2008 Woodie Awards
Reflections on Those Years: An Interview with Rabbi Emanuel Rackman
Emanuel Rackman
Issue date: 5/16/05 Section: YUdaica
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The Rackman Family & Yeshiva
My father, Rabbi David Rackman, was a Rosh Yeshiva at RIETS in 1907, at that time the yeshiva was at 156 Henry Street [on the Lower East Side of Manhattan]. At that time there were only two Roshei Yeshiva, one of whom took ill and died. While he was sick, my father gave shiurim for him.
My father was almost drafted to the army [in Slutzk] and instead came to America. They used to do what was called gemaravened, where you don't eat, you fast day after day, and if you become so underweight, so underfed, because of it, you were called gemaravened, and they wouldn't take you into the army. My father was in that group that was gemaravened. They were not drafted, but he had to run away, because the army would have taken him to the army. This was the late 1800s. And Slutzk then had the very famous Ridbaz [R. Yaakov David Willowski] as a Rosh Yeshiva.
My father eventually gave up rabbanus; my grandfather didn't want him to be a rav in practice. It was also very difficult for him to speak. I used to have to give the dvar torah to adults, from the age of 8 or 10 years old, and I suppose I became an orator under pressure from him.
Dr. Belkin
Dr. [Samuel] Belkin came to Yeshiva during the leadership and presidency of Dr. Bernard Revel, who also was Rosh Yeshiva and the head of the college. R. Belkin came because, apparently, Revel was told that there was an Illui, an outstanding Talmudist, in the yeshiva of the Chafetz Chaim, and his name was Samuel Belkin. R. Belkin had a relative in New York who was willing to finance his trip to New York and to teach at Yeshiva. R. Belkin's family owned the largest gasoline station in Manhattan. The day that he came to Yeshiva, he must have discovered that his family couldn't do much for him. They knew nothing; they didn't even have a kosher home and certainly did not observe Shabbat.
At that time, the head Rosh Yeshiva was still the Maichater Illui, Rabbi Shlomo Polachek. On the day they brought R. Belkin to the Yeshiva, Dr. Revel asked four students to schmooze with him in learning. I was one of the four. [Ed: The other three were a Mr. Wachtfogel, Aaron Levy - who later became a lawyer and an opinion writer for SEC - and a Mr. Chaifetz]. We spent an hour or two with Belkin. Dr. Revel specifically picked four of us who were involved in lomduth. We were learning then the first perek of Kesubos. The group regarded me as a Yankee - a native born American; my mother was also born in America. It was a very interesting experience.
We, the small group, continued to meet with Rabbi Belkin. He was a genius; in no time flat he learned the English language using a dictionary. He also managed to master Latin and Greek, which I hadn't yet; I knew Latin, but I hadn't yet mastered Greek. We urged him to try to get a degree in a hurry, and do it at [the nearby] Columbia University. He wouldn't be admitted to the regular program at Columbia. They had courses outside, exclusive of the regular programs. And Belkin registered for them, which the yeshiva helped finance since he had no money. [As said earlier], he did not stay very long with his relatives; they were highly Americanized...
After a while, Dr. Belkin mastered the English language. He was admitted to Brown University. It was amazing that Brown didn't ask him that he do anything to take a BA program. He had an illiuisha kup, he was that kind of a genius. He was a genius. The one book that he did publish was excellent - In Gods Image - it didn't get enough recognition, but that was the beginning of The Belkin Era...
When R. Belkin was ready, Dr. Revel placed him at the head of a shiur. He had a group of 15-20 more advanced students, close to semikha, although not officially; they were getting ready to learn yoreh deah. It wasn't until a few years later that [R. Belkin] was ready to teach lessons in Greek and Hellenistic culture. Some of us became very close to R. Belkin, and I happened to be one of those who very much befriended him. Number one, because I was helping him very much with his English. It was a period when the college was really in its infancy.
