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Ben Rothke

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Touro University: Medical Halachah Annual, Volume 3: Questions of Jewish Law for Physicians, Patients, Students

by Touro University

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6 hours, 8 min ago

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Rav Kooks Guide for Todays Perplexed

by Aryeh Sklar

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Ben Rothke said: " Comedian George Burns (1896–1996) famously joked that he outlived all the doctors who told him to stop smoking his daily 15–20 cigars.
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook had many detractors who criticized his support for the Zionist movement, his collaboration Comedian George Burns (1896–1996) famously joked that he outlived all the doctors who told him to stop smoking his daily 15–20 cigars.
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook had many detractors who criticized his support for the Zionist movement, his collaboration with secular pioneers, his authorization of a leniency during shmita in 1909, and much more. Still, much like Burns, he has outlived them all, pointing to the resilience of his legacy.
Despite having died nearly a century ago and with many of his writings over 150 years old, Rav Kook's exceptionalism lies in the fact that his ideas remain relevant even in 2026, reinforcing the impact noted above.
This enduring influence is especially evident in his writings, which present unique challenges in translation. Anyone who has used a Soncino translation of the Talmud knows that translation can still leave one more than halfway there.
Rabbi Aryeh Sklar has addressed this challenge in Rav Kook’s Guide for Today’s Perplexed (Kodesh Press). More than just a translation, Sklar’s edition includes extensive footnotes to fill in many blanks, adding essential details and context not apparent in the original text.
Adding further depth to the work, the book itself has a fascinating history. It remained an unpublished manuscript for more than a century before Rabbi Shachar Rachmani released it in full in 2014 as For The Perplexed of the Generation (LeNevukhei haDor). Rav Kook never authorized its publication, though the reasons remain unclear.
Sklar suggests that financial pressures may have played a role. Rav Kook’s salary as Rabbi of Yaffo was not great, and as Sklar notes, he wrote faster than he could afford to publish.
LeNevukhei haDor is freely available on Sefaria, but that translation is terse and difficult. Sklar’s version changes this, making the book much more decipherable. Yet even with Sklar’s skill, Rav Kook remains philosophical here, drawing on complex ideas from across the Talmud within a single sentence. It is far from a light read.
LeNevukhei haDor was written around 1900, while Rav Kook was a rabbi in Latvia during a period of great turmoil. Zionism, secular nationalism, and countless other challenges were decimating Judaism.
The famed Voloshin Yeshiva, where Rav Kook studied, lost countless students to these ‘isms. And Rav Kook wrote this book to address those challenges head-on.
The relationship between Rav Kook and the Old Yishuv was often strained. On some of Rav Kook’s approaches, as detailed in the book, it’s understandable how he left them apoplectic.
Writing of the positive moral and spiritual values of other religious traditions, the idea of universal ethics, how evolution might be correct, and more, meant that he didn’t see eye to eye with them.
Sklar writes in the introduction that LeNevukhei haDor was written for a wide audience seeking straightforward answers to the core philosophical and moral issues of the times. For this reason, according to Sklar, LeNevukhei haDor is much more readable and cogent than many of Rav Kook’s other works, which tend toward poeticism and abstraction.
As for me, this was no easy read. Rav Kook, at his more readable, is still a challenge. Sklar has made it easier, though, by footnoting, aiding the reader along the way.
Dr. Marc Shapiro writes in Renewing the Old, Sanctifying the New: The Unique Vision of Rav Kook, “that for those who have never read Rav Kook and don’t understand why there is such excitement every time a new work of his is published, take a volume of Rav Kook’s writings and sit with it for an hour, just going through it page by page. Odds are that the reader will be hooked. The originality and the power of his writings are breathtaking.”
Ultimately, Rav Kook’s visionary work - crafted for minds perplexed by the late 19th century - offers insight that endures into our own time. This lasting resonance is at the heart of both Sklar’s translation and Rav Kook’s legacy. ...more "

May 05, 2026 11:13AM · see review