{"product_id":"towards-the-mystical-experience-of-modernity-the-making-of-rav-kook-1865-1904-9781618119537","title":"Towards the Mystical Experience of Modernity: The","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAvraham Yitzhaq Ha-Cohen Kook (1865-1935) stands as a colossal figure of modern Jewish history and thought. Jurist, mystic, poet, theologian, communal leader, founder of the modern Chief Rabbinate and still the defining thinker of Religious Zionism, he is indispensable for understanding modern Jewish thought, the contemporary State of Israel, and the most fundamental interactions of religion, nationalism, ethics and spirituality. Despite countless studies of him, almost no full-fledged intellectual biography of him exists in any language. This study of the years before his momentous move to Jaffa in 1904, drawing on little-known works, including recently published manuscripts, begins to fill that gap. It traces his life and times in the remarkably intense Rabbinic intellectual milieu of late nineteenth-century Eastern Europe, and his path from a profound, regularly rationalist traditionalism, towards a dynamic theology and spiritual practice weaving together Kabbalah, philosophy, universal ethics, and romantic mysticism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Mirsky teaches us how to read afresh a much-discussed writer and how to navigate a vast and at times bewildering corpus. This sterling intellectual biography will become the definitive work on the making of one of the greatest modern mystics, introducing and translating a wealth of lesser known or newly printed sources. Mirsky’s exquisitely rich reading exposes the full range and complexity of the manifold contexts (medieval, Lithuanian, Zionist, theosophical, legal, and ethical) from which his hero emerged, without in any way obscuring his brilliant originality, as he invites us to viewings of Kook as an aspiring prophet, yet also as a master of exegesis and mourning poet. To not only hold all of these tensions, but also render them lucid to readers of all backgrounds, is nothing less than a feat of dedicated reflection and high-powered analysis. This is historical writing in its most eloquent, passionate and engaged form.”\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e—Jonathan Garb, author of\u003ci\u003e A History of Kabbalah from the Early Modern Period to the Present Day\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook plays a central role in twentieth-century Jewish life and thought, and his influence in so many areas is profound. More works of scholarship have been devoted to him than any other modern rabbi, and these studies have concentrated on R. Kook’s mature works, written when he was in the Land of Israel. Yehudah Mirsky’s most recent book stands out as he focuses on the early writings of R. Kook, the ones completed before he left Europe. Anyone who wishes to understand how R. Kook became who he was, and the trajectory of his religious thought, must grapple with these early works, including the tensions that arise between his early thought and what he later expressed. There is no better guide in this matter than Mirsky, whose ear is attuned not only to what R. Kook says, but to how he says it and sometimes even more importantly, what he does not say. Mirsky also shows himself to be an expert translator of R. Kook, able to preserve the nuances of very difficult, and often poetic, formulations. The present work is a worthy successor to Mirsky’s earlier book, the critically acclaimed \u003ci\u003eRav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e.”\u003cbr\u003e— Marc B. Shapiro, Weinberg Chair of Judaic Studies, University of Scranton\u003cbr\u003e“Yehudah Mirsky’s command of every relevant strand in contemporary Jewish thought is astonishing.  A beautifully wrought, intellectually sophisticated, and moving portrait of the wrestlings of one of Judaism’s most indispensable thinkers.”\u003cbr\u003e— Steven J. Zipperstein, Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History, Stanford University\u003cbr\u003e“Despite the astounding proliferation of studies relating to the life and works of R. A. I. Kook, the present volume is one which no student of his thought can afford to ignore. In this tour de force, Mirsky provides a detailed intellectual biography of the hitherto relatively ignored years preceding R. Kook’s move to Palestine, an updated bibliography of unpublished writings now being released alongside original versions of previously censored works, and the wealth of secondary literature that these have evoked. Such factors are game-changers, inducing the replacing of misguided attempts to provide a coherent and systematic view of R. Kook’s thought with appreciation of the role of chronological development in the evolution of his inner life and spiritual horizons. Mirsky’s masterly style, the wealth and sophistication of his intriguing commentaries, and his policy of relegating specialized or tangential information to copious footnotes make this book a joy for professional scholars and interested laymen alike.”\u003cbr\u003e— Tamar Ross, Professor Emerita, Department of Jewish Thought, Bar Ilan University\u003cbr\u003e“The significance of Avraham Yitzhak Ha-Cohen Kook in modern Jewish thought is generally recognized. However, he has been more lauded than understood or read. His writing is enigmatic and the limited knowledge about his early years has been a stumbling block for readers and students alike. The apparent impossibility of tracking down necessary sources and the difficulties of penetrating Rav Kook’s prose dismayed even the most dedicated of them. A magic wand was needed. This book is that wand and Yehuda Mirsky is the magician who uncovered remarkable sources on Rav Kook’s life and was able to transform opaqueness into clarity and the obscure into comprehensible. His book will be a standard starting point for anyone setting out to understand Rav Kook and his world. Readers of \u003ci\u003eTowards the Mystical Experience of Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e will find it hard to remember how they even tried to understand Rav Kook’s writing before they read this book.”