Chanan Morrison, at The Blogs

Apr 8, 2021, 1:18 PM

My cousin Philip Biel was born Shraga Feivel Bielawski in Węgrów, Poland. His father, Meyer Wolf Bielawski owned a lumber yard and a clothing store, where his mother worked stocking shelves and helping customers. Life changed immediately under the Nazis...

Apr 13, 2018, 6:37 PM

Invisible Jews: Surviving the Holocaust in Poland

After 70 of years of silence, Holocaust survivor Eddie Bielawski finally opened up last year. Eddie decided his family and friends should know his story, so he publishing his memoirs as a young child in hiding in Poland during the Holocaust. His...

Aug 3, 2017, 3:30 PM

Rav Kook and the peace of Torah scholars

What is peace? The concluding passage in tractate Berachot provides a remarkable insight into true peace: Rabbi Elazar quoted Rabbi Haninah: Torah scholars increase peace in the world. As it says, "All of Your children (banayich) are students of God; great is the...

Aug 26, 2015, 12:56 PM

Who Needs to Repent?

In 1933, Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook wrote a Rosh Hashanah message for the Ha-Yesod journal in honor of the new year. Sadly, it is as relevant today as it was 80 years ago. The article is a call for unity among different...

May 18, 2015, 9:04 PM

Is it the Wailing Wall? Or the Western Wall?

According to statistics released by the Israeli police, more than 10.5 million people visited the Kotel in 2012 - by far the most visited site in the country. What is the special significance of the Kotel? Why do Jews gather...

About Me

Rabbi Chanan Morrison escaped New York during his senior year at Yeshiva University. He arrived in Israel and studied at several Jerusalem yeshivot, including the famed Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, founded by Rav Kook in 1924. He currently lives with his family in a community in the Judean Desert. Rabbi Morrison has published three books on the writings of Rav Kook, starting with "Gold from the Land of Israel" (Urim, 2006).