(1865-1935) A Jewish rabbi of Russian origin. Kook immigrated to
Palestine in 1904. He was involved in efforts to secure the
Balfour Declaration, which declared British support of a future homeland for the Jews in Palestine. Kook believed God's plan for the Jewish people and the messianic era of peace in the world would come through the Zionist movement to establish a Jewish state. In 1921, he was appointed the Ashkenazi Rabbi of
Jerusalem and soon after became the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of
Israel. As part of his theological beliefs surrounding Jewish settlement of the biblical land of Israel, he tried to build channels of communication between secular Zionists, religious Jewish Zionists and non-Zionist Haredi Jews. See
Rabbi Kook's teachings in English, translated by David Shulman.