\u003cbr\u003e— Shaul Stampfer, Professor Emeritus, Hebrew University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An illuminating blend of intellectual biography and textual analysis, \u003ci\u003eToward the Mystical Experience of Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e charts the course of Rav Kook’s intellectual development throughout his first twenty years of public life. Avoiding the twin pitfalls of historical determinism and ideological essentialism, Mirsky shows how the contingencies of Rav Kook’s life… shaped Rav Kook’s writing and teaching in this period… \u003ci\u003eToward the Mystical Experience of Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e paints a picture of Rav Kook’s early life that flows from one point to the next, showing shifts and developments, without flattening individual links in the chain into a homogenous whole. Each step has its own significance, while also taking part of a coherent narrative… \u003ci\u003eToward the Mystical Experience of Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e thus invites the reader to reconsider not just how they imagine Rav Kook, but how they imagine their individual selves and the Jewish people.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e– Levi Morrow, \u003ci\u003eThe Lehrhaus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In his outstanding new book, \u003ci\u003eTowards the Mystical Experience of Modernity: The Making of Rav Kook, 1865-1904\u003c\/i\u003e, Yehudah Mirsky achieves the rare feat of presenting Rav Kook’s teachings in all their fullness. By focusing on Rav Kook’s writings from the first half of his life, before his emigration to Palestine, Mirsky offers a fascinating picture of Rav Kook’s thought that is far richer and more complex than the version taught today by many who claim to be his disciples… [R]ather than read ‘Rav Kook’s works as a unified canon whose inconsistencies must be resolved in order for him to be authoritative,’ Mirsky chooses to ‘read them, and try to understand him, in terms of his time and place.’ In embracing the contradictions and evolutions of his thought, Mirsky reveals intriguing nuances others miss and captures Rav Kook’s unending pursuit of contradiction and its attempted resolution…[I]t behooves us to take a close look—as Mirsky so marvelously does—at Rav Kook in his fullness, and to encounter a thinker who refuses to grant contradiction the final say, while still recognizing that its final resolution may be beyond our grasp.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e– Zachary Truboff, S\u003ci\u003eources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“How did Rav Kook arrive at such a unique approach to modernity? What were the building blocks that he used to erect his intellectual edifice? Where did Rav Kook find the wherewithal to blaze his own individual trail that deviated so distinctively from the well-worn paths of all those around him? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese are the questions that Mirsky seeks to answer, and there is perhaps no one as well equipped to answer them. He brings together a mastery of the sociology of modernity, the history of ideas, the development of the Kabbalah, 19th-century intellectual trends, medieval Jewish philosophy, the Lithuanian yeshiva culture and, of course, Rav Kook’s extensive published and unpublished writings. Mirsky summons all these intellectual resources to get to the bottom of the mystery that is the emergence of Rav Kook.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e– Ross Singer, \u003ci\u003eThe Jerusalem Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Yehuda Mirsky’s \u003ci\u003eTowards the Mystical Experience of Modernity: The Making of Rav Kook\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterful work; one might almost say a masterpiece. … Mirsky’s work is a fundamental \u003ci\u003eHandbuch\u003c\/i\u003e, a guide to Rav Kook’s thinking whose usefulness will surely endure over several decades. Any student of the works featured here… will find in Mirsky’s work the definitive historical, literary, and bibliographical framing for approaching these works. This is an enormous contribution not only to scholarship but to Torah learning. … This book is, then, essential background material for the future student, and will be appreciated for decades to come as a standard reference work. More broadly, this is probably the best introduction in the English language—and probably any language—to the biography, context, formation, and social and intellectual context within which Rav Kook operated. If nothing else, this superb bio-bibliographical introduction to Rav Kook is enough to make this book a classic. … Mirsky has laid solid foundations that will allow others to gain a deeper appreciation of Rav Kook. For the everyman, he has provided a roadmap for studying his early life. For the scholar, he has constructed an edifice that justifies a re-reading of the key texts in light of some of the questions posed above. For both audiences, this first-rate work constitutes an invitation to further study and to deepen our understanding of Rav Kook.”\u003c\/p\u003e– Alon Goshen-Gottstein, \u003ci\u003eThe Tel Aviv Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Work in Brief \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrecis\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMapping Rav Kook\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMany Editorial Hands\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAcademic Approaches\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Missing Early Decades in Rav Kook'sCorpus\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTowards Expressivism and the Subject\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRav Kook and the Medieval PhilosophicalTradition\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Early Writings\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSelf-Cultivation, Philosophical Ethics,Mussar\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChapter One: Childhood and Early Years: Between Mitnagdism, Hasidism and Haskalah 42 Rabbinic Humanism and Haskalah\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGeographic and Cultural Background\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFamily Backgound\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSocial Changes: Haskalah's Shift fromEnlightenment to Radicalism\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRabbinic Maskilim\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChildhood and Early Education\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStudies in Lyutsin and Smorgon andEngagement with Haskalah\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBetrothal and