Emanuel Rackman
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Emanuel Rackman ( Menachem 'immanuel Raqman; June 24, 1910, Albany December 1, 2008) was an American
Modern Orthodox
Rabbi
, who held pulpits in major congregations and helped draw attention to the plight of Refusenik
s in the then-Soviet Union
and attempted to resolve the dilemma of the Agunah
, a woman who cannot remarry because her husband will not grant a Get
, the required religious divorce degree that would free her to remarry under Halacha.
Rackman was born in Albany, New York
on June 24, 1910. He graduated from the Talmudical Academy
in 1927, as its valedictorian
. Rackman asked for a one-year deferral from Columbia University
, and spent the entire year working towards semicha
at Yeshiva University
(YU), where he was in the shiur of Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik
. The following year he started splitting his time, spending half of each day at Columbia and the other half at YU. He earned a bachelors degree from Columbia University in 1931 and was awarded a Bachelor of Laws
degree in 1933; He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy
from Columbia in 1953. During that time, he also studied for and received his semicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
of Yeshiva University, which was awarded in 1934, signed by Rabbis Samuel Belkin
and Moshe Soloveichik.
Rackman practiced law for 9 years before his religious service in the military. During that period, he would serve for occasional weekends as a Rabbi at communities in Glen Cove
and Lynbrook, New York
. Rackman entered service during World War II
in the United States Army Air Forces
in 1943 as a chaplain. He served as a military aide to the European Theater of Operations
special adviser on Jewish affairs, where his experiences with survivors of the Holocaust influenced his decision to pursue the rabbinate.
Rackman was the eighth in as many generations to earn rabbinic ordination, but the first to earn a living as a Rabbi. He said that "it was my father's hope that I would continue the family tradition, insofar as I could be both learned in the Jewish tradition while making a living in another way".
In the 1950s, the United States Air Force Reserve denied Rabbi Rackman's security clearance
, citing him as a "bad risk". In a 1977 profile in The New York Times
, Rabbi Rackman cited his opposition to the death penalty for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
and his support for Paul Robeson
as factors behind the decision. Offered the opportunity to resign or face a military tribunal, the Rabbi chose a court martial, where he was acquitted and was shortly thereafter promoted from major to lieutenant colonel.
Rackman served as Rabbi at Congregation Shaarey Tefila, then in Far Rockaway, Queens
, which granted him a lifetime contract in 1952. In 1967, after 20 years at Shaarey Tefilla, he accepted a position as Rabbi of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue
in Manhattan
to succeed Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, who had been elected to serve as Chief Rabbi
of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He was elected by his peers as president of the New York Board of Rabbis
in 1955. He also served as president of the Rabbinical Council of America
.
After a trip to Eastern Europe
and the Soviet Union
in 1956 as part of a group from the Rabbinical Council of America, Rackman was part of a group of New York-area Rabbis who reported that their experience "leads us to the melancholy conclusion that Judaism in Russia is seriously threatened with extinction", despite improvements in the preceding years for Soviet Jewry. The group noted that the conditions for Jews in Poland
were far better, with a government that was actively friendly with the Jewish community there.
In 1970 he was named as provost
of Yeshiva University. He was named the president of Bar-Ilan University
in 1977, and served as the school's chancellor
until his death.
Rackman worked to address the situation of agunot
through the establishment in the early 1990s of the Beit Din L'Ba'ayot Agunot (Court for the Problems of Chained Women), which annulled the marriages of hundreds of women, freeing them to remarry. The court, and its methodology, was widely criticized by other Orthodox rabbis, many of whom would refuse to officiate at the marriage ceremonies of women whose prior marriage had been ended by this form of annulment. Criticism came from across the Orthodox spectrum, with the Haredi
Agudath Israel of America
calling the court's halachic basis "spurious" and British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
claiming that Rabbi Rackman's solution exacerbated the problem it was trying to solve.
, the bride's uncle, officiated at the ceremony, held at the Jewish Center in Manhattan.
Rabbi Rackman died at age 98 on December 1, 2008.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Modern Orthodox
Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....
Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, who held pulpits in major congregations and helped draw attention to the plight of Refusenik
Refusenik
Refusenik originally referred to citizens of the former Soviet Union who were refused permission to emigrate.Refusenik or refusnik may also refer to:*An Israeli conscientious objector, see Refusal to serve in the Israeli military...
s in the then-Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and attempted to resolve the dilemma of the Agunah
Agunah
Agunah ; literally 'anchored or chained') is a halachic term for a Jewish woman who is "chained" to her marriage. The classic case of this, is a man who has left on a journey, and has not returned, or has gone into battle and is MIA...
, a woman who cannot remarry because her husband will not grant a Get
Get (divorce document)
A is a divorce document, which according to Jewish Law, must be presented by a husband to his wife to effect their divorce. The essential text of the is quite short: "You are hereby permitted to all men," i.e., the wife is no longer a married woman, and the laws of adultery no longer apply...
, the required religious divorce degree that would free her to remarry under Halacha.
Rackman was born in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
on June 24, 1910. He graduated from the Talmudical Academy
Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy
The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, also known as Yeshiva University High School for Boys , MTA or TMSTA , is an Orthodox Jewish day school , the boys' high school of Yeshiva University in the Washington Heights neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan.-History:The Talmudical...
in 1927, as its valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
. Rackman asked for a one-year deferral from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, and spent the entire year working towards semicha
Semicha
, also , or is derived from a Hebrew word which means to "rely on" or "to be authorized". It generally refers to the ordination of a rabbi within Judaism. In this sense it is the "transmission" of rabbinic authority to give advice or judgment in Jewish law...
at Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
(YU), where he was in the shiur of Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik
Moshe Soloveichik
Moshe Soloveitchik , was an Orthodox rabbi. He was the second son of renowned rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and grandson of the Beis HaLevi. He married Pesya Feinstein, daughter of the renowned Rabbi of Pruzany, Rabbi Eliyahu Feinstein, and first cousins with Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.At the age of 31, he...
