ר׳ אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק

ר׳ אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק (7 September 1865–1 September 1935), known as Rav Kook or הראי״ה קוק, was a halakhist, mystic, Hebrew thinker and formative religious-Zionist leader. Born in Grīva beside Dvinsk to ר׳ שלמה זלמן קוק and Perel Zlata Felman, he combined Lithuanian yeshivah learning with Hasidic and kabbalistic traditions. He studied at Volozhin under ר׳ נפתלי צבי יהודה ברלין and served the communities of Žeimelis and Bauska. In 1904 he became rabbi of Jaffa and the surrounding agricultural settlements, addressing the practical religious questions of renewed Jewish life in the Land of Israel. Stranded in Europe during the First World War, he lived in St Gallen and then led London’s Machzike Hadath congregation. Returning in 1919, he became Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Jerusalem; in 1921 he helped establish the Chief Rabbinate and became the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine. He founded Mercaz HaRav in 1924. His writings—including אורות, אורות התשובה, עין איה, שבת הארץ and responsa—joined halakhah, spirituality, national rebirth and universal ethics. Many works were edited posthumously by his son ר׳ צבי יהודה הכהן קוק and students including ר׳ דוד כהן and ר׳ יעקב משה חרל״פ.