A Modern Orthodox Life

A Modern Orthodox Life Sermons and Columns of Rabbi Emanuel Rackman Ktav Publishing House, Inc. Introduction y father, born in Albany, New York in 1910, was the first Orthodox Jew to attend Columbia College. At the same time, he attended the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, from which he was ordained in 1934. (He also graduated from Columbia Law School and later was awarded his Ph.D. in Political Science from that same university.) He served various congregations on Long Island from 1930 through 1967, the longest tenure being at Congregation Shaaray Tefila in Far Rockaway from 1946 until 1967, when he assumed the pulpit of Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue Synagogue. He also taught political science at Yeshiva University (where he ultimately became the Assistant to the President, Dr. Samuel Belkin) from 1962 to 1970 and he was a professor of Jewish Studies at the City Uni- versity of New York from 1971 to 1977. During this time frame, he also served as the president of the New York Board of Rabbis (1955-1957) and the Rabbinical Council of America (1958-1960). In 1977, my father was appointed President of Bar Ilan Uni- versity and in 1986 he became its Chancellor; he is currently its Chancellor for Life. Thus, at the age of 67, he moved to Israel and took Bar Ilan, which was then Israel’s smallest general university and more than quintupled the enrollment, to the point where today Bar Ilan has more students than any other Israeli university. This book explores another side of this extraordinary career. It started out with a suggestion from a family friend, Blu Genauer Greenberg. Her father was one of my father’s closest friends and they studied Talmud together daily for well over 30 years. She sug- gested that a book be published containing the best of my father’s columns that had appeared in the New York Jewish Week in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. My daughter, Anya, helped gather many of the columns from the archives of the New York Jewish Week (and Gary Rosenblatt must be thanked for both granting access to those archives and reprint permission). x A Modern Orthodox Life I am sorry that I do not remember who gave me the idea, but when I mentioned to this person that I was putting together a book of these columns, he asked whether I would be including in the book copies of my father’s sermons. For the first 20 years, my father wrote out every sermon, but he rarely wrote out his sermons after the 1940s. Fortunately, the Rabbinical Council of America annually published a Sermon Manual and I was able, at their offices, to review all the sermon manuals. It turns out that my father had one or two sermons in every volume from 1947 through 1963 and I have selected a number of those sermons. (Thanks to the Rabbinical Council of America and Rabbi Basil Herring, its Executive Vice President, for granting reprint permission.) For those of us who had the privilege of hearing him preach, these sermons are probably the highlight of this volume, bringing back memories of hundreds of Sabbaths where in Far Rockaway the topic of discussion at the Shabbos lunch table was the rabbi’s sermon. Finally, I have included the last long piece published by my father in 1992, an essay on the Holocaust that appeared in Theo- logical and Halakhic Reflections on the Holocaust, edited by Bernard H. Rosenberg and co-edited by Fred Heuman (K’tav, Rab- binical Council of America 1992). The materials were selected with assistance from my brothers, Michael and Bennett, and are presented in chronological order (except for a few columns whose dates of publication are un- known). A topical index for the columns appears at the end of this book. The columns were not written as scholarly pieces and ref- erences have been inserted by my son, David, to the appropriate sources in many of the columns. And my niece, Jessica (Yocheved) Ingber, assisted with the design of the book cover. Also, special thanks to my wonderful assistant of many years, Carmen Denehy, for her work over a two year period in the preparation of this volume. Last, but not least, I want to thank S. Daniel Abraham for sub- sidizing the publication of this volume. Going back to the days of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, he has been a true friend of my father. The title of this book is a play on my father’s most popular book - it has been reprinted three times - One Man’s Judaism, but Rabbi Emanuel Rackman XI taken together - these sermons, columns and essay, spanning five decades, reflect a Modern Orthodox life lived to the fullest. For all their considerable worth, they still are but a pale reflection of a man who led the way for so many. His students are legion and this volume will help remind them of that life and help to convey to others how Torah can be reflected in this world for the betterment of the world and for Jews in particular. Joseph R. Rackman SERMONS 1950 Shabbat Shuvah The Sabbath before Yom Kippur n the Bible we find a very interesting contrast. The man who was most profuse in his good wishes for the people of Israel was Balaam - the Midianite prophet, whom we regard as one of our historic enemies. The man, on the other hand, who was most profuse in his threats and curses - was Moses, the greatest and most beloved figure of our past. Our sages commented on this contrast in the Midrash (Deut. Rabbah, 1:4), one would have ex- pected, they said, that a friend would bless us and an enemy would curse us. But the Bible indicates exactly the reverse. Balaam, who was intent on destroying our people, lavished praise and congrat- ulations upon us. He regarded us as the undisputed favorites of God. Moses however, who set out to make us a great nation, did not hesitate to criticize us, to chastise us, to point out our defi- ciencies. Read the chapter of Deuteronomy in particular and you will come upon language one would never utter to a friend - if one cherished the friendship. The names Moses called the people of Is- rael would make an anti-Semite rejoice. The dismal future he pre- dieted is a perfect blueprint for all Hamans and Hitlers to come. Yet, we regard Moses as the lover of his people, the man who best exemplified the love of Israel, an unswerving loyalty to his co-re- ligionists. To state this contrast, friends, is already to make the point of my message this morning. It is a point most of us have learned from bitter experience. Our best friends are not necessarily our most gracious flatterers. More often our severest critics are our truest friends. And what is true of individuals, is true of nations. Several years ago I pointed out that Balaam could not be respected as a prophet in the manner that the Jewish prophets are respected, for a real prophet helps his people to deepen their reli- gious and moral experience, and does not lull them into a false 3 4 A Modern Orthodox Life sense of security as Balaam’s wily tongue sought to do. And Moses was the forerunner - or rather the archetype - of Jewish prophecy. He loved his people so much that he even fought with God in their behalf. But instead of flattering them, he ever tried to make them aware of their short-comings, he even tried to make them better. Yet, friends, as simple as this point may be, it would surprise you to learn what serious consequences it had for Judaism. Be- cause Moses taught us that spiritual leaders must not be gracious flatterers of their people, we Jews have never had one important problem which Christianity has faced. We Jews never had social reform movements which had as their goal the destruction of Ju- daism, the termination of the political power of the rabbis, or the confiscation of synagogue property. Most European countries on the other hand, had such social reform movements with regard to their organized religions. Permit me to show you why. When a clergy is like Balaam - flattering its constituents and assuring them that all they do is good - that whatever is has God's approval - you are bound to have a problem. When the clergy feels that the social and economic conditions which prevail, no matter how bad, enjoy God’s assent, then anyone who seeks change must fight the clergy too. But Moses taught spiritual leaders not to nod “Amen” to everything that is, to everything their charges do. Rather spiritual leaders are to criticize and to improve the status quo. That is why Jewish spiritual leaders were always critical of the manner in which the rich treated the poor and the employers their employees. That is why Jewish spiritual leaders always ad- vocated social and economic reform. They were always in the fore- front of the battle to make social and economic conditions better, and righteous living more universal. And as such they did not have to worry about opposition from those who sought change. Judaism, for example, did not tolerate slavery and say that if God made the slave a slave, it must be punishment for his sin. On the other hand, Judaism sought to abolish slavery. Judaism did not say that nothing should be done about poverty, hunger and disease because we had no right to frustrate what God willed.

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