Aderet\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAvraham Kook Goes to Volozhin\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMarriage, Poverty and First RabbinicPost\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLiterary Debut\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Ittur Sofrim\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eLoss\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eChapter 2: All in the Mind: The Writings ofthe Zeimel Period\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Small-Town Rabbinate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eTalmudic Commentary and a Sage'sDiscontents\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eHalakhic Writings and a Touch ofPhilosophy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eHevesh Pe'er\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Primacy of the Mind in \u003ci\u003eHevesh Pe'er\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eMidbar Shur\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eMoshe Hayim Luzzatto\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eMidbar Shur\u003c\/i\u003e and the Pursuit ofPerfection, Jewish and Universal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eAn Elegy for His First Wife\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eConclusion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eChapter 3: Boisk at the Crossroads of Mussarand Tiqqun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eUnease in Zeimel and the Influence ofEliasberg\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoisk\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eDevelopments in Yeshiva Culture and theMussar Movement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Turn to Interiority as a Defining Themeof this Period\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e: The Self and \u003ci\u003eTiqqun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eLithuanian Kabbalah\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003ePinkasim 15 \u0026amp; 16\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"The Rustlings of My Heart\": RavKook and B.M. Levin\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eConclusion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eChapter 4: 'Eyn Ayah: Intellect,Imagination, Self-Expression, Prophecy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Eyn Ayah and Modernity's ExpressivistTurn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Work: Genre, Method and the Study ofAggadah in Rabbinic Circles \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eTwo Introductions to the Work\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eSelf-Perfection\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eIntellect, Imagination, Feeling\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003ePerfection of the Individual and the Wholeand the Internalization of KabbalahStrategies of Containment\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Renewal of Prophecy and the Mission ofthe Artist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Emergence of Dialectic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Problem of Self-Love\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Study of Aggadah and SpiritualIndividualism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eConcluding Remarks on Expressivism andSubjectivity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eChapter 5: The Turn Towards Nationalism:Between Ideology and Utopia, or, Ethics and Eschatology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eJewish Nationalism in Eastern Europe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eEarly Mentions of Nationalism and Hints ofApocalypse\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst Responses to the Zionist Movement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirst Response to Orthodox Anti-Zionism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eHa-Peles\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe First Essay: Israel's UniversalMission\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eInterlude: Creation of the Mizrahi\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Second Essay: Mobilizing Literature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Third Essay: Ethics, History andEschatology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eAlexandrov's Response: Rav Kook and AhadHa-Am\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Eyn Ayah Passages on History andEschatology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eAssessing the Essays: Ideology andUtopia\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eChapter 6:'The New Guide of the Perplexed' 'TheLast in Boisk': Making Sense of Heresy en Route to Zion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo Jaffa and Palestine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Second Aliyah\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e'The New Guide of the Perplexed'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003e'The Last in Boisk': Heresy, Nietzsche,Apocalypse\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eMessiah ben Joseph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eExpressivism and the Song of Songs\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeresy and Eschatology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eEthics, Jesus, Nietzsche, Qelippah\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eWorking with Heresy, Reworking Torah Studyand Theology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eLeaving Boisk\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eConclusion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eTransformations in the Land of Israel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeven Shifts: From To-Down to Bottom-Up\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003ePhilosophy, Mysticism, Experience\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eImplications for the Study of Religion:Theology as Autobiography\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eImplications for Rav Kook Studies\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ci\u003eBerdyczewsky and Rav Kook: Between Ruptureand Dialectic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cul\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Academic Studies Press","offers":[{"title":"Default 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