Article
Rav Kook: Man of Faith and Vision (1965)
Like God, a Zionist: Towards the end of his life, wasted away by a fatal cancer and suffering from severe and unrelenting pains, Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook was visited by a delegation of the leaders of the Jewish National Fund. As soon as they saw him, the distinguished visitors realized that this would be the last time they would see him alive. Rav Kook began the discussion by asking Menahem Usishkin, the leader of the group, “Have any new areas been redeemed lately?” Usishkin, who knew full well that the query was much more than a casual opening for a conversation, replied, “We bought a small plot in Emek Hefer, but we are beset by grave problems. As soon as we are ready to buy, the Mufti applies pressure on the sellers, threatens them — and the sale is called off abruptly. We need considerable amounts of money simply to buy off all kinds of people interested in causing us needless trouble.”“And what,” asked the Rav, “is your financial condition at present?”“As usual,” Usishkin sighed, “the income doesn’t begin to cover the expenses.”“In that case,” said the Rav, whose eyes suddenly had regained their old sparkle despite his desperate illness, I shall immediately address a special open letter to the Jews of Poland, asking their enthusiastic support for the J.N.F.”“That would certainly help,” said Usishkin. "The Rabbi’s letter two years ago to Lithuanian Jewry produced excellent results.”When the J.N.F. leaders left the sick-room. Rav Kook called in his secretary and dictated to him a moving appeal to Polish Jewry on behalf of the J.N.F. The secretary hazarded the comment that by his unqualified support of the J.N.F. he might incur the wrath of his rightist critics, the zealots who were unalterably opposed to the New Yishuv. Rav Kook, usually modest to a fault, replied impatiently, “So what? What can they say about me?”The secretary answered, smiling, “they will accuse the Rabbi of being a Zionist.”“Is it at all possible,” exclaimed Rav Kook with a twi…
