London, 1916

In Shevat 5676 (1916), after being trapped for nearly two years in Switzerland due to the outbreak of World War I, Rav Kook was invited to occupy the rabbinic post of the Machzikei HaDat congregation in London. He accepted the position on condition that after the war he be allowed to return unhindered to Eretz Yisrael.

'Not many days passed,' recorded Rabbi Shimon Glitzenstein, his personal secretary in London, 'when already an atmosphere of influence on all circles of Jewish life in this large and important community was formed. All recognized his extraordinary concern for the entire Jewish people.'

Rav Kook certainly did not plan to spend three years in London; but he would later express his feelings about the momentous events of this period — events in which he took an active role — writing: "The hand of God is revealed; the voice of God calls out to all who can hear" (Igrot vol. III, p. 100).

National Treachery

Not long after his arrival, Rav Kook was forced into conflict with Jews who were working to undermine the Jewish people's hopes of national renaissance. Certain assimilated leaders of the British Jewish community, who considered themselves 'Englishmen of the Mosaic faith,' openly opposed the Zionist front. This powerful group, which included the staunchly anti-Zionist Lord Edwin Montagu (the only Jewish member of the British cabinet during World War I), had great influence on the British government due to their social, economic, and political standing. They officially declared to the British government that the Jewish religion has no connection to Jewish nationalism, and that they opposed any action recognizing the Land of Israel as the Jewish homeland.

In an open letter "in response to the national treachery," Rav Kook sharply condemned all those "who rend the Jewish soul, who wish to shatter the wondrous unity of Judaism and Jewish nationalism." 

"The entire debate whether it is our national or our religious heritage which sustains our life is a bitter mockery. The perfection of 'You are one and Your name is one, and who is like Your nation, Israel, one nation in the land' is indivisible."

He described the cruel injustice perpetrated by the Gentile nations throughout the generations, and demanded that they atone for their awesome sin by returning our land to us and assisting us in establishing an independent state. The letter was read in all English synagogues on Shabbat after the Torah reading, and made a tremendous impression. Rav Kook then send another letter urging the members of all English synagogues to immediately request that the British government 'aid us in our demand to return to our holy land, our eternal national home' (Igrot III, pp. 107-114).

Rav Kook's efforts succeeded: the spiteful letter written by the influential Jewish leaders was disregarded. The major British newspapers recorded the spontaneous protest, correcting the negative impression caused by the assimilationists.

During the parliamentary debates over authorizing a national Jewish home in the Land of Israel, several members raised the claims advanced by the Jewish assimilationists. Such a mandate, they said, is contrary to the spirit of Judaism. Mr. Kiley, a proponent of the declaration, then stood up and asked, "Upon whom shall we rely on the religious aspect of this issue — upon Lord Montagu, or upon Rabbi Kook, the rabbi of Machzikei HaDat?" 

Congratulating the British Nation

After the Balfour Declaration was passed in 1917, the Jewish leaders held a huge, celebratory banquet in London, to which they invited lords, dignitaries, and members of Parliament. Speech after speech by Jewish communal and Zionist leaders thanked the British for their historic act. When Rav Kook was given the honor of speaking, he said:

"I have come not only to thank the British nation, but to congratulate it for being privileged to make this declaration. The Jewish people is the 'scholar' among the nations, the people of the book, a nation of prophets; and it is a great honor for any nation to aid it. I bless the British nation for having extended such honorable aid to the people of the Torah, to return to its land and assist it in renewing its homeland."

A Wondrous Chain of Events

Rav Kook saw in the national return of the Jewish people an overt revelation of the hand of God. How could one be blind to this divine nature of this historical process?

"An imperviousness to divine intervention in history plagues our generation. A series of wondrous events has, and is, passing before us. Blind eyes fail to see the hand of God, deaf ears fail to hear the divine utterance guiding history.

"The sequence of events commenced with the immigration of the disciples of the Ba'al Shem Tov and the Vilna Gaon to Eretz Yisrael. They were followed by the awakening of the "Chibat Zion"  movement, and the establishment of the first settlements. The Zionism founded by Herzl, the building of the Land by the pioneers of the Second Aliyah, the Balfour Declaration, and the affirmation of the mandate in San Remo by the League of Nations — these are the most current events.

"Taken individually, each event may be explained in a logical- natural manner. But when they are viewed together, we may discern a wondrous chain of complementary links created and guided by the divine hand. The prophet of redemption cried out, 'Hear O deaf, and look, O blind, that you may see!' (Isaiah 42:18)."

(Celebration of the Soul, by R. Pesach Jaffe, pp. 186-189; additional material from Encyclopedia of Religious Zionism vol. 5, pp. 179-190)