Rav Kook & Chevron

In 1937, tragedy struck once again—this time, painfully close to home. Rav Kook’s grandson, Shlomo, was murdered in the Old City of Yerushalayim while studying in Chevron. In this final installment, we explore how Rav Kook’s teachings on suffering, redemption, and the hidden pathways of Divine Providence took on a piercing new dimension. This was not just a national loss—it was a personal wound. And yet, even here, the Rav’s legacy of faith, resilience, and spiritual vision remained unshaken.

In 1931, two years after the Chevron massacre, 200 brave Jews returned to reestablish a fragile community. With Rav Kook’s unwavering encouragement, and despite the silence of the political establishment, life slowly began to return—culminating in Rav Kook’s emotional 1933 visit. But just a few years later, Chevron was evacuated once again. This episode captures the heartbreak of fleeting return, the testimony of those who tried to hold on, and Rav Kook’s final cries that Chevron must never be abandoned.

Six months after the 1929 Chevron massacre, a group returned to the bloodstained homes to collect the sacred remnants. Blood-soaked garments, shattered belongings, even the water used to cleanse the walls—everything was buried with reverence. In this haunting episode, we revisit the painful aftermath and Rav Kook’s halachic and spiritual response to this desecrated holy ground. As doubt and concealment clouded the redemption process, Rav Kook offered clarity, reminding Am Yisrael that beneath the darkness, unimaginable light was preparing to emerge.

As a massive crowd gathered in the Yeshurun synagogue, on King George st. in Yerushalayim, Tisha B'av was felt in the air.
It wasn't Tisha B'av, it was January 1930, exactly 6 months to the day of the massacre.

'Where do we go from here?' was the silent scream, emerging from the masses. As Rav Kook approached the podium, all hearts were wide open to receive the strength, direction and determination that was needed.

In this week's segment, we learned Rav Kook's prophetic words, shared that bitter evening in Yerushalayim.

As tensions heated up in the summer of 1929, word reaches Yerushalayim regarding the horrific massacre of Chevron. How did Rav Kook experience it?

In 1924, one of the most prestigious yeshivas of the time, the Slabodka Yeshiva, decides to relocate from Kovna, Lithuania, to Chevron. Rav Kook played a big role in this move, as well as having a very close relationship with it's Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Moshe Mordechai Epstein. 5 years later, the yeshiva suffered a horrible tragedy, as did the rest of the Jewish community of Chevron, with the massacre of 67 jews, 25 of them yeshiva students.

Rav Kook's involvement with the rebuilding of the city of Chevron, post World War 1

The city of Chevron during the lifetime of Rav Kook, and the beginning of the seeds of a relationship between them