Abraham Isaac Kook

Abraham Isaac Kook , 1864-1935, Jewish scholar and philosopher, b. Latvia. He settled (1904) in Palestine, where he became the chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi community in 1921. He attempted to show that Palestine and Zionism were an integral part of Judaism; that those secularist Jews who worked to build up the Jewish homeland were unknowingly doing God's work, which one day would become evident to them; and that nationalism was a necessary step on the way to universalism. He was the author of several books that were influential among Jewish nationalists.

Bibliography: See biography by J. B. Agus (2d ed. 1972); study by S. H. Bergman, Faith and Reason (tr. 1963).

Kook, Abraham Isaac (1865–1935). First Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. Kook emigrated to Israel in 1904 and became Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi in 1921. He maintained that the return to Zion was a step towards the beginning of the divine redemption. He was a prolific writer, and his books combine learning with mystical insight. Among his books are Orot ha-Kodesh (3 vols., 1963/4), Iggerot ha-Reʿayah (3 vols., 1962/5), and Orot ha-Teshivah (1955; Eng., 1968).

Gush Emunim. Organization of the faithful, a Jewish religious and nationalist group of the 20th cent. It was led by Tzevi Yehudah Kook (1891–1982), the only son of Abraham Isaac Kook. Gush Emunim took the initiative in establishing Jewish settlements in the Administered Areas of Palestine/Israel after the Six Day War in 1967.