Emanuel Rackman

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Emanuel Rackman
BornJune 24, 1910
Albany, New York
DiedDecember 1, 2008(2008-12-01) (aged 98)
New York
NationalityAmerican
Other names(Menachem) Emanuel Rackman
מנחם עמנואל רקמן
Known forPresident of Bar-Ilan University

Rabbi (Menachem) Emanuel Rackman (

Halacha
.

Biography

Rackman was born in

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.[3] He earned a bachelor's 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 Bernard Revel and Moshe Soloveichik.[3][4]

Rackman practiced law for nine years before his religious service in the military. During that period, he would serve for occasional weekends as a rabbi at communities in

European Theater of Operations special adviser on Jewish affairs, where his experiences with survivors of the Holocaust influenced his decision to pursue the rabbinate.[5]

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".[4]

In the 1950s, the

court martial, where he was acquitted and was shortly thereafter promoted from major to lieutenant colonel.[4]

Rackman served as Rabbi at Congregation Shaarey Tefila, then in

United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.[7] He was elected by his peers as president of the New York Board of Rabbis in 1955.[8] He also served as president of the Rabbinical Council of America.[9]

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.[10] 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.[10]

Following the publication of Philip Roth's short story "Defender of the Faith" in The New Yorker in 1959, Rackman wrote a letter to the Anti-Defamation League accusing Roth of promoting antisemitism and asking "What is being done to silence this man?"[11]

In 1969, Rackman praised the JDL, claiming that in many instances "the Jewish Defense League has demonstrated its ability to be the instrument presently required by the Jewish community."[12]

In 1970, he was named as provost of Yeshiva University. He was the president of Bar-Ilan University from 1977 until 1986, succeeding Max Jammer and succeeded by Michael Albeck, and served as the school's chancellor until his death.[4][9][2]

Rackman worked to address the situation of

Jonathan Sacks claiming that Rackman's solution exacerbated the problem it was trying to solve.[9]

Personal

Rackman married the former Ruth Fishman in 1930. Rabbi

JFK Airport.[13]

Rackman died at age 98 on December 1, 2008.[9]

References

  1. ^ David, Rackman. kiryat chana david (קרית חנה דוד). p. 1.
  2. ^ a b "Bar-Ilan Presidents | Bar Ilan University". .biu.ac.il. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  3. ^ a b c d Butler, Menachem; and Nagel, Zev. "Reflections on Those Years: An Interview with Rabbi Emanuel Rackman" Archived 2008-12-05 at the Wayback Machine, The Commentator, May 16, 2005. Accessed December 4, 2008.
  4. ^ a b c d e Dugan, George. "Dean of Orthodox Rabbis; Emanuel Rackman", The New York Times, March 3, 1977. Accessed December 4, 2008.
  5. Grimes, William. "Emanuel Rackman, Prominent Rabbi, Dies at 98", The New York Times
    , December 4, 2008. Accessed December 8, 2008.
  6. ^ Staff. "Rabbi Gets Life Contract From Queens Congregation", May 10, 1952. Accessed December 4, 2008.
  7. ^ Dugan, George. "RACKMAN TO HEAD 5TH AVE. TEMPLE; Leading Rabbi Taking Over Orthodox Congregation", The New York Times, February 5, 1967. Accessed December 4, 2008.
  8. ^ Staff. "BINGO BY STATUTE OPPOSED BY RABBIS; Board Here Asks Support of All Branches for Moral Standards of Judaism", The New York Times, January 27, 1955. Accessed December 4, 2008.
  9. ^ a b c d Harris, Ben. "Emanuel Rackman, leading Orthodox thinker, dies at 98", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 3, 2008. Accessed December 4, 2008.
  10. ^
    Salisbury, Harrison E. "U.S. Rabbis Fear Soviet Jews Face Extinction of Religious Life; But Group Back from Russian Visit Cites Some Progress in Last Two Years—No Yiddish Institutions Found Hopeful of a Trend Improvement Noted Poles Chide Soviet on Jews", The New York Times
    , July 13, 1956. Accessed December 4, 2008.
  11. ^ Lambert, Josh (May 23, 2018). "Roth Versus The Rabbis". Jewish Currents. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  12. ISBN 978-965-524-008-5
    .
  13. ^ "该页无法显示". Jfkshul.com. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emanuel_Rackman&oldid=1169244842"