. The following year he started splitting his time, spending half of each day at Columbia and the other half at YU. He earned a bachelors degree from Columbia University in 1931 and was awarded a Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
degree in 1933; He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from Columbia in 1953. During that time, he also studied for and received his semicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary , or Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, is the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University, located in Washington Heights, New York. It is named after Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, who died the year it was founded, 1896...
of Yeshiva University, which was awarded in 1934, signed by Rabbis Samuel Belkin
Samuel Belkin
Rabbi Samuel Belkin is best known as the second University President of Yeshiva University. A distinguished Torah scholar, he is credited with leading Yeshiva University through a period of substantial expansion .-Biography:...
and Moshe Soloveichik.
Rackman practiced law for 9 years before his religious service in the military. During that period, he would serve for occasional weekends as a Rabbi at communities in Glen Cove
Glen Cove, New York
Glen Cove is a city in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 26,964....
and Lynbrook, New York
Lynbrook, New York
Lynbrook is a village in Nassau County, New York, USA. The population was 19,427 at the 2010 census. The Village of Lynbrook is inside the Town of Hempstead. The Village of Lynbrook's current mayor is William Hendrick....
. Rackman entered service during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
in 1943 as a chaplain. He served as a military aide to the European Theater of Operations
European Theater of Operations
The European Theater of Operations, United States Army was a United States Army formation which directed U.S. Army operations in parts of Europe from 1942 to 1945. It referred to Army Ground Forces, United States Army Air Forces, and Army Service Forces operations north of Italy and the...
special adviser on Jewish affairs, where his experiences with survivors of the Holocaust influenced his decision to pursue the rabbinate.
Rackman was the eighth in as many generations to earn rabbinic ordination, but the first to earn a living as a Rabbi. He said that "it was my father's hope that I would continue the family tradition, insofar as I could be both learned in the Jewish tradition while making a living in another way".
In the 1950s, the United States Air Force Reserve denied Rabbi Rackman's security clearance
Security clearance
A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information, i.e., state secrets, or to restricted areas after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is also sometimes used in private organizations that have a formal...
, citing him as a "bad risk". In a 1977 profile in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Rabbi Rackman cited his opposition to the death penalty for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg and Julius Rosenberg were American communists who were convicted and executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war. The charges related to their passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union...
and his support for Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
as factors behind the decision. Offered the opportunity to resign or face a military tribunal, the Rabbi chose a court martial, where he was acquitted and was shortly thereafter promoted from major to lieutenant colonel.
Rackman served as Rabbi at Congregation Shaarey Tefila, then in Far Rockaway, Queens
Far Rockaway, Queens
Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens in the United States. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood starts at the Nassau County line and extends west to Beach 32nd Street. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community...
, which granted him a lifetime contract in 1952. In 1967, after 20 years at Shaarey Tefilla, he accepted a position as Rabbi of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue
Fifth Avenue Synagogue
The Fifth Avenue Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 5 East 62nd Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.-Founding:...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
to succeed Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, who had been elected to serve as Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He was elected by his peers as president of the New York Board of Rabbis
New York Board of Rabbis
The New York Board of Rabbis is an organization of Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist rabbis in New York State and the surrounding portions of Connecticut and New Jersey....
in 1955. He also served as president of the Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...
.
After a trip to Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1956 as part of a group from the Rabbinical Council of America, Rackman was part of a group of New York-area Rabbis who reported that their experience "leads us to the melancholy conclusion that Judaism in Russia is seriously threatened with extinction", despite improvements in the preceding years for Soviet Jewry. The group noted that the conditions for Jews in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
were far better, with a government that was actively friendly with the Jewish community there.
In 1970 he was named as provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
of Yeshiva University. He was named the president of Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...
in 1977, and served as the school's chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
until his death.
Rackman worked to address the situation of agunot
Agunah
Agunah ; literally 'anchored or chained') is a halachic term for a Jewish woman who is "chained" to her marriage. The classic case of this, is a man who has left on a journey, and has not returned, or has gone into battle and is MIA...
through the establishment in the early 1990s of the Beit Din L'Ba'ayot Agunot (Court for the Problems of Chained Women), which annulled the marriages of hundreds of women, freeing them to remarry. The court, and its methodology, was widely criticized by other Orthodox rabbis, many of whom would refuse to officiate at the marriage ceremonies of women whose prior marriage had been ended by this form of annulment. Criticism came from across the Orthodox spectrum, with the Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
Agudath Israel of America
Agudath Israel of America
Agudath Israel of America , is a Haredi Jewish communal organization in the United States loosely affiliated with the international World Agudath Israel.-Functions:...
calling the court's halachic basis "spurious" and British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Jonathan Sacks
Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks, Kt is the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. His Hebrew name is Yaakov Zvi...
claiming that Rabbi Rackman's solution exacerbated the problem it was trying to solve.
Personal
Rabbi Rackman married the former Ruth Fishman in 1930. Rabbi Leo JungLeo Jung
Rabbi Leo Jung was one of the major architects of American Orthodox Judaism.-Background and education:...
, the bride's uncle, officiated at the ceremony, held at the Jewish Center in Manhattan.
Rabbi Rackman died at age 98 on December 1, 2008.