Stories From the Land of Israel (Biographies of Inspirational People in the History of Israel and the Return of the Jewish People to their Land Book 1)

Despite the entreaties of the townspeople of Boisk that their beloved rabbi not leave, and despite the tempting offer to serve as a yeshiva dean, Rav Kook saw in the Jaffa position a fulfillment of his cherished dream to live in Eretz Yisrael.

His parents recalled that, even as a small child, their son had exhibited exuberant passion for the Land of Israel. In the local heider, he invented a new game for his classmates. During recess, the children would line up with their satchels on their shoulders, and youngAbraham Isaac would bark, "Where are we going?" "To the Land of Israel!" his friends would roar in reply.

And so, in the early summer of 1904, the Kook family left their home in Boisk, traveling to Riga, and from there to Dvinsk and then Odessa. In Odessa, they boarded a steamship which carried them, after an arduous twelve-day voyage, to Jaffa. Rav Kook had at last fulfilled his childhood dream - "to the Land of Israel!"

"Stories from the Land of Israel" is a collection of inspiring events in the lives of two saintly and beloved scholars - Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook and his son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah HaKohen Kook. The biographical stories in this volume are set against the backdrop of the historic upheavals and triumphs of the Jewish people in the past century, as they returned to and settled the land of Israel, established an independent state, and defended it against warring neighbors. This book opens a window into their remarkable qualities of spirit, their overflowing love for the land and people of Israel, and their rare ability to bridge the religious-secular divide. These inspirational accounts reveal a spiritual dimension in the recent history of Israel and the Jewish people. 
A scholarly biography might painstakingly research the dialectics of Rav Kook's philosophic approach, the ideological components of his Halakhic methodology, his public image, and his communal accomplishments - and yet fail to convey the core essence of his spirit and being, his authentic love of life, the universe, and its myriad beings. It is in the power of a story, however simple and unsophisticated, to communicate these qualities. 

"I loved it! I couldn't stop reading..." --Rabbi Shmuel Jablon