Thursday, March 4, 2010

R' Kook and the Chafetz Chaim

Y. Mirsky in his dissertation on R' Kook notes that - Rav Kook wrote an approbation to the Liqutei Halakhot, a volume by the celebrated sage and saint Israel Meir Kagan (a.k.a. Hafetz Hayim) on the laws of Temple sacrifices, understandably, a less-visited precinct of Talmudic study.

I noticed a first-hand report (based on a conversation with R' Kook) in HaHed (7:6) that states that the Chafetz Chaim has initially asked R' Kook to help him write the sefer:


[I see now that the story was also recorded in E. Tzoref's bio of R Kook here]

2 comments:

Menachem Butler said...

Yehudah Mirsky, "An Intellectual and Spiritual Biography of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhaq Ha-Cohen Kook from 1865-1904," (PhD dissertation, Harvard University, 2007), 300:

A further whiff, though not much more than that, of a Messianic reading of the times appeared in 1900, when, on behalf of Aderet, Rav Kook wrote an approbation to the Liqutei Halakhot, a volume by the celebrated sage and saint Israel Meir Kagan (a.k.a. Hafetz Hayim) on the laws of Temple sacrifices, understandably, a less-visited precinct of Talmudic study.34

34. Israel Meir Kagan, Liqutei Halakhot (Pietrkov, 1900); the approbation is reprinted in Haskamot Ha-Reayah, pp. 1-4. For Aderet's request that he draft it, see Neriah, Sihot p. 183.

Maldicenza said...

BS"D

I have read the page of Efraim Tzoref's bio you pointed at. It's a pity it does not bring any source to the different stories. It says several times "Leolam" which is a very strong statement. If true, also the last line would be a major Chidush. If you know other (possibly neutral) sources, I will be happy to read them too.

 
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