Editing Abraham Isaac Kook (section)

==Biography==
===Childhood===
Kook was born in [[Daugavpils|Griva]] (also spelled Geriva)<ref name=ShamBook>{{cite book
|title=Stories From the Life of Rav Kook   |last1=Friedman  |first1=Masha  |date=1988  |isbn=0-944921-00-0
|publisher=Beit Shamai Publications}}</ref> in the [[Courland Governorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]] in 1865, today a part of [[Daugavpils]], [[Latvia]], the eldest of eight children. His father, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ha-Cohen Kook, was a student of the [[Volozhin yeshiva]], the "mother of the [[Lithuanian Jews|Lithuanian]] [[yeshiva]]s",<ref>{{cite book|author=William B. Helmreich
|title=The World of the Yeshiva: An Intimate Portrait of Orthodox Jewry  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zjfPA1NZFbgC&pg=PA7
|access-date=21 September 2011|date=February 2000 |publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc.|isbn=978-0-88125-641-3|pages=6–8}}</ref> whereas his maternal grandfather was a follower of the [[Kapust]] branch of the [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic movement]], founded by the son of the third [[rebbe]] of [[Chabad]], Rabbi [[Menachem Mendel Schneersohn]].<ref>"Chazon Hageulah," p. 11, Jerusalem 1941 (Hebrew)</ref>  His mother's name was Zlata Perl.<ref name=ShamBook/>{{rp|p.56}}

He entered the [[Volozhin Yeshiva]] in 1884 at the age of 18, where he became close to the ''[[rosh yeshiva]]'', Rabbi [[Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin]] (the ''Netziv''). During his time in the yeshiva, he studied under Rabbi [[Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim]] (also known as the ''Aderet''), the rabbi of [[Ponevezh]] (today's [[Panevėžys]], [[Lithuania]]) and later Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of [[Jerusalem]].  In 1886 Kook married Rabinowitz-Teomim's daughter, Batsheva.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hevratpinto.org/tzadikim_eng/143_rabbi_eliyahu_david_rabinowitz.html|title=Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim • "The Aderet"|website=www.hevratpinto.org|access-date=2018-09-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thelehrhaus.com/scholarship/the-hasidism-of-rav-kook/|title=The Hasidism of Rav Kook {{!}} The Lehrhaus|website=www.thelehrhaus.com|date=25 December 2017 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-09-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ravkooktorah.org/timeline.htm|title=Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook (1865-1935)|website=www.ravkooktorah.org|language=en|access-date=2018-09-12}}</ref>

===Early career===
In 1887, at the age of 23,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/rav-kook-from-the-pages-of-the-jewish-press-in-1961/2017/08/25|title=Rav Kook, From The Pages Of The Jewish Press In 1961|first=Hillel|last=Fendel |date=August 25, 2017 |work=The Jewish Press}}, citing {{cite news |last=Feldman |first=Yaakov Moshe |date=1961 |work=The Jewish Press}}</ref> Kook entered his first rabbinical position as rabbi of [[Žeimelis|Zaumel]], Lithuania.{{r|ShamBook|p=18}}<ref>also spelled Zoimel, described in the book as a village</ref> In 1888, his wife died, and his father-in-law convinced him to marry her cousin, Raize-Rivka, the daughter of the Aderet's twin brother. Kook's only son, [[Zvi Yehuda Kook]], was born in 1891 to Kook and his second wife.<ref>{{cite web |last=Melamed |first=Avraham Levi |date=4 July 2005 <!-- date from https://web.archive.org/web/20140204031710if_/http://www.yeshiva.co/midrash/doc/doc36/E_rabeno.doc --> |url=https://www.yeshiva.co/midrash/3656
|title=Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook: A Biographical Overview  |website=yeshiva.co}}</ref> In 1896, Kook became the rabbi of [[Bauska Jewish community|Bauska]].{{r|ShamBook|p=22}}<ref>{{Cite Jewish Encyclopedia |last1=Janovsky |first1=S. |last2=Rosenthal |first2=Herman |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2676-bausk |title=BAUSK or BAUSKE |volume=2 |pages=601-602}}</ref><ref>also spelled Boisk; described as a city</ref>