My Relationship with Yeshiva
I did not attend Yeshiva College. I was at the graduation of the Talmudical Academy in 1927. I was the valedictorian. I still remember the speech I delivered. It was held in Kehilath Jeshurun, in the shul on East 85th Street. Joe Lookstein was the rabbi already. Afterwards, I spent half a day at Columbia and half a day at Yeshiva. I started Columbia a year after my admission, since I asked for a leave of absence for a year and didn't want to start my AB training at Columbia before I was more advanced in my Talmudic studies. So I spent one year with nothing else but studying in the Beit Midrash. We were in the shiur of R. Moshe Soloveichik. R. Abramowitz was teaching yoreh deah to some of the more advanced students, but that was during the time that the Maichater was still alive. Then there was a R. Levine who delivered an advance shiur, a R. Alishevsky who had an advanced shiur...
The Maichater was brilliant; the shiurim were phenomenal. I can tell you that there were times that chills would go up and down my back from the depth. We were learning Yevamos. Yevamos is a very difficult Mesechta, and it was a pleasure and privilege to be in his shiur. But then he died rather young, in the summer of 1928.
I felt that there were some of us who had studied so much Gemara that we didn't need shiurim in yoreh deah, which could almost be done by yourself, and all you really needed is a little bit of guidance; I fought on principle that there was no need for it. It's true that the Rosh Yeshiva in charge would give chiddushim from some of the meforshim on yoreh deah, but not on the yoreh deah itself. We also did not yet have examinations as they did afterwards. (When I took over the running of the rabbinical departments, so to speak, and Belkin was already president of the university, we did have very, very formal classes in yoreh deah. It was quite different than our time.) Then there was a group of us who felt that we'll learn by ourselves. We figured that whatever we would learn we would know, and whatever we don't know we wouldn't know.
What happened subsequently was that I got semikha, as a matter of fact, signed by Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik and Dr. Belkin much later. But by then I had not only received a few degrees at Columbia, AB - I was Phi Beta Kappa - I also earned my JD - the law degree, and I started upon the philosophy of law program at Columbia.
I had very little to do with the [administration of] yeshiva until Revel died and then the fight began about a successor to Revel, who was an unusual president and a rich man himself. Once, Belkin and I saw Revel sign a check to buy a dozen overcoats for students [who could not afford them]. It was like a good old fashioned yeshiva. And Revel had the money. But teachers weren't being paid. There were a lot of problems in those days, but nonetheless, we continued. It was an exciting school to be in.
In 1930 I was married, and R. Belkin was at my wedding. I remember that he was staying at the house of the Finers, who were hosting him on 187th Street, right opposite the dorms. And I remember that Mr. Finer saw R. Belkin getting ready to go to the wedding in a sweater. R. Belkin was still un-Americanized he didn't know that he had to have a jacket to go to a formal wedding. Mr. finer got him a jacket to wear to my wedding.
Rabbi Dr. Leo Jung was mesader kiddushin at my wedding at the Jewish Center. I married his niece, Ruth Fishman. I was 20 years old, and she was a few years younger. We had about 18 rabbis under the canopy, including Dr. Revel and a number of the Roshei Yeshiva from RIETS.
R. Belkin eventually asked me to stay on and help him with the college. Our friendship remained until he died. It was my great loss. He was my rebbe and my chaver, a genre of rebbe-chaver. When one of the talmidim wrote a biography of Belkin recently [Victor Geller's Orthodoxy Awakens: The Belkin Era] he showed it to me, because he knew that I was very close to Dr. Belkin
Future of Modern Othodoxy
As I articulated in my book, One Man's Judaism, we are one people, Klal Yisrael, and I can't think of separating ourselves into Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. [Rather, it should be that] there is a greater degree of observance, and a lesser degree of observance. But altogether we must remain one people. History has demonstrated that we all have the same fate. [YUdaica] project will certainly help us in preserving Yeshiva's early history.
Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, RIETS '34, earned his law degree and PhD in political science from Columbia University and was the spiritual leader of Congregation Shaaray Tefila of Far Rockaway and of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue. In 1947 he began teaching political philosophy and jurisprudence at Yeshiva College and in 1970 was named a university professor of political science. Rabbi Rackman received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Yeshiva in 1961, and was provost of Yeshiva University from 1970-1976. Rabbi Rackman has served as the president of the New York Board of Rabbis, president of the Rabbinical Council of America. A former colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve, during World War II he was chairman of the commission on Jewish chaplaincy in the United States Armed Forces. After leaving Yeshiva, Rabbi Rackman became president (1977-1985) and Chancellor (since 1985) of Bar Ilan University. He currently divides his time between New York and Ramat Gan, Israel.
