Rosh Milin: Kabbalistic Insights into the Hebrew Alphabet

The Alef-bet is one of the cornerstones of Jewish learning and literacy. This book brings the reader into Rav Kook’s Beit Midrash, bringing Rav Kook’s complex vision of the Alef-bet to life while providing readers with a new appreciation of Hebrew iself. Rav Kook shines light on astounding new insights into the Hebrew alphabet, understanding a 22-step developmental process involving the creation of man. Piece by piece, Rav Kook explains the calligraphic, homonymic, and numerological values of each Hebrew letter.

Rav Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook was the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, a thinker, talmid chacham, founder of the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva, as well as one of the forerunners of the Religious-Zionist movement. Rav Kook was a unifying force in the years leading to the establishment of the Jewish state, something that was expressed by his worldview that all Jews must work together in serving God and hastening the coming of the redemption. His passion for Torah and Am Yisrael led Jews of all religious backgrounds to learn his published works, books which even today are widely circulated. Gedolei HaDor, secular settlers, and Baalei Teshuva can be counted amongst his supporters. 

This book marks the first time that Reish Milin, Rav Kook’s book on the Alef-Bet and sole Kabbalistic work, has been elucidated in English. This new commentary provides an unprecedented level of accessibility to Reish Milin, a book which draws heavily on mystical thought. This is an odyssey of Kabbalistic depth unleashed for the first time for the layman.