Between 1901 and 1904, he published three articles which anticipate the philosophy that he later more fully developed in the Land of Israel. Kook personally refrained from eating meat except on the Sabbath and Festivals, and a compilation of extracts from his writing, compiled by his disciple [[David Cohen (rabbi)|David Cohen]], known as "Rav HaNazir" (or "the Nazir of Jerusalem")<ref>{{Cite news|last=Morrison |first=Chanan|url=https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/345585|title=The Nazir of Jerusalem|work=Israel National News|date=29 May 2015 |language=en|access-date=2 October 2023}}</ref> and titled by him "A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace," depicts a progression, guided by Torah law, towards a vegetarian society.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kook |first=Avraham Yitzhak Hacoben |editor-last=Cohen |editor-first=David |url=https://archive.org/stream/AVisionOfVegetarianismAndPeace |title=A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace |date=1985-04-20 |orig-year=1961 |translator-last=Rubenstein |translator-first=Jonathan L.}} Translated to English as an appendix to {{cite thesis |last=Rubenstein |first=Jonathan L. |date=1986 |title=None shall hurt or destroy: a translation of A vision of vegetarianism and peace by Rav Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Cook |type=Doctoral dissertation |publisher=Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Selections from "A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace" |last=Kuk |first= Avraham Yitzchak  |editor-first=David |editor-last=Kohen|translator-first=David |translator-last=Sears|url=http://www.jewishveg.com/DSvision.html|publisher=Jewish Vegetarians of North America|access-date=2018-12-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305135741/http://www.jewishveg.com/DSvision.html|archive-date=2016-03-05|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Jaffa===
In 1904,<ref>"After serving as rabbi in the small town of Zoimel and later in the city of Boisk (Bauska), Latvia, in 1904 Rabbi Kook accepted 
the invitation of the port city of Jaffa ..."{{cite web 
|url=http://orot.com/rav-kook  |title=Rav Kook - Orot  |website=orot.com}}</ref> Kook was invited to become Rabbi in [[Jaffa]], [[History of Palestine#Ottoman period|Ottoman Palestine]], and he arrived there in 1905. During these years he wrote a number of works, mostly published posthumously, notably a lengthy commentary on the [[Aggadot]] of Tractates [[Berakhot (Talmud)|Berakhot]] and [[Shabbat (Talmud)|Shabbat]], titled ''Eyn Ayah'', and a brief book on morality and spirituality, titled ''Mussar Avicha''. 

It was in 1911 that Kook also maintained a correspondence with the [[Jews of Yemen]], addressing some twenty-six questions to "the honorable shepherds of God's congregation" (Heb. {{Script/Hebrew|כבוד רועי עדת ד}}) and sending his letter via the known Zionist emissary, Shemuel Yavneʼeli. Their reply was later printed in a book published by Yavneʼeli.<ref>Aharon Gaimani, "Scholars of Yemen Answer Questions of Rabbi A.I. Kook", in: ''Ascending the Palm Tree – An Anthology of the Yemenite Jewish Heritage'', Rachel Yedid & Danny Bar-Maoz (ed.), E'ele BeTamar: Rehovot 2018, pp. 88–125 {{OCLC|1041776317}}</ref><ref>"Masa le-Teiman," by Shmuel Yavne'eli, pp. 187–188; 196–199, Tel-Aviv 1952 (Hebrew)</ref> Kook's influence on people in different walks of life was already noticeable, as he engaged in [[kiruv]] ("Jewish outreach"), thereby creating a greater role for [[Torah]] and [[Halakha]] in the life of the city and the nearby settlements. In 1913 Kook led a delegation of rabbis, including several leading rabbinic figures such as [[Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld|Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld]], to the many newly established secular "moshavot" (settlements) in [[Samaria]] and [[Galilee]]. Known as the "Journey of the Rabbis" the rabbis' goal was to strengthen Shabbat observance, Torah education, and other religious observances, with an emphasis on the giving of 'terumot and ma'asrot' (agricultural [[Tithes in Judaism|tithes]]) as these were farming settlements.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/10941|title=1913: Rabbi Kook Leads Rabbis' Tour of the Moshavot|website=Israel National News|date=3 December 2011 |language=en|access-date=2018-09-12}}</ref>

