formal Halakhah encompass all
the duties of a Jew?" Ramban(18) responded in the negative.
He explains that the mitzvot "Ye shall be holy" and "Thou shalt
do the right and the good" are intended to place upon man duties
beyond those that he has been commanded: "Even in regard to
that which He has not specifically commanded you, you must take
heed to do that which is good and right in His eyes."

But while Ramban emphasizes the impossibility of detailing
everything in the Torah - "Because it is impossible to mention
in the Torah all of a man's behavior with his neighbors and
friends, and all his dealings, and all the orderings of the
community and of countries, in their entirety" - Rav Kook
maintains that there is a special purpose for the noninclusion
of many duties in the mandatory Halakhah: it is desirable that
these supererogatory deeds be performed out of an autonomous
inner compulsion as a form of free-will offering and an
expression of the love of kindness. Furthermore, Rav Kook
stresses that "the Torah's goal is that the mind be ruled by
love and benevolence."(19) In his view, the ideal is to keep
the Torah as the Patriarchs kept it, that is, out of a free,
inner cognition, and not by strength of a heavenly command. Rav
Kook adds that "this is the basic reason we always attach the
covenant of the Patriarchs to all the most essential principles,
and the covenant of Eretz Yisra'el is derived both from our
inheritance from them and from our acceptance of the Torah. The
Patriarchs indeed kept the Torah out of a free inner cognition,
and it is fitting that this quality play a large role in moral
existence. And this is the basis of the hidden aspect [of
goodness] which manifested as pious deeds and actions beyond the
letter of the law."(20) It is the divine balance which watches
over the moral development of Keneset Yisra'el that determined
"how much of it should derive from the [coercive] power of law
and judgment, and how much from the goodness of the heart and
internal consent without coercion, not even moral
coercion."(21)

Rav Kook adds that if it all came "as mandatory law,
people would have obscured its eternal guidance from being a
beacon to all generations and a light to the nations, according
to their widely varied spiritual levels."(22) In other words,
if all the moral duties were to be turned into mandatory
Halakhah, it would be detrimental to Israel's mission of being a
light to the nations. It is the very fact that the people of
Israel reached, through the Torah's guidance, a moral way of
life out of a free inner awareness, that will cause many nations
to marvel and will inspire them to ascend to the mountain of the
Lord. This is "the Torah [that] will go forth from Zion" and
this is the "word of the Lord [which will emanate] from
Jerusalem." Moral duties that we are accustomed to define
merely as pious deeds, or beyond the letter of the Law, are thus
found to be the essence of the Torah. Rav Kook adds,

"One cannot measure the magnitude of the loss that human
culture would suffer if these exalted virtues were set as
fixed obligations. Only that which is most essential for
present physical and moral life, and which, if weakened, harms
the roots of the future, becomes law, and [of this it is
written,] 'Greater is he who is commanded and acts'... This is
the fate of [duties] 'beyond the letter of the law,' which
will be of great benefit when man's heart of stone will turn
into a heart of flesh."(23)

And if we ask what is the relative weight of that part of
Judaism that has to be observed out of a free inner awareness,
as compared with the obligatory halakhic part, Rav Kook answers
that:

"That aspect of morality which must rise out of charity and
the love of kindness must always be the greater part of
general positive morality, just as the open air is in
comparison with the buildings and cultural activities in them;
it is impossible that they should not leave it a very broad
expanse."(24)

Note the image used by Rav Kook. Its meaning is that the
autonomous duties are quantitatively several times greater than
the halakhic duties.

"Be aware that the Torah was lenient in laws relating to the
community, not pressuring the spirit of the nation to piety,
because then piety would have been made into a matter of
routine and duty, and the Torah's purpose is that the mind be
ruled by love and benevolence. This is the reason underlying
some of the Torah's leniencies in the laws of warfare. As for
the elimination of idolatry, this is in keeping with Israel's
general mission; in any case, this subject was left to the
courts to inquire into the moral quality of each cult, since
not all cases are identical. Because of our many sins these
matters have not been expounded to us in detail, for from the
time we lost our national spiritual strength we lacked
practical experience in these things, and thus it will remain
until God, blessed be He, will restore to us our crown of
glory; may it be soon, in our days."(25)