This interview was conducted by Menachem Butler and Zev Nagel.
My father, Rabbi David Rackman, was a Rosh Yeshiva at RIETS in 1907, at that time the yeshiva was at 156 Henry Street [on the Lower East Side of Manhattan]. At that time there were only two Roshei Yeshiva, one of whom took ill and died. While he was sick, my father gave shiurim for him.
My father was almost drafted to the army [in Slutzk] and instead came to America. They used to do what was called gemaravened, where you don't eat, you fast day after day, and if you become so underweight, so underfed, because of it, you were called gemaravened, and they wouldn't take you into the army. My father was in that group that was gemaravened. They were not drafted, but he had to run away, because the army would have taken him to the army. This was the late 1800s. And Slutzk then had the very famous Ridbaz [R. Yaakov David Willowski] as a Rosh Yeshiva.
My father eventually gave up rabbanus; my grandfather didn't want him to be a rav in practice. It was also very difficult for him to speak. I used to have to give the dvar torah to adults, from the age of 8 or 10 years old, and I suppose I became an orator under pressure from him.
Dr. Belkin
Dr. [Samuel] Belkin came to Yeshiva during the leadership and presidency of Dr. Bernard Revel, who also was Rosh Yeshiva and the head of the college. R. Belkin came because, apparently, Revel was told that there was an Illui, an outstanding Talmudist, in the yeshiva of the Chafetz Chaim, and his name was Samuel Belkin. R. Belkin had a relative in New York who was willing to finance his trip to New York and to teach at Yeshiva. R. Belkin's family owned the largest gasoline station in Manhattan. The day that he came to Yeshiva, he must have discovered that his family couldn't do much for him. They knew nothing; they didn't even have a kosher home and certainly did not observe Shabbat.
At that time, the head Rosh Yeshiva was still the Maichater Illui, Rabbi Shlomo Polachek. On the day they brought R. Belkin to the Yeshiva, Dr. Revel asked four students to schmooze with him in learning. I was one of the four. [Ed: The other three were a Mr. Wachtfogel, Aaron Levy - who later became a lawyer and an opinion writer for SEC - and a Mr. Chaifetz]. We spent an hour or two with Belkin. Dr. Revel specifically picked four of us who were involved in lomduth. We were learning then the first perek of Kesubos. The group regarded me as a Yankee - a native born American; my mother was also born in America. It was a very interesting experience.
We, the small group, continued to meet with Rabbi Belkin. He was a genius; in no time flat he learned the English language using a dictionary. He also managed to master Latin and Greek, which I hadn't yet; I knew Latin, but I hadn't yet mastered Greek. We urged him to try to get a degree in a hurry, and do it at [the nearby] Columbia University. He wouldn't be admitted to the regular program at Columbia. They had courses outside, exclusive of the regular programs. And Belkin registered for them, which the yeshiva helped finance since he had no money. [As said earlier], he did not stay very long with his relatives; they were highly Americanized...
After a while, Dr. Belkin mastered the English language. He was admitted to Brown University. It was amazing that Brown didn't ask him that he do anything to take a BA program. He had an illiuisha kup, he was that kind of a genius. He was a genius. The one book that he did publish was excellent - In Gods Image - it didn't get enough recognition, but that was the beginning of The Belkin Era...
When R. Belkin was ready, Dr. Revel placed him at the head of a shiur. He had a group of 15-20 more advanced students, close to semikha, although not officially; they were getting ready to learn yoreh deah. It wasn't until a few years later that [R. Belkin] was ready to teach lessons in Greek and Hellenistic culture. Some of us became very close to R. Belkin, and I happened to be one of those who very much befriended him. Number one, because I was helping him very much with his English. It was a period when the college was really in its infancy.
My Relationship with Yeshiva
I did not attend Yeshiva College. I was at the graduation of the Talmudical Academy in 1927. I was the valedictorian. I still remember the speech I delivered. It was held in Kehilath Jeshurun, in the shul on East 85th Street. Joe Lookstein was the rabbi already. Afterwards, I spent half a day at Columbia and half a day at Yeshiva. I started Columbia a year after my admission, since I asked for a leave of absence for a year and didn't want to start my AB training at Columbia before I was more advanced in my Talmudic studies. So I spent one year with nothing else but studying in the Beit Midrash. We were in the shiur of R. Moshe Soloveichik. R. Abramowitz was teaching yoreh deah to some of the more advanced students, but that was during the time that the Maichater was still alive. Then there was a R. Levine who delivered an advance shiur, a R. Alishevsky who had an advanced shiur...
The Maichater was brilliant; the shiurim were phenomenal. I can tell you that there were times that chills would go up and down my back from the depth. We were learning Yevamos. Yevamos is a very difficult Mesechta, and it was a pleasure and privilege to be in his shiur. But then he died rather young, in the summer of 1928.
I felt that there were some of us who had studied so much Gemara that we didn't need shiurim in yoreh deah, which could almost be done by yourself, and all you really needed is a little bit of guidance; I fought on principle that there was no need for it. It's true that the Rosh Yeshiva in charge would give chiddushim from some of the meforshim on yoreh deah, but not on the yoreh deah itself. We also did not yet have examinations as they did afterwards. (When I took over the running of the rabbinical departments, so to speak, and Belkin was already president of the university, we did have very, very formal classes in yoreh deah. It was quite different than our time.) Then there was a group of us who felt that we'll learn by ourselves. We figured that whatever we would learn we would know, and whatever we don't know we wouldn't know.
What happened subsequently was that I got semikha, as a matter of fact, signed by Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik and Dr. Belkin much later. But by then I had not only received a few degrees at Columbia, AB - I was Phi Beta Kappa - I also earned my JD - the law degree, and I started upon the philosophy of law program at Columbia.
I had very little to do with the [administration of] yeshiva until Revel died and then the fight began about a successor to Revel, who was an unusual president and a rich man himself. Once, Belkin and I saw Revel sign a check to buy a dozen overcoats for students [who could not afford them]. It was like a good old fashioned yeshiva. And Revel had the money. But teachers weren't being paid. There were a lot of problems in those days, but nonetheless, we continued. It was an exciting school to be in.
In 1930 I was married, and R. Belkin was at my wedding. I remember that he was staying at the house of the Finers, who were hosting him on 187th Street, right opposite the dorms. And I remember that Mr. Finer saw R. Belkin getting ready to go to the wedding in a sweater. R. Belkin was still un-Americanized he didn't know that he had to have a jacket to go to a formal wedding. Mr. finer got him a jacket to wear to my wedding.
Rabbi Dr. Leo Jung was mesader kiddushin at my wedding at the Jewish Center. I married his niece, Ruth Fishman. I was 20 years old, and she was a few years younger. We had about 18 rabbis under the canopy, including Dr. Revel and a number of the Roshei Yeshiva from RIETS.
R. Belkin eventually asked me to stay on and help him with the college. Our friendship remained until he died. It was my great loss. He was my rebbe and my chaver, a genre of rebbe-chaver. When one of the talmidim wrote a biography of Belkin recently [Victor Geller's Orthodoxy Awakens: The Belkin Era] he showed it to me, because he knew that I was very close to Dr. Belkin
Future of Modern Othodoxy
As I articulated in my book, One Man's Judaism, we are one people, Klal Yisrael, and I can't think of separating ourselves into Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. [Rather, it should be that] there is a greater degree of observance, and a lesser degree of observance. But altogether we must remain one people. History has demonstrated that we all have the same fate. [YUdaica] project will certainly help us in preserving Yeshiva's early history.
Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, RIETS '34, earned his law degree and PhD in political science from Columbia University and was the spiritual leader of Congregation Shaaray Tefila of Far Rockaway and of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue. In 1947 he began teaching political philosophy and jurisprudence at Yeshiva College and in 1970 was named a university professor of political science. Rabbi Rackman received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Yeshiva in 1961, and was provost of Yeshiva University from 1970-1976. Rabbi Rackman has served as the president of the New York Board of Rabbis, president of the Rabbinical Council of America. A former colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve, during World War II he was chairman of the commission on Jewish chaplaincy in