(Elul 3, 5695 / 1935 - 89th Yahrzeit)
5625 (1865) Born on the 16th of Elul, 5625 (Sep. 7, 1865) in Greive (now Griva), a suburb of Dvinsk in Latvia.
5645 (1884) At age 18, he studied for a year and a half at the famed Volozhin yeshiva. The head of the Volozhin yeshiva, Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Berlin (the "Netziv"), held the "ilui [prodigy] from Griva" in high esteem.
5646 (1886) Married Batsheva, the daughter of Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim (1843-1905) (known by his initials, the Aderet), then rabbi of Ponevezh, and later chief rabbi of Jerusalem.
5648 (1888) Appointed rabbi of Zeimel (Zeimelis) in Lithuania at age 22. Launched a short-lived monthly rabbinic journal, Itur Sofrim.
5649 (1889) During his stay in Zeimel, Rav Kook's first wife died. (Their daughter Frayda Chana was a year and a half at the time.) His father-in-law the Aderet convinced him to marry Raiza-Rivka Rabinowitz, daughter of the Aderet's twin brother. Raiza-Rivka was the mother of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, Esther Ya’el Kook, and Batya-Miriam Ra'anan. Studied with the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv (1839-1926), author of Leshem Shevo Ve-Achlamah.
5654-5656 (1894-1896) Collected 38 sermons in the book Midbar Shur. The manuscript, however, was stolen, and the book was only published a century later, in 1999.
5656 (1896) Became rabbi of Boisk (now Bauska), Latvia. Wrote Musar Avicha, a treatise on moral reflections (published posthumously in 1946)
5664 (1904) Arrived in Eretz Yisrael on the 28th of Iyar, 5664 (May 13, 1904). He served as rabbi of Jaffa and the surrounding settlements for the next ten years.
5665 (1905) Published the first chapters of Orot HaTeshuvah, Rav Kook's original thoughts on the topic of repentance, as well as Eder HaYakar and Ikvei Hatzon.
5670 (1910) Sabbatical year. Published the Halachic work, Shabbat Ha'Aretz, in defense of the heter mechirah.
5674 (1913) Lead a mission of rabbis to settlements in the north to encourage them and strengthen religious observance.
5674 (1914) Traveled to Europe for Agudat Yisrael convention in Germany. Unable to return to Eretz Yisrael due to the sudden outbreak of World War I, Rav Kook spent a year and a half in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
5676 (1916) Rav Kook arrived in England in early 1916. He served as rabbi of Machzikei HaDat congregation in London for three years during the war. In 1917, he published the mystical treatise Rosh Millin on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
5679 (1919) Returned to Eretz Yisrael. In Tevet 5680 (Dec. 1919 - Jan. 1920), he accepted the position of Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. Two months earlier, his twelve-year-old daughter Esther Ya’el died tragically after falling down a flight of steps.
5680 (1920) Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook edited some of his father's writings, publishing them in the book Orot - Rav Kook's most famous work.
5681 (1921) Established Chief Rabbinate of pre-state Israel, becoming Chief Rabbi together with Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yaakov Meir.
5684 (1924) Established the Mercaz HaRav yeshivah in Jerusalem, unique among the yeshivot at that time in its religious philosophy and positive attitude towards Zionism.
5695 (1935) Rav Kook passed away in Jerusalem on the third of Elul, 5695 (Sep 1, 1935), two weeks before his 70th birthday.
Quotes from Rav Kook
“The old shall be renewed, and the new shall be made holy.”
“I don't speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don't have the power to remain silent.”
“If we were destroyed, and the world with us, due to baseless hatred, then we shall rebuild ourselves, and the world with us, with baseless love.”
“The purest righteous do not complain about evil; rather, they increase justice. They do not complain about godlessness, but increase faith. They do not complain about ignorance, but increase wisdom.”
“There are free men with the spirit of a slave, and slaves whose spirit is full of freedom. One who is true to his inner self is a free man, while one whose entire life is merely a stage for what is good in the eyes of others, is a slave.”
“Ascend towards the heights, ascend! For you have great strength. You have wings of spirit, wings of mighty eagles. Do not fail them, or they will fail you. Seek them and you will find them right away.”
Courtesy of http://www.ravkooktorah.org
