In Mishlei (27:19), Shlomo Hamelech teaches:
כמים הפנים לפנים כן לב האדם לאדם“As a face is to a face in water, so too is one person’s heart to another.”
The Vilna Gaon explained this verse as follows:
Just as a face is reflected in water, and the same face, when looking into water, is looking back at you, so it is with the heart of another person. If you extend your heart to someone, his or her heart will reach out to you as well. If you show caring and generosity, the other person will respond and offer the same in kind.
Rav Simcha HaKohen Kook, זכר צדיק לברכה, understood this intuitively. As chief rabbi of the city of Rehovot, he saw it as his responsibility to elevate the people and the city as a whole toward more Torah observance and holiness. His way was to do this with tenderness and a smile. Rav Kook had a sweet disposition by nature and this emanated from him in all of his encounters. On Fridays, he would prepare for Shabbat early and go to the malls and industrial zones of Rehovot. There, armed only with his absolute likability, he asked shopkeepers and manufacturers to close their places of work on Shabbat. This legendary effort led to an untold number of businesses to be closed forever on Shabbatot and chagim. He was successful because Rav Kook was not only a descendant of Aharon HaKohen but a disciple. He was genuinely אוהב את הבריות ומקרבן לתורה. By dint of his love of people, they came closer to the Torah. Upon meeting him, people sensed that his heart was opened to them and they responded by opening theirs to him.
Rav Kook and the rebbetzin raised a beautiful family with nine children of their own. They also raised several children of his brother and sister-in-law when they, along with two of their children, were killed in a tragic car accident in the early 1970s. At the time of his death, Rav Shlomo Kook was the chief rabbi of Rehovot, and Rav Simcha was asked to step in and assume the role of his late brother. Rav Simcha Kook had been teaching in a yeshiva in Jerusalem. He once told me that he never thought of being a rav of a community or a city. He would have been content to remain with his talmidim in a yeshiva. I have always thought that comment ironic, since Rav Simcha Kook came to be the paradigm of what every rav should aspire to be.
Aside from his family, Rav Kook had three loves: the Torah, the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. Any effort in his life was to advance those ideals. He was an absolutely selfless person. He stayed at our home many times, and I am grateful to the Almighty that our children grew up with guests such as Rav Kook. All he asked was to be busy caring for God’s people and Torah, anywhere in the world.
Rav Kook’s love of Torah and single-minded dedication to it was the essence of his being. I remember waking to go to shul early one morning and hearing his melodious voice. He had already been learning for two hours. He traveled the world to support the Yeshiva Meor haTalmud in Rehovot, established in memory of his brother. Rav Kook was well into his 80s before he began to limit his travel schedule. His trusted aide who traveled with him made sure that we scheduled some time to step into a yeshiva, or even better, a yeshiva ketana, so that he could see children learning Torah. This gave him joy. I remember once when he was in Miami that all of the schools closed because of an oncoming hurricane. That particular time, the hurricane made a sudden turn in the ocean and, thank God, did not make landfall. Rav Kook was distressed by the bitul Torah; so many children stayed home and did not learn on that day. I told him that we would have the opportunity to give thanks to Hashem for the meteorological good fortune and would be able to express to the children that once again, we see how Hashem controls the world. He was satisfied with this but insisted that the learning had to be made up.
Rav Kook’s love of Torah also expressed itself in upholding the highest standards of halacha. He conferred with Rav Elyashiv on many halachic issues, and implemented all of his decisions. Everyone knew that Rav Kook had no self interest, that everything was לשם שמים, for the sake of heaven. His decisions to be strict or lenient were not questioned, as he had the trust of the entire city. Rehovot is known to have an impeccable standard of kashrut, all due to Rav Kook’s ability to persuade in the most respectful and affectionate manner.
The love Rav Kook had for all Jews was manifest in good times and bad. Although he was the chief rabbi of one city, Rav Kook was known throughout the country and was recognizable wherever he went. The room changed when he entered it and a feeling of warmth and holiness was pervasive. He attended our daughter’s engagement party in Jerusalem and danced with us in joy at her wedding. He went to every simcha he could because he loved every Jew.
When the Jewish people were in mourning, he felt it acutely. My wife and I were in Israel when the bodies of the three boys were found. Knowing that Rav Kook would take a day and go to all of the shiva homes, we asked his assistant if we could accompany him. Walking into those houses of mourning with Rav Kook was a unique experience. His presence, as a representative of the Jewish people, comforted the families. He sat and cried with each of them, as if they were his own children.
The religious communities in Israel are very factionalized. There are not many who can span the various camps and feel comfortable everywhere. Rav Kook was such an individual. Every camp claimed him as theirs. The dati leumi world believes that Rav Kook belonged to them, and the charedi community is certain that he was charedi. Who is correct? To which camp did he belong? The truth is that he belonged to none. He strode above such distinctions. In his youth he learned Torah in Kfar HaRoeh and in the Chevron Yeshiva. He visited Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav regularly, and was perfectly comfortable there. His own yeshiva in Rehovot did not send their talmidim to the army, but he himself served in the War of Independence. Rav Kook did not see divisions in the society. He focused on the fact that they were Jews and his concern was their physical and spiritual wellbeing.
Finally, the love of Rav Kook for Eretz Yisrael. He was born there and had a symbiotic relationship with the land. Of course, the name Kook is closely associated with the love of Eretz Yisrael, beginning with his grandfather’s brother—Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook. It was certainly his heritage but also his passion.
My wife and I were in Israel with one of our sons for his hanachat tefillin at the Kotel. We had dinner with Rav and Rebbetzin Kook at their home in Rehovot. It was fascinating to hear that as much as they loved Rehovot and the people there, they always pined to return to Jerusalem. They viewed their decades in Rehovot as a mission, the place where the Almighty wanted them to live in order to serve the Jews there. But their souls resided in Jerusalem.
In 2010 the Churva Synagogue in the Old City was finally restored. Rav Elyashiv instructed that Rav Simcha HaKohen Kook should be the rav of the ancient shul. Rav Kook said that he would accept the position on the condition that he not have to leave Rehovot. In the end, he retained both positions, chief rabbi of Rehovot and rav of the Churva Shul. He was at home in both places.
Rav Kook was involved in the restoration plans of the Churva Shul for a decade. The wall that faced Har HaBayit had been destroyed but there were stones of that wall that were standing in a strange configuration. The workers from the construction company told him that they will demolish the existing wall and build a new, beautiful one, because working on the existing precarious structure would be too difficult. Rav Kook’s reaction was, “What? The Arabs could not destroy that wall completely, and we will take it down? Never!” Rav Kook got his way. When you enter the Churva Synagogue today you will see that the wall that faces Har HaBayit is a combination of old and new. A beautiful wall fills in the spaces of the old one, which is still standing.
All of Israel was influenced by of one of the great rabbanim of our time, HaRav Simcha HaKohen Kook, זכר צדיק לברכה. His life was dedicated to the truth that the modern State of Israel can be like the wall of the Churva, intertwined with our inheritance—the authentic Torah of our ancestors. He taught us to love every Jew and to see only his or her potential for great spirituality. And he taught us to love and cherish our land.
חבל על דאבדין. There are precious few like Rav Simcha Kook, who, in an allusion to the blessing of kohanim, and in keeping with his own character, always signed off with:
בברכת כהנים באהבה.By Rabbi Neal Turk
