- Kook (Kuk), Abraham Isaac
- (1865–1935)Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine. Kook was the first legally recognized Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the Land of Israel and is remembered as one of the greatest. His Zionist views aroused opposition among Orthodox colleagues when he first arrived in Palestine in 1904, and many of his later ideas were also too radical for the rabbinical establishment. Kook hoped to revive the Sanhedrin in order to enable Judaism to come to terms with modern ideas, and to transform the curriculum of yeshivot so that they would produce spiritual leaders of the Jewish people. His mystical leanings led him to interpret the early chapters of Genesis in a fashion which alienated fundamentalist opinion. In the last year of his life he publicly defended the suspected assassin of the Zionist labour leader Chaim ARLOSOROFF, who was acquitted on a technicality but remained the subject of bitter attacks by left- wing Zionists. In spite of the controversies he aroused, Kook’s humanity, independent judgement and sympathy even for irreligious chalutzim earned him love and respect throughout the Jewish world.
Who’s Who in Jewish History after the period of the Old Testament. Joan Comay . 2012.