Avraham אברהם Stav סתיו

Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought, Undergraduate

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Don Seeman

Emory University

Avinoam Rosenak

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Bar-Ilan University

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Brandeis University

University of California, Santa Barbara

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PROGRESSIVISM AND CONSERVATISM IN THE THOUGHT OF RAV KOOK

Tradition, 2022

Rabbi Avraham Stav, author of several books on halakha and Jewish thought, teaches at Yeshivat Ma... more Rabbi Avraham Stav, author of several books on halakha and Jewish thought, teaches at Yeshivat Machanaim in Efrat and is a cultural critic for the Makor Rishon newspaper. Progressivism and Conservatism in the thought of rav KooK S tarting from the Age of Enlightenment in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the idea of progress had become an axiom of world culture. The basic meaning of this idea is the belief that the world, in all of its varied aspects-technological, economic, moral, and more-is on an upward trajectory. This belief stipulates that this evolution is a positive process and improves the state of humankind. One upshot of this argument is the further claim that in order for society to continue this trajectory, there is a vital need to shatter the idols of the past that obstruct the path of correct reasoning (in the words of Francis Bacon), as well as to strengthen the ability to "dare to think" against conventional thought (as Kant argued). Corresponding to this approach, Hegel explained all of human history as a movement of the dialectical progress of human reason. Accordingly, those who advocate for progress strive to undermine the durability of the old systems and traditional communities and to replace them with rationalistic values, at the center of which is the value of equality. Conservatism stands in opposition to these ideas. The perception of the past as a point of utopian longing is an ancient idea, interwoven in Greek (Hesiod; Plato), as well as Jewish thought ("Decline of the Generations"). Ecclesiastes stated its clear opposition to this approach: "Do not ask: Why were the old days better than these? For it is not wise to ask such questions" (Ecclesiastes 7:10), and it completely collapsed in the face of the technological revolutions of the modern age. On the other hand, the new conservatism, whose main champion in the eighteenth century was Edmund Burke, recognized the possibility of progress and positive change, yet demanded that it be conducted carefully and moderately, with proper respect for custom and tradition. According to this approach, not every phenomenon that appears to be an indicator of progress is indeed positive, and the collected wisdom of societies over the centuries is deeper than modern rational ideas, and at times, more far-sighted.

Avraham אברהם Stav סתיו

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