A Modern Orthodox Life: Sermons and Columns of Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, edited by Joseph Rackman, Ktav Publishing Co. Jersey City, N.J. 2008, 308 pages
Reviewed by Rabbi Jack Riemer
Joseph Rackman has done the next generation of Jews a great service by collecting and publishing some of the sermons and columns of his father, Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, for his was a spirit that the next generation has much to learn from.
If there had been no Emanuel Rackman, who died in November at 98, I don't know if there would have been a Shlomo Riskin, who dared to reach out to the non-observant community and draw them in. Or whether there would have been a Blu or a Yitz Greenberg, who had the courage
to speak up for women's rights within Orthodoxy and the courage to both teach to, and learn from, Christian thinkers. Or whether there would have been an Avi Weiss, who had the courage to take stands on behalf of the entire Jewish people, and not just limit himself to Orthodox concerns. And I don't know if we would have many of the other brave spirits that we have within Modern Orthodoxy today. Emanuel Rackman went first-and his example encouraged these and many others to follow in his footsteps.
Now his son has collected a fair sample of the sermons that he gave during the 1950s and `60s, and of the columns that he wrote for the New York Jewish Week during the 1970s, `80s and early `90s. There are many lessons all of us can learn from them. Let me just list three:
First, the willingness to take a stand-whether it was politically correct or not. For the last three decades of his life Rabbi Rackman was a university president (Bar-Ilan, in Israel), and the chief task of a university president is to raise money, and therefore most university presidents never take stands on controversial issues. And yet, Rabbi Rackman constantly took stands on the issues of the day. He came out, for example, against the execution of the Rosenbergs, when many other Jewish leaders lay low, and on behalf of a pardon for Jonathan Pollard, when many others were hesitant to do so. He came out for an honest discussion of whether there could be a two-state solution to the Israel-Arab dispute back in the Seventies, at a time when many halachic authorities insisted that it was forbidden to give away any part of the land, and at a time when many in Israel and in America considered such thinking to be heresy. This kind of courage, this willingness to tell the truth as he saw it, is perhaps Rabbi Rackman's greatest gift to the next generation of Jews.
The second lesson: that at its innermost core, the Halachah is ethical. In column after column, and in sermon after sermon, he expressed this conviction. He taught his people to revere the Halachah, but not to misunderstand its purpose. He taught that the Law is not an end in itself but a way of teaching us how to live a disciplined and sanctified life. And therefore, whenever the Law seems to be unethical, we must be honest enough to see how it can be understood or re-understood so that it can be what it is meant to be.
There are many examples scattered throughout this book of how he explained kashrut, Shabbat, and other mitzvot in ethical terms. My favorite is his comment on why the Torah required that there had to be signs pointing the way to the City of Refuge so that a person who had killed by accident could find his way there, but there was no requirement that there be signs that pointed the way to Jerusalem so that the pilgrim who wanted to bring his sacrifice could find his way there. Surely there were more pilgrims than there were accidental killers.
Rabbi Rackman explains that, for an accidental killer to have to ask for directions to the City of Refuge is embarrassing. People might slam the door in his face and be afraid to talk to him. Whereas for a pilgrim who was on the way to bring a gift of his harvest to the Temple, no door would be closed. People would be happy to show him the way. And so the Law is meant to teach us to be sensitive to the needs and the feelings of every person, even those whom we might instinctively turn away from.
A third lesson Rabbi Rackman taught was that a Modern Orthodox Jew must be a part of American culture and not isolated from it. This is why Rabbi Rackman became a chaplain in the American army during World War II. This is why he became the first Orthodox Jew to graduate from Columbia, and why he went on to get a doctorate there, and to become a member of the Law School faculty there. Look at the index at the end of this book and you will see a dazzling variety of names listed. Bertrand Russell and Mahatma Gandhi are found there, as are Akavya ben Mehallel and Maimonides. Leo Baeck and Martin Buber are there, together with Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. Alexander Hamilton and Heinrich Heine are there, together with Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook and Rabbi Aaron Kotler. This does not mean that he agreed with everyone whom he cites, but it does mean that he believed that, to be a Modern Orthodox Jew, one must confront the Western world and wrestle with its teachings, and not close one's mind and live in isolation from it.
Rabbi Rackman is still ahead of the times, and unfortunately, more ahead of it all the time. Who would have believed that, so many years after he wrote, there are still yeshiva students who question whether a secular education is permitted and necessary? Who would have believed that, so many years after he wrote, that there are still zealots who believe that what should be done with the West Bank is a matter for halachah to decide and not a matter for statecraft to determine? Who would have believed that, so many years after he wrote, that there are scholars who are content to lock themselves up within the four cubits of the Law and feel no need to articulate what the Torah has to say about the moral issues that face the world in our time? If the time ever comes when the right wing is more open, the writing of Rabbi Emanuel Rackman will become a valuable resource and guide.
Rabbi Rackman leaves behind some unfinished battles. His efforts to help agunot-- women who are unable to obtain a Jewish divorce because of the greed or cruelty of their husbands---have so far been rejected by most of the halachic authorities within Orthodoxy. Indeed, they maligned him for trying to redress an embarrassing situation. I am willing to bet that eventually the demands of justice will prevail, and, when they do, Rabbi Rackman's efforts will be remembered with gratitude.
This is a book non Orthodox Jews should study carefully-for they can learn from it how to argue one's case respectfully and thoughtfully, without maligning one's opponent. Liberal Jews sometimes speak of Orthodoxy with as much distortion and as much disrespect as they accuse Orthodox Jews of speaking of them, and therefore, this is a valuable book for all Jews. It is too bad that such an erudite and courageous teacher had to be a lonely voice within Orthodoxy in his last years. One can only hope that this collection of his writings will bring him more students who will understand that Torah and secular knowledge, observance and ethics, wisdom and compassion should never be either-ors, but should always be combined in one integrated, sane and sacred Jewish way of life.
Rabbi Jack Riemer is a frequent reviewer and co-editor of So That Your Values Live ON: A Treasury of Jewish Ethical wills, and is the editor of The World of the High Holy Days.
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