The Life of Tzaddikim

The subject of this article is Rav Shlomoh Levitan, whose yahrzeit falls out this week.

Upon visiting Israel, Jews from America are surprised to find that "The Rav" here (even among such notables as Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach) is Rav Kook, and not Rav Soloveitchik. Rav Kook's influential and popular standing for millions of Jews, makes it that much more tragic, that his writings are not known in American or Haredi yeshivot. In the Jubilee of the State of Israel, surveys found that he was the most in-consensus figure among Israelis, and the question is: Why is his Torah and personality so popular? This overview deals with the historic background of Rav Kook, his generation, and his harmonious, holistic synthesizing (rational, emotional and mystical) Torah, which may very well be that which is missing, to be mekarev the masses.

The iconic first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel had a unique way of approaching the Rabbinate and halakhic determinations.

Part I: Longing for the halakha classes of our mentor, Rishon Lezion Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu. A sample on shmitta. Part 2:The failure of IDF commanders in the pork-eating affair