Hidden Diaries and New Discoveries: The Life and Thought of Rabbi A. I. Kook

This article considers the contribution of Rabbi A. I. Kook's recently disclosed writings (the three volumes of Shemonah Qevazim [Eight Files]) to our understanding of his dialectical teaching and intellectual biography. The files encompasses R. Kook's writings between 1904 and 1921, and their fresh insights add unrecognized depth to the figure we know from his previously published writings.

In the article I explain R. Kook's disciples' motives for concealing the files; I conduct a phenomenological examination of the distinctiveness of these writings from intellectual and philosophical points of view, and I compare these writings to R. Kook's previously published writings. Furthermore, I examine R. Kook's personal and intellectual development in light of these files, and I conclude by raising the cultural question of what underlies the phenomenon of censorship.