Rav Kook and Unity
RABBI DOV KIDRON
Rav Kook always endeavored to find and create unity in every facet of life, even among seemingly opposing forces. The source of this attitude lies in the deep belief that all the existing elements, including the ultimate good and the worst evil, were created by the one Creator for the same purpose. Therefore, there must be a common denominator for everything that exists.
Unity in Torah study
One primary domain in which Rav Kook sought unity is the world of Torah study itself. When encountering different approaches in some areas of learning, he believed that the proper attitude is to attempt to reconcile the two. By searching for ways in which the different opinions complement one another and interact to produce a richer understanding, we will come closer to the truth. This contrasted the prevailing assumption in some scholarly circles to emphasize and magnify the dispute.
A famous example is comparing the views of two medieval scholars, Maimonides and Rav Yehuda Halevi. The former holds man’s intellectual faculty in the highest esteem and striving to perfect it should be the aim of a virtuous person. On the other hand, the latter emphasized the importance of ethical and moral development.
Some believed there was no possibility of bridging the gap between these two opinions, and one must choose between them. This results, of course, in elevating one approach and denigrating the other. However, Rav Kook held the view that both opinions are true, so we must find a way to explain in what way the words of one are enlightened and just, and in what way the words of the other are exalted and sublime and when treating them as such, a complete understanding of each opinion is achieved in depth.
Similarly, when addressing the different styles that different communities employ when studying Torah, he urged each one to incorporate the other’s method. He saw the highest form of genuine erudition in the amalgamation of the two. Rav Kook felt that the hand of G-d brought occidental (Ashkenazi) and oriental (Sephardi) Jews together in the Land of Israel and wrote about the difference between their methods of learning, one which focused more on more profound argumentation and the other which emphasized a broad and orderly scope of knowledge, and wrote that there is no contrast between the two methods because each of them should use the other method as well. Each person should develop his talents according to his heart’s inclination and influence and be influenced by his fellow, and then everyone will reach the highest rank.
A rabbi must be in consensus with all parties
Rav Kook felt that a rabbi must not represent a particular group, but must represent Klal Yisrael. Rav Yehuda Leib Maimon related that Rav Kook once told him that it is forbidden for a rabbi to belong to a particular party, even if its ideas and plans are close to his heart. Each party cares only about a specific aspect, according to its view. A party, by definition, does not see itself as expressing the will of the whole public. Therefore, a rabbi, who should view himself as belonging to the whole of Klal Yisrael, must not associate himself with a particular party. He believed that the role of the rabbis was to unite the people, and he wrote that one of the leading causes of the decline in the dignity of the rabbis was the tendency of rabbis to identify with a particular group. Upon doing so, they create the perception of a rabbinate confined within a narrow framework of a specific group, entrenched within the smallness of the party with all its shortcomings and deficiencies.
Rav Kook practiced what he preached; Ben Zion Berman, a resident of Zeimel, the town in which the Rav first served as the official rabbi, later related: “During his tenure, many changes were made by him for the better, first and foremost: bringing peace to the community. Before his arrival, two rabbis served in the city’s rabbinate, but they did not get along, and the town was divided into two. The dispute lingered until Rav Kook arrived and made true peace between them. In addition, he corrected all the deficiencies relating to hospitality, visiting the sick, and philanthropy and performed many more good actions for the benefit of the city. Who will count and enumerate the venerable actions of our Rav who acted for the benefit of individuals: how many poor people were saved by him from hunger, how many orphans did he take pity on, how many people would bless him every day for providing them with the means to begin supporting themselves, instead of relying on charity.”
The animating force behind the quest for unity is the belief that, eventually, all will unite, and we must bring the world to its completion. The ultimate purpose of creation is for all beings to recognize the kingdom of G-d. That will be achieved through creating greater unity among all things that exist. That includes all human beings and other forms of life, too. Hence, he even wrote about the unity between all people and animals, and he always tried to find the common denominator between human beings, Jews, and non-Jews.
Rav Kook’s constant aspiration for unity
Even during tense times, Rav Kook did not ignore the aspiration for unity whenever possible. For example, in the years 1928 to 1930, there was a great debate between Muslims and Jews over the right of Jews to pray at the Western Wall. The Muslims claimed that it was purely a Muslim site and that Jews were forbidden to pray there, and the Jews claimed that for thousands of years, Jews had prayed there, even before the establishment of Islam. In the summer of 1929, the Muslims began to violently attack the Jews, killing 133 Jews and wounding 339. After this terrible massacre, the Muslim Mufti of Jerusalem wrote a memorandum in which he justified the killings and disparaged the entire Jewish people, claiming that the Jews wanted to attack the Arabs first, and they only defended themselves.
In response, Rav Kook published his opinion that although the Mufti holds the supreme religious office of the Arabs, he does not represent most of them nor express their opinions and views. He added that he knew that the Arab people in general, as well as most of the Arabs of the Land of Israel, were full of sorrow and shame at the evil deeds that a small group of them had committed through incitement. He concluded with the hope that the tradition of peaceful and reciprocal ways will overcome the lie, deceit, and impurity and that it will be possible together to build the lovely and abandoned Land of Israel and turn it into a paradise, as it should be.
Unity is a G-dly matter of every person’s self-work
Rav Kook’s personal preference of seeking unity by being nonjudgmental was something he had constantly worked on to acquire, as is evident from this quote:
“A great and enlightening self-work is to completely remove anger from the heart, to look at everything positively, with compassion and boundless kindness, to resemble the upper eye… Also, for what the wicked do, even for the more absolute evildoers, to have compassion for them for being immersed in the mire of wickedness, and to find the good side in them, to reduce the value of evil… for such evildoers will also end up being corrected.”
That is to say, he tried to look at everything like the “upper eye” in the same way that G-d looks at the world, from the virtues of mercy and grace. This quality of keeping an open mind and refusing to judge certain people or positions harshly is reflected in the following story: Rav Ze’ev Aryeh Rabiner was privileged to be Rav Kook’s guest during his first Shabbat in the Land of Israel. Around the table, the conversation revolved around a specific extremist party, and he asked Rav Kook: Isn’t this outlook too extreme? The Rav replied smiling: “You know, there is no extreme outlook that does not have a kernel of truth.”
In other words, the total commitment to unity is part of a larger positive perspective that the entire creation is good. Most people are good and have good intentions, although they might not be aware of certain aspects in which they are wrong. Therefore, the way to prove to them their mistakes is not through fighting against them or through rebuking them. Instead, through showing them how their good intentions can be actualized in a more sublime and elevated way than they imagine, and once they realize it, they will be influenced truly and subtly.
Rav Kook’s proactive and positive attitude is evident in a famous saying: “The pure righteous do not complain about evil, but add justice. Do not complain about heresy, but add faith. They do not complain about ignorance but add wisdom.”
- Excerpted and adapted from “Who was Rav Kook?” by Rabbi Dov Kidron.