R' Aviner: DON'T Read This Unpublished R' Kook Book

R' Aviner announces on his video blog that a new, previously unpublished manuscript from R' Avraham HaCohen Kook is about to be published, and he will not be reading it.

The book, "For the Perplexed of the Generation" has recently been transcribed and is available in very limited quantities. A PDF of the entire book is available here and a book review of it on the Kavannah blog.

R' Aviner says that from a peripheral reading of the book, it is indeed from R' Kook, and appears to have been written in the period when R' Kook was outside of Israel.

[Jameel: In 1914 Kook traveled to Europe to participate in the planned conference of the recently organized ultra-Orthodox Agudat Israel, which he hoped to influence towards Zionism. With the outbreak of World War I, Kook was stranded in Europe, making his home first in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and in 1916 becoming the rabbi of London's Maḥzikei ha-Dat synagogue.]

R' Aviner says the very long book (285 pages) was written "while R' Kook was very troubled in Chutz La'Aretz, as opposed to his clear and concise thinking when he was in Israel and wrote much shorter books." He continues and says the book "flip-flops" while the books R' Kook wrote in Israel were definitive and concise.

R' Aviner's video-blogged 3 reasons to avoid reading the book are:

1. It was not "edited" by R' Kook's son, R' Tzvi Yehuda or the "Nazir". [Jameel; R' Tzvi Yehuda Kook purists will only read the works of R' Kook after they were edited by R' Tzvi Yehuda or the Nazir]. You will misunderstand R' Kook if you read an unedited version of it. R' Kook's unedited works are like "unripe fruit". "It is like a rooftop without a guard rail, and one could fall..."

2. The book is written inconclusively, without decisive analysis and a final decision. Jewish Law must be conclusive and not wavering.

3. R' Kook did not want this book published. It would have been published had R' Kook wanted it to be.

R' Aviner: Therefore, we must respect R' Kook's wishes, and refuse to read the book.

What is so scary about this book?

Wolf2191 describes it:

Following is my inexact translation of the first part Chapter 22 of the recently leaked ms. of R' Kook לנבוכי הדור. See here for the background of this book

The most alarming matter of all, that which causes the great confusion of ideas in this world, and dominates with great commotion - even today the time of the explosion of ideas, is the tendency to limit ones outlook on life within the confines of ones own group.

The Kavannah Blog States:

We also have two recent articles in Kipa [in Hebrew]. One used the aforementioned Udi Avramovitch as its expert source. Udi finds the volume more radical than the printed version and he finds a greater identity of God’s will and the will of the people. He also claims that in this work Rav Kook claims a value for other religions and that they worship the one true God. The second article quotes the army and settlement Rabbi Yosef Kellner that the book is essential to read but they are confining distribution, and here is a letter by Rav Kellner about the book.

Chapter 1, page 1 of the book.

Personally, the best way to get me to want to read a book, specifically if written about expanding one's horizons, is for someone to actively encourage me not to read it.

Again, you can read the entire book (at your own risk, of course), here.

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