"You Can't Suppress the Light": The Radical Messages of Rav Kook for Orthodox Jews Today, with Professor Marc Shapiro (247)

The thought of Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, who died in 1935, remains extremely influential today in religious Zionist circles. Rav Kook’s ideology, particularly as interpreted by his son, Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, in books like Orot, has helped to set the agenda for much of the dati leumi world.

Over the past couple of decades, however, additional works written by Rav Kook have been published, and some of the ideas they contain are extraordinarily fascinating and at times radical, even as they often have little to do with the Land of Israel or Zionism. These ideas, far from being dated, speak to Orthodox Jews today and often palpably address areas that concern us in 2025.

Rav Kook addresses issues such as the limits of Talmud study in forming the religious character of yeshiva students, the importance of establishing a broad curriculum of both holy and secular studies in yeshivot, the possibility that following Jewish law may not be the highest form of spiritual achievement, the wisdom of the masses that at times supersedes that of scholars, the place of natural law and innate morality when it contradicts our understanding of the Torah, whether certain narratives in the Torah need to be taken literally or even may use the prevailing scientific assumptions of those who received the Torah in order to convey a deeper message, the possibility that other religions may be divinely inspired, and much more.

I’m encouraged by thinkers who move boldly in directions that others are reluctant to go; the combination of absolute commitment to God, Torah, and the Jewish people alongside heroic courage and honesty is both indispensable and atypical. Both in terms of his ideas, and in his willingness to ask questions, Rav Kook embodied this commitment and courage, and can serve as a role model for Orthodox Jews today. 

For that reason, I was honored to speak with Professor Marc Shapiro, author of the new book Renewing the Old, Sanctifying the New: The Unique Vision of Rav Kook, to learn more about Rav Kook’s ideas, and their application to the Orthodox world today.

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