Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Igrot Hare’aya
Date and Place: Cheshvan 5666 (1905), Yafo
Recipient: Tzvi Yehuda Hakohen Kook (Rav Kook’s only son and eventual "spiritual inheritor"; he had four daughters, two of whom predeceased him. Tzvi Yehuda was 14 at the time of the letter.)
Igrot Hare’aya (200)
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
26 - Encouraging Torah Writers
27 - An Interested Father
28 - Are Languages the Solution?
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Body: You made me happy with your pleasant and dear words, may your strength be straight.
I very much desired to write to you at length regarding several details, especially concerning things having to do with proper behavior. However, you know of my work and the matters that preoccupy me, along with the lack of speed due to my health situation, may Hashem strengthen me and give me the ability to advance my Torah and service of Hashem.
I am very happy about what appears from your letter that you have already agreed to settle at this time in the holy city of Yerushalayim. May you have strength! Just exert yourself, my dear son, in good attributes and fear of Hashem and love of Him, in diligence in Torah study, to cover ground and delve into the topics, and to review well so that the words of Torah will be fluent and clear in your mouth (Kiddushin 30b). Develop as much as possible in all types of matters that will improve you and elevate you, and learn things that make a person more glorious. No fine attribute, as minor as it might appear, should be too small in your eyes for you to pursue. Also, no lacking, no matter how small, in your approach, your attributes, or your behavior should be too small in your eyes to have to fix and improve. Always be full of desire, and lean more in the direction of happiness and a positive outlook. Connect yourself to those who fear Hashem and who excel in Torah, those who have clean ideas and are scrupulously honest. Treat your discussions with them as something to learn from even after you applied the matters to your conceptions and intellect.
Please write to us, my dear son, about all of the details of your daily life, in the most minute details, because you cannot imagine how interested we are in knowing about everything that you are involved in. Literally, how you sit and how you get up. At what time do you eat breakfast, and what do you eat? When do you eat lunch and supper, and when do you go to sleep? Have you become accustomed to reciting Kri’at Shema upon going to sleep (with added prayers and recitations) properly? When do you get up, and in what room do you generally sleep? Are you far from the window, as it is sometimes very cold in Yerushalayim?
Sign Off: I end off with a blessing, my beloved son, and you should have great peace, as is the will of Hashem and the will of your father, who hugs and kisses you, Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook. (Regards to your honored teacher (Rav Zerach Epstein) with great love.)
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
P'ninat Mishpat Limits of Interest Rate for Loan with Heter Iska – part I
based on ruling 80033 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat A Commercial Rental for a Closed Business – part II
based on ruling 80047 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat Repercussions of a Sale that Turned Out Not Happening – part III
(based on ruling 83045 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Igrot Hare’aya Departure of an Uncle to Eretz Yisrael
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: Vol. I, #1 , p. 1-2 – part II
Igrot Hare’aya Worse on the Outside, Better on the Inside – #332
Date and Place: 26 Elul 5670 (1910), Yafo
Igrot Hare’aya Possibilities of Creating Religious Moshavot – #284 – part II
Date and Place: 1 Adar II, 5670 (1910), Yafo
Igrot Hare’aya The State of Religion in Eretz Yisrael – #277 – part I
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook Date and Place: 9 Adar I 5670 (1910), Yafo
Igrot Hare’aya Keeping Shemitta Partially – #272
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook; Date and Place: 2 Adar I 5670 (1910), Yafo
Rabbis in Midrash
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
