"To organize a yeshiva in Jerusalem for the Jewry of the entire world, [which would] have a broader program including Jewish philosophy, Jewish ethics and Jewish history, and an opportunity will be given to those desiring secular training to study outside the yeshiva."
-Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, March 18, 1924, upon arriving in New York, on his vision for the newly established Central Universal Yeshiva (popularly known as Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav)
Believe it or not, Rav Kook even entrusted a close friend/student, Dr. Benjamin Menashe Lewin, with creating a six-year program of study for boys ages 16-22, which included subjects such as Land of Israel studies, literary writing style, and the art of rhetoric (homiletics), in addition to those mentioned above.
Rav Kook's broad vision was never realized. Times changed, and with his death, the yeshiva was reshaped by The Rav's son, Rav Tzvi Yehuda, and Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlop. They now focused the emphasis on the uniqueness of Am, Torat and Eretz Yisrael, not on an academic approach to Jewish studies.
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