Stories Of Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook

R' Aviner:

Once when our Rabbi mentioned the Holocaust he burst out in tears: "And what did it matter to the wicked one that Rabbi Menachem Zemba was alive?! And that Rabbi Hillel Zeitlin was alive?! (Gadol Shimusha p. 46)

In preparation for Yom Ha-Shoah, a Rabbi in a yeshiva for younger students brought a film to show the students. The film included pictures which were shot by the evil ones during the Holocaust. There were those who sharply criticized the use of this medium to influence the students. When our Rabbi was asked about this matter, he responded that one must deepen awareness of the Holocaust in every possible way. (Gadol Shimusha p. 80)

Our Rabbi said that it would have been appropriate to lay Eichman down on the ground and to have all of Israel step on him and trample him.

Someone once came to pick up our Rabbi in a Volkswagen. He refused to enter (Ha-Rav David Goldenberg).

American

A student introduced himself as an "American". Our Rabbi pointed out that he is not an American, since America is not our Land. Rather he should say: A Jew from the Exile of America (Iturei Yerushalayim #64).

Chabad

One Chabad publication referred to the house of the Lubavitcher Rebbe outside of Israel as "Beit Chayeinu" (The House of our Life). Our Rabbi responded with great distress: "Have mercy on Zion for it is the House of our Life! How is it possible to call a house in America by this name?!" (Iturei Yerushalayim #64 in the name of Ha-Rav Yitzchak Dadon).

Finding a Minyan

It once happened that a student did not daven Maariv at the conclusion of Shabbat. He therefore went to find a minyan in Meah Shearim, and he met up with our Rabbi who also had not davened Maariv. Our Rabbi spoke with the student for an hour and three-quarters about the Neturei Karta, who are against the State of Israel and against Tzahal, even at a time when the Master of the Universe is showing us all of the signs of the Redemption, and when everything written in Yechezkel chapter 36 is materializing before our eyes. After all of this, our Rabbi brought him to the shul of the Chasidim of Reb Arele Roth (a group known as Toldos Ahron who are intensely anti-Zionist), not by way of the main road but by way of the courtyard. When they entered the large hall, all eyes turned toward him. They finished the blessing after eating and davened Maariv as if they were completely on fire. They then stood in line to say "shalom" to our Rabbi. After they left, the student asked, "Before we arrived I heard an hour and three-quarters from you against the Neturei Karta, and now they stand in line to say "shalom" to the Rav?" Our Rabbi responded, "One can learn from everyone. How to pray - this is learned here. You should know that when father, Ha-Rav ztz"l, desired prayer of 'all my bones would speak' (Tehillim 35:10), he would come here." Two weeks later, the student was walking in Meah Shearim. One of the Chasidim of Reb Arele ran after him, saying "Send regards to Rav Tzvi Yehudah from so-and-so." When he related this to our Rabbi, he responded to him, "He is an expert in the writings of my father, Ha-Rav, but he learns them in secret, because if this was discovered he would be in danger, as he was born into Neturei Karta." In fundamental and principled matters, our Rabbi did not differentiate between this stream and that stream. For example, in protests against autopsies, our Rabbi would always participate with different Orthodox streams (Iturei Cohanim #248 - in the name of Ha-Rav Binyamin Eisner - known as Rav Benny by his beloved students, me E.E. amongst them).


Our Rabbi gave classes for the yeshiva students at his house, and they set up an amplification system so that women could hear in the apartment next door. There was sometimes a problem with the system and our Rabbi would wait until they fixed it. He would explain that for the honor of women he was obligated to delay his class so that they too could hear.

With all of our Rabbi's care regarding issues relating to modesty, our Rabbi was at the same time strict about women's honor. Before Kiddush on Shabbat day, he would ask over and over: "Are all the women here? 'Women are obligated in Kiddush during the day' (Berachot 20b)."

Our Rabbi would remind his married students that there is an obligation to provide their wives with spiritual food. In contrast to the general thought that women are exempt from learning Torah, he would emphasize with a smile that this does not apply to learning about faith: "Is faith a time-bound, positive mitzvah?"

When the Beit Midrash was in the dormitory building, the women's section was close to the entrance to the Beit Midrash. There was a sign: "Women are requested not to linger in the hallway after davening" [in order to prevent women and men from intermingling]. When our Rabbi saw it, he asked that the note be taken down and rewritten in a more general manner, in order not to offend the honor of the women: "The community is requested not to linger in the hallway after davening."

Our Rabbi was extremely particular not to stare at women. Even when a woman came to him for a long conversation on an important matter, he listened to her carefully and responded warmly – but his eyes were always averted to the side. He was the same when he gave a class to women. He would stand for a woman who was a Torah scholar, but he would not directly look at her. (Ha-Rav Eliyahu Mali – Iturei Cohanim #176)

The conquest of Yerushalayim

"...We are reminded of that very Wednesday. How is it possible not to remember? It is impossible to forget. An emissary of the Chief Rabbi [of Tzahal], Rav Goren, came to me. To hear the news, we were, of course, incredibly excited. Afterwards a telephone message arrived from Rav Goren. We did not have a telephone in our house. It was therefore quiet, but messages sometimes came to us through our neighbors. Thus, they sent in the name of Rav Goren a message that he wanted us to know that they were drawing near, they were currently located in the area of Rockefeller [Museum] and they were going to the Kotel, and that I should be ready to travel there. When the driver arrived I asked him: ‘How did you enter?’ He said to me: ‘All of the gates were open before us.’ He brought me in an army jeep. We drove and drove. I asked him: ‘Where are you going to bring me?’ Suddenly he said to me: ‘We are on the Temple Mount.’ I was dismayed. We were across from their building [the Dome of the Rock]. The passage was in fact through the Lion’s Gate. It was then impossible to approach any other way. They therefore brought me in through this passageway. There were groups of young men there. Large groups of soldiers from our Army were passing on all sides, and I heard a voice yell to me: ‘Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah!’ This was Chanan Porat. There were other Torah scholars, a large camp of soldiers of the Army [who were] Torah scholars! We arrived at the Kotel. We danced, we rejoiced, we were moved, we embraced and kissed each other with the soldiers. There is no need to relate the genius, the righteousness and the holiness of our Master, the Chief Rabbi of Tzahal (Shilt"a) [ztz"l], who went with courage at the front of the Army, at the front of the conquerors with two weapons. Do you know what his two weapons were? A small Torah scroll and a small shofar!

Afterwards, he said to me: ‘We have completed this visit at the Kotel, now I am going to Hevron.’ I jumped. I was dismayed. I was afraid. I could not understand. Master of the Universe! What is the meaning of this? He was going to Hevron with the two weapons, with the small Torah scroll and with the small shofar! The next day they informed me in the afternoon: Rav Goren is at the house of his father-in-law, Rav David Cohain [This was already after the conquest of Ma’arat Ha-Machpelah - the Cave of Machpelah]. This was how it occurred. ‘Were our mouths as full of song as the sea...we still could not thank you sufficiently’ (from the prayer ‘Nishmat’ recited on Shabbat and holidays). How is it possible, Master of the Universe, not to see this? How is it possible not to fill ourselves with faith, how is it possible not to fill ourselves with the most glorious holiness for what the Master of the Universe has done, does and will do for us, before the entire world, before all of the non-Jews, before all of the believers and all of the nonbelievers?" (Sichot Rabbenu, Yom Yerushalayim 5733 [1974], #9).