Rav Kook hints here that one cannot draw any contemporary
lessons from the way wars were conducted in biblical times.
Those wars were directed against an idolatrous culture which
caused great moral damage. And even in biblical times, not all
the wars were the same. The court used to weigh up the moral
damage caused by the particular idolatrous cult, and the norms
for Israel's conduct were prescribed accordingly. A further
expression of the importance Rav Kook ascribed to the moral
duties beyond mandated law is to be found in his words defining
the term "a righteous nation" in relation to the house of Israel
in the text: "Open the gates and let the righteous nation that
keepeth faith enter." "Righteous nation," says Rav Kook, means
one that executes righteousness and lovingkindness to every
individual and also toward every nation. Consequently, he adds,
"it strives to ensure that even its necessary conquests be by
way of righteousness and faith. And now, when we are returning
to our Land, we are conquering it not with might and not by the
sword, but rather by peaceful means; and we pay with substantial
funds for every inch of our Land, despite the fact that our
right to the soil of our Holy Land never ceased."(26)

Faithful to this perception, Rav Kook says regarding the
law, "And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," which by all
principles of Halakhah refers only to fellow Jews, "It is our
desire to observe the command to 'love thy neighbor as thyself'
not only with regard to individuals but also with regard to the
nations, so that the nations of the world also should have no
grievance against us."(27)

Elsewhere, again, Rav Kook writes, "When we consider the
aggada [homily] that says that in Jerusalem they learned Torah
from Sisera's grandsons, and that in Bnei Brak they learned
Torah from Haman's grandsons, we penetrate the profundity of
lovingkindness, according to which we should not be swept up
into the stream of hatred even against our worst enemy."(28)

Rav Kook is aware that whoever does not accept his view
will be able to clutch on to scattered teachings of our sages
for support. Against such people he writes, "The love of fellow
men must burst forth from the source of lovingkindness, not as a
matter of law, for then the clearest part of its brightness
would be lost, but rather as a mighty inner movement of the
soul. And it must endure very difficult trials, to overcome
many contradictions scattered like stumbling blocks in isolated
teachings, in the superficiality of several laws, and in
numerous conceptions that arise from the limited expression
given to the esoteric part of Torah and the national
morality."(29)

His practical approach to the idea of the love of mankind
gains further expression in his call to struggle against
spiritual and physical hindrances to this love, albeit without
explaining their nature.

"When the passionate desire to be good to all prevails, then
man knows that a heavenly illumination has come to him. And
happy is he if he has prepared a worthy place in his heart, in
his mind, in the work of his hands and in all his feelings, to
receive this exalted visitor which is greater and more sublime
than all the honored of the land; let him hold on to it and
not let it go.

And all the hindrances and delays, physical and spiritual,
that hinder the acceptance of this holy idea into his very
inner self, let them not restrain him; let him fight against
all of them and cling to his stronghold, let him raise his
sights afar to grasp the attributes of God, Who is good to
all, and Whose mercies extend over all His works."(30)

It would seem that beyond his teaching, something of Rav
Kook's pure personality is revealed here. "True greatness and
genius are joined together in a generous soul to pour a dominion
of love, of freedom and of honor, onto both nation and man
together."(31)

* Translated by Rabbi Bernard Caspar z"l and Rabbi Ronnie Ziegler. This article originally appeared in Yovel
Orot, ed. B. Ish Shalom and S. Rosenberg.
1. Orot Hakodesh, Vol. III, p.27.
2. 'Ikvei Hatzon, Ma'amar 'Avodat Elokim.
3. Ma'amarei Re'AYaH, p.86.
4. Iggerot ReAYaH, I, p.160.
5. Orot Hakodesh, I, p.7.
6. Orot, Lemahalakh ha'idei'ot beyisra'el, Chapter 2.
7. ibid.
8. Orot Yisra'el, 1:7.
9. Yeshayahu 2:3.
10. Orot Yisra'el, 1:4.
11. Iggerot Re'AYaH, II, p. 59.
12. ibid., p. 176.
13. Ma'amarei Re'AYaH II, p.417.
14. Orot Hakodesh, III, p.349.
15. 'Olat Re'AYaH, I, p.234.
16. Ma'amarei Re'AYaH, p.174.
17. ibid.
18. Commentary on the Torah, Vayikra 19:2 and Devarim 6:18.
19. Iggerot Re'AYaH, I, p.100.
20. ibid., p.97.
21. ibid.
22. ibid.
23. ibid.
24. ibid.
25. ibid., p.100.
26. Ma'amarei Re'AYaH, p.252.
27. ibid.
28. 'Orot Hakodesh, III, p.326.
29. ibid., p.318.
30. ibid., p.316.
31. 'Eder Hayakar.

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