Book review: The Torah of Tomorrow, One Song
Anyone who has used Google Translate for news stories or basic translations knows that it does a decent job. It’s imperfect at best, but certainly can be used to get high-level ideas, at the expense of certain nuances and exactness.
When it comes to poetry and complex thought, which has subtleties and levels of deeper meanings, which beguile a basic translation, Google Translate fails. Such translations require a translator with a deep understanding of the topic and a comprehension of the references and nuances involved.
When it comes to the poetic and theological writings of Rav Kook, it’s a seemingly initially fruitless attempt. His writing involves complex language and verb structures, myriad references to Talmud, Tanach, mysticism, and more. It’s an endeavor that could intimidate the best of translators.
Rachel Tova Ebner certainly had her work cut out for her when she decided to translate some of the most profound and most esoteric writings of Rav Kook. In The Torah of Tomorrow, One Song: Teachings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook (Mosaica Press), she succeeds remarkably well in this gargantuan task.
Winston Churchill described a situation that was difficult to comprehend as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. That easily explains the writings of Rav Kook. He has all of Shas, Tanach, Zohar, Midrash, and the vast expanse of Jewish thought inside his head and expressed in his writings. With sentences full of meanings, alliteration, metaphor, and much more, it’s a challenge to understand them. Which is why reading Rav Kook is not for the fainthearted.
Much of the material in these 100 sections is from Shemonah Kevatzim, Arpelei Tohar, and Orot. While the others were printed in his lifetime, Rav Kook died in 1935, and Shemonah Kevatzim was not printed for 65 years.
The writing here is dense, deep, and complex, and for me, after reading a few chapters, was intellectually exhausting.
So much of the book Rav Kook writes in the first-person of his spiritual longings and desires. Even with all that, the depth of his soul and greatness, Rav Kook remains an enigma. It’s not exactly clear the source of the maxim “’If I Knew Him I would be Him”. But through the poetry and prose here, one can get to know Rav Kook much better.
Ebner’s translation is remarkable as she picks up the myriad nuances in Rav Kook’s writing. Some examples include the term hakara tzelula – which I would have translated as a clear understanding. She translates it as clarified consciousness. Or bihirosam ha’eliona bkerev mishmaso – in the clear light within the depths of his soul. She translates it as sublime clarity in the centerpiece of his soul. Those are just two of countless examples where a sophisticated translation makes an impactful difference.
The book has the English on the even pages and the Hebrew on the odd-numbered pages. The only improvement in this otherwise flawless work is to have the Hebrew broken down into individual components of the sentence. That would make reading a bit easier.
The newest of Rav Kook’s works is almost a century old. But his brilliance is that he had a visionary spirit and a unique mind that transcends time. These two remarkable books are just the latest in a line of the seemingly never-ending wisdom of Rav Kook.