===London and World War I===
When the [[First World War]] began, Kook was in Germany, where he was interned as an alien.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-Isaac-Kook | title=Abraham Isaac Kook &#124; chief rabbi of Palestine &#124; Britannica | date=January 2024 }}</ref> He escaped to [[London]] via [[Switzerland]], but the ongoing conflict forced him to stay in the UK for the remainder of the war. In 1916, he became rabbi of the Spitalfields Great Synagogue ([[Machzike Hadath]], "upholders of the law"), an immigrant Orthodox community located in [[Brick Lane]], [[Spitalfields]], [[London]], and Kook lived at 9 Princelet Street, Spitalfields.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oztorah.com/2013/12/rav-kook-in-london/ |title=Blog Archive » Rav Kook in London |website=OzTorah.com |date=2013-12-22 |access-date=2016-01-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ravkooktorah.org/PSALM43.htm |title=Rav Kook on Psalm 43: The London Bomb Shelter |website=Ravkooktorah.org |date=1915-01-19 |access-date=2016-01-07}}</ref>

===Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem===
[[File:Rabbinic Proclamation In Support of Rav Kook.jpg|thumb|Proclamation by 80 rabbis in support of Kook after the printing of ''Kol Ha-Shofar'' in 1921]]
[[File:Abraham Isaac Kook with the mayor of New York.jpg|thumb|Kook with Mayor of New York [[John F. Hylan]] (1924)]]
Upon returning from Europe in 1919,<ref name=ShamBook/>{{rp|44}} he was appointed the [[Ashkenazi]] [[Chief Rabbi]] of [[Jerusalem]], and soon after, as first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine in 1921.<ref>The following "Public Notice" appeared in the Palestine Gazette on April 1, 1921:
<br />
"The Rabbinical Assembly held in Jerusalem on February 24th, 1921, Adar-Rishon 16th 5681 elected the following Rabbis as the Rabbinical Council for Palestine:
Rabbi [[Jacob Meir]] and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Cohen Kook as Chief Rabbis, and Rabbis Benjamin Alkosser, Benzion Koenka, and Abraham Pilosoph as Sephardic members, and Rabbis Zevi Pesah Frank, Yonah Raam and Fischel Bernstein as Ashkenazic members of the Council.
Doctor M. Eliash, Mr. M. Levanon, and Mr. J. H. Panigel were elected as lay councillors to the Rabbinical Council.
The Government of Palestine will recognize the Council and any Beth-Din sanctioned by it as the sole authorities in matters of Jewish Law. It will execute through the Civil Courts judgments given by the Beth-Din of the Council in first instance or on appeal as well as the judgments given by any Beth-Din in Palestine sanctioned by the Council.
The appointment of ''[[Hakham Bashi|Haham Bashi]]'' no longer exists in Palestine; and no person is recognized by the Government as a Chief-Rabbi of Palestine except the Rabbis elected by the Assembly.
W. H. DEEDES, Civil Secretary, Government House, March 18th, 1921." [End Quote]</ref>

In March 1924, in an effort to raise funds for Torah institutions in Palestine and Europe, Kook travelled to America with Rabbi [[Moshe Mordechai Epstein]] of the [[Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael (Slabodka)|Slabodka Yeshiva]] and the Rabbi of Kaunas, [[Avraham Duber Kahana Shapiro|Avraham Dov Baer Kahana Shapiro]].  In the same year, Kook founded the [[Mercaz HaRav]] yeshiva in [[Jerusalem]].

Kook died in Jerusalem in 1935 and his funeral was attended by an estimated 20,000 mourners.<ref>Jewish Affairs, in ''Report by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Palestine and Trans-Jordan for the year 1935'' by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Council of the League of Nations on the administration of Palestine and Trans-Jordan for the year 1935, The Office of High Commissioner for Palestine and Trans-Jordan, Jerusalem, 1935</ref>