- Family and Society
- Challa and Others
1401
Question
Hi
Iโve been researching the three oaths.. and would like to know Rav Kooks opinion of them?
Thank You
If it is too long to write it will be useful if you could direct me to a link
Answer
Shalom Michael,
Rav A.Y. Kook dealt briefly with the โthree oathsโ, in Otzrot HaReIya, II, ch. 37 in his article regarding the re-founding of the Sanhedrin, and wrote
19 years before the Balfour Declaration, that we will receive permission from the nations of the world, like we did in the time of Koresh, to build the
second Beit HaMikdash, and that will โsolveโ the problem of the oaths. His son, Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook writes about them in LโNโtivot Yisrael II, p. 115-
116, and itโs common knowledge that almost everything he taught or wrote is in agreement with his father. Itโs even brought in Tov Roโee on Ktuvot
there, which is supposed to be the chidushim of Rav Kook, senior. I imagine you have seen Rav Shlomo Avinerโs very comprehensive booklet on the
topic (I believe itโs reprinted in his Shaโelat Shlomo), including some 13 answers to the Satmar Rebbe, and Rav Moshe Tzuriel wrote a kuntres on the
topic, as well. I might add that the Rambam (Hil. Mlachim 11, 2) who brings the Bar Kochba rebellion supported by R. Akiva and his many students
as the prototype for the way of the rise of mashiach, clearly feels that the oaths are not halachic. Many cite Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, the Meshech
Chochma and Or Sameโach, in his letter to the Keren Hayesod where he simply dismisses the oaths as aggada, and especially after the Balfour
Decleration ratified internationally in San Remo, โit removes all โfearโ of those oathsโ. I might just add that Rav Yaโakov Moshe Charlap (Memaynai
HaYshua, p. 245), another major student of Rav Kook, explains that the idea of the aggada was to stress that the national revival of Israel is actually
an international event and of universal importance, and therefore we prefer for it to be in cooperation with the other nations. In addition, many donโt
realize that Rav Soloveichikโs famed article Kol Dodi Dofek is an answer to the three oaths.
In short, many people look for excuses why not to make aliya, but this surely isnโt a legitimate one! If chazal teach us that โLiving in Israel is equated
with the rest of the mitzvot combinedโ even when there is no Beit HaMikdash (as seen in Sifre Dvarim 12, which takes place about 60 years after
the churban), and even when Israel is in exile (and the land is in gentile hands, Tosefta Avodah Zara 5, 2), than obviously the sources speak for
themselves.
We need to strengthen the priorities and courage of the Jews in exile to make the move, and it really doesnโt depend on this source or that. With Love
of Israel,
Rav Ari Shvat
Blackberry bushes and laws for fruit trees
Rabbi Moshe Leib Halberstadt | Tammuz 26, 5770

Buying food from Israel Shmitta
Rabbi David Sperling | Tevet 10, 5781

Mitzvot and Majority of Jews being in Israel
Various Rabbis | 3 Tammuz 5763

Maaserot Bracha on vegetables grown in pots
Rabbi Elchanan Lewis | Cheshvan 12, 5769

Relations with a gentile woman
Rabbi Chaim Tabasky | Tevet 16, 5768

Kashering pots and utenstils
Rabbi David Sperling | Elul 24, 5771

The Theory of Jewish Inherent Superiority
Rabbi Yoel Lieberman | Adar I 25, 5771

Relations with a gentile woman
Rabbi Chaim Tabasky | Tevet 16, 5768

Can HaShem use anyone to be His servants?
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Iyyar 29, 5785

Older Kohen marriage to a Divorced Jewess.
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Sivan 15, 5785

Stone setting
Rabbi Yoel Lieberman | Sivan 19, 5785
