It is very
rare to find a Rabbi with genuine love for other people, and a
willingness to adapt some of the “halacha” rules to modern life.
If anyone would fit this description, it was Emanuel Rackman. He was
one of the leaders of Modern Orthodoxy, Yeshiva University and later
Chancellor of Bar Ilan University.
He also
suffered the attacks of the ultra Orthodox, and also the right wing
Modern Orthodox. However, his ideas were revolutionary, and although
he accepted and practiced the Oral Law, he paid much attention to the
Torah Law and its spirit.
One
controversy he got into was a solution to the “agunah” problem,
where women were unable to get “gets” religious divorces, and
were unable to remarry without it ending up in adultery. He provided
some solutions which were innovative, but he claimed based on
rabbinic sources.
IN my
strict orthodox phase, I found his views sometimes a bit extreme,
but I later saw the wisdom in his words. His most famous book, “One
Man's Judaism” includes some criticism of Karaites and also
Kohanim. Regarding the Karaites, he said that they caused themselves
virtual extinction by cutting themselves off from the rest of the
Jewish world. As a sociological observation, I see nothing wrong with
that statement. However, with regard to the Kohanim, he suggests
that the laws restricting their contact with the dead might be
designed to prevent them taking advantage of the mourners, who are
vulnerable to exploitation at that time. This is most ironic, since
he also wrote that the Rabbis of the Talmud took the place of the
Kohanim. The irony being that what he fears might have been an excess
of Kohanim became a signature of the rabbis who did take advantage of
everyone and imposed a bunch of new rules and prohibitions.
There is
another point which is important to note. Many rabbis in the current
scene became religious at a point in life and were even taught by
newly religious rabbis who lost all sense of moderation. They became
extremists, and haters. Haters of people, of the outside world, and
even of more modern and balanced orthodoxy.
Rabbi
Rackman's greatest quality was his love for all people, and openess
to thought and culture.
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