Some stuff on Rav Kook:
He was Rav Elyashiv’s Mesader Kiddushin.
Rav Hutner said about himself that “the alter of slabodka built the bayis (first floor) and Rav Kook built the aliyah (2nd floor)”. He used to have a picture of Rav Kook in his sukkah. He took it down after the controversy about national service for women, and replaced it with that of the Chazon Ish.
Far be it from me to take sides in this debate. I will, however, quote an interesting Mahara”l I just happened to see recently. The Mahara”l preceded the whole question of Zionism by 400 years.
I do not have a full Maharal set at home, but I will try to verify the following at some future time. The English Artscroll Nesivos Olam Nesiv Hatorah, page 226, talks about why an am ha’aretz is more disposed to having talmidei chachamim as children than a Talmid chacham. he says that the physicality of the am ha’aretz acts as a physical vessel for the intellectual greatness of the Talmid Chochom. Footnote # 62 (page 227) brings down a quote from the Maharal’s Gevuros Hashem, but unfortunately doesn’t give a chapter. Moshe Rabbeinu was raised in the physicality of Pharaoh’s palace to enable his holiness to emerge from a physical vessel. So too, the kingdom of Moshiach will emerge from a profane kingdom preceding it, for the same reason. I will somehow attempt to hunt down this quote without ticking off my night seder chavrusa (as a baalabos, I don’t have the bein hasedarim time I had when I was a yeshiva man). The gist of this seems to be saying that:
1. the current “kingdom” has no kedusha; it’s the equivalent of Pharaoh’s palace;
2. that said, it is a necessary antecedent to allow the kingdom of Moshiach to eventually spring from it.
So the Mahar”al would not say “yevarech es medinas Yisroel”, just like one doesn’t bless Pharaoh’s household, but it IS reishis tzmichas Geuloseinu. No Hallel on Yom Ha’Atzmaut for him, but the miraculous blooming of the desert is no maaseh satan either. He wouldn’t make a mishebeirach for the medina, but he would make one for the soldiers who risk their lives to save Jews from enemies.
This does not fit into the views of many here.It’s simultaneously Zionist and anti-Zionist. However, it’s a very refreshing view. I find myself predisposed to it, as it simultaneously answers many legitimate points brought up by both sides of the debate, and he’s untouchable as a mekor.