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January 5, 2018

Abraham Isaac Kook’s Doctrine of Science and Kabbalah

And the 17th-century Spanish book that influenced it.

Abraham Isaac Ha-Kohen Kook (1865-1935), the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine, sought in his writings to develop a theological vision of Jewish spiritual and national renewal through the return to Zion. Drawing on one of Kook’s recently published manuscripts, Bezalel Naor explains his suggestion that a synthesis of kabbalah and science (or secular knowledge more generally) could be put into the service of this vision. As a model of that synthesis, Naor writes, Kook looked to the work of the 17th-century Rabbi Abraham Cohen Herrera:

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January 5, 2018

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    Don’t repeat the mistakes of 2009.

  2. Bitcoin Could Be a Boon to Terrorists

    Israel needs a policy regarding the cybercurrency.

  3. The Latest Attempt to Close Israeli Supermarkets on the Sabbath Is So Much Posturing

    It won’t impinge on religious freedom—or encourage Shabbat observance.

  4. Remembering Aharon Appelfeld, One of Israel’s Most Distinguished Novelists

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  5. Abraham Isaac Kook’s Doctrine of Science and Kabbalah

    And the 17th-century Spanish book that influenced it.