#324
Date and Place: 16 Menachem Av 5670 (1910), Rechovot
Recipient and Background: Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the famous philologist, generally considered the father of Modern Hebrew. As Ben Yehuda tried to base Modern Hebrew on biblical and rabbinic Hebrew over Jewish history, Rav Kook was one of the scholars from whom he sought insight.
Summary: Ben Yehuda asked Rav Kook for the source of “hechsher” meaning rabbinic certification of kashrut. (In Talmudic contexts, it refers to a liquid preparing food to become impure or generally facilitating halachically significant matters).
“Ktav hechsher” is used for certification in the Chayei Adam (127:3) and Shaarei Teshuva. “Ktav” alone is found in the Responsa of Mahari Anzel, Torat Chesed (Lublin), Pri Etz Hadar, and Rav Shlomo Kluger and rabbis of his generation. It is also found regarding the suitability of etrogim. (Rav Kook could not guarantee where exactly in each work it was found, as he did not have access to all of the works.) It is also found regarding ribbit (usury) in many Sephardic works, including the Mabit, Knesset Hagedola, Birkei Yosef, and Maharashdam.
