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October 1963

Auxiliary Text of Source Material for Rav Kook: A Series of Three Lectures by Rabbi Norman Lamm (1963)

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Religion and Philosophy, 3rd Lecture (1963)

I. Unity: General, A. Last week showed how his orientation even to sinners who defied Israel are One, hence the doctrine of Yihud — God, Torah, one of the three, total unity can be seen in his "Orot", a Komah Shelemah. All branches of the people form (as he says)!; B. Theme of Yihud is key to most of his thinking. Not just that God is One — that is all monotheistic religion. But — that the Unity of God suffuses life — must be an integration of our lives.C. Own PersonalityLast week we saw that his government is to institute peace; personality showed was shaped and integrated character.Thus, normally split Halakhah/Agadah.But: R. Zevin — Kook only combined both as one: Halakhah body, Agadah soul.So: he himself as Halakhah-disciplined, mystical, defender of Torah, showed no withdrawal to his inwardness and love for others.Kook had perfect integration of the rational and the mystic.\*READ: AUX. TEXT P. 14, # H-5"The Sacred and the Profane"A. Greatest Unity - between sacred and profane.\*READ: AUX. TEXT P. 13, # H-1Here his primary reference is to Torah-spirit vis-a-vis practical upbuilding of Palestine.B. But also includes: Sacred and Profane Studies — i.e. Torah and secular studies.Kook believed in what was called (T.U.) "Synthesis".But — many interpretations of Synthesis. For Kook, not merely that one person should study both disciplines and keep them apart, but should study secular studies as a Torah-man and thus sanctify the secular, fusing all to a sacred unity.Thus, S.R. Hirsch (1808–1888) vs. Kook (1865–1935): Torah im Derekh Eretz. But Kook would have said: Torah ve’derekh eretz. (Story: strawberries and milk — with milk, woman and child; with child...)Kook: the two must confront, come to grips with each other.Saw them in terms of Kodesh and Hol.Hence: function of Kodesh is to transform all else to Kodesh; function of Hol is to seek its own transformation.Thus — and this is stated explicitly by Kook (though Buber mentions it in own name) — there is no "chol mul…
General Jewish Thought Jewish Unity Orthodoxy & Other Denominations

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Some Aspects of the Religious Philosophy of Rav Kook (1962)

(1) Rav Avraham Isaac Hacohen (1865-1935): basic biography; significance; early works; major works (2) poetry; literature; mystic; nationalism (3) "man by nature a mystic." Also: התפילה המשמדת של המשנה; opt. (4) assume mystic life (hence all life) ineffable, with basic rationed principles.
Faith General Jewish Thought Torah & Science

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Third Lecture on Judaism and Science: Towards a Resolution of some of the Conflicts (1954)

Introduction. Our attempt, this week, to resolve specific conflicts between Religion and Science is predicated on our opinion, explained last Friday Night, that both have separate functions in life, althoughthey overlap. In this area of overlapping there are certain conflicts. Whether or not we can resolve them, now or ever, the fact remains that both Religion and Science entail inherent and eternal truths, and neither will stand or fall by these conflicts. It is in this spirit, and in the knowledge that Torah is true and that all it maintains is true, that we proceed to the factual discussion!Evolution vs Creation.a: The Bible and Creation. The Universe was created by G-d, at His command, and was created ex nihilo. G-d created living as well as inorganic matter. Vegetable, animal life and human beings were created in fixed species ("le’mineihu").b: Biology and Evolution. There is no one theory of evolution. There are many, but fall mainly into three classes: Lamarckian, Darwinian, and Mutation theory. Will explain in more detail later.Essentially, almost all theories of Evolution maintain these principles:1) Living forms as they now exist in their many species were not always thus.2) Life is constantly evolving, and the direction is from simpler to more complex and higher forms.3) Species, as we know them, are not fixed. ALL forms of life that we know have a common origin (the "Origin of Species"). Life began on this world with a unicellular germ. Then, by one way or another, and over millions of years, several lines of descent gave rise to our present species, including Man. The method of evolution is, according to one school (Lamarck), by the organism adapting itself to its environment, thus gaining new skills and new physical features while losing some others (give giraffe example), and insists upon the inheritance of acquired characteristics. According to a second school (Darwin), there is always a "struugle for survival", and there results a "survival of the …
Torah & Science