R. Abraham Isaac Kook on War in Jewish Law

The last several decades have witnessed a proliferation of literature on the subject of war in Halakhah (Jewish law). The vast majority of this material has appeared in books and journal articles composed by Israeli rabbis in the religious Zionist camp. Practically every aspect of war has been analyzed in this literature, both with respect to the question of when war should be waged (jus ad bellum) and regarding the issue of how wars should be fought on the battlefield once they have been initiated (jus in bello).¹

There is little need to explain the interest in this subject. In the state of Israel, war is a constant, if unfortunate, element of life. The recent literature dealing with this subject is therefore not merely theoretical. Much of it focuses on concrete issues that the authors themselves have had to confront. Not only have these authors had to live through wars, virtually all of them have served in the Israeli army, and many of them have seen combat.

R. Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935) is frequently cited in this literature, as one would expect. He is by far the most influential figure in the development of religious Zionism, and his views are adduced by religious Zionist rabbis on just about every topic they engage. Yet, there has been relatively little analysis of R. Kook's halakhic views on war from an academic standpoint. In fact, to my knowledge, there has not been a single scholarly article devoted to this topic.

The absence of analysis of R. Kook's treatment of war in Jewish law is in large part due to the fact that there has been little academic treatment of the halakhic aspects of war in general. The material that has been published on war in Halakhah has been written primarily by rabbis who write from a religious perspective and not an academic one. Another likely reason that scholars have not paid much attention to R. Kook halakhic reflections on war is that while he has much to say about war, he provides relatively little information on the halakhic aspects of this topic.²

Still, R. Kook's halakhic reflections on war are worthy of in-depth scholarly treatment both because of their originality and because of their influence. The following analysis is therefore devoted to this task.³ R. Kook's halakhic views on war can be found mostly in a lengthy correspondence between him and R. Shlomo Pines (1874-1955) that took place in the fall and winter of 1916-17. Both were in Switzerland at the time; R. Pines was a prominent rabbi in Zurich, and R. Kook was residing temporarily in St Gallen. My analysis will focus primarily on portions of this correspondence that deal with the issue of war.⁴

The correspondence between R. Kook and R. Pines was not initially focused on war. It was initiated by R. Kook who turned to R. Pines for advice about assisting a hospital in Jerusalem that was having financial difficulty and was in danger of closing.⁵ In response, R. Pines suggested that R. Kook turn to a certain individual for help in raising money, and R. Kook apparently did.⁶ In a subsequent letter, R. Pines commends R. Kook for his efforts in this matter seeing as the lives of the patients in the hospital were at stake. As support for his praise of R. Kook's actions, R. Pines cites Maimonides who tells us that in situations in which a large group of people is in danger, a person must come to their aid even at the risk of his own life.⁷

In his response to R. Pines, R. Kook expresses great surprise at R. Pines's reference to Maimonides because he knows of no statement in the latter's writings, nor in anyone else's, requiring an individual to risk his life to save others who are in danger, even if it is a large group of people. However, R. Kook adds that when the entire Jewish people is threatened with destruction, there are halakhic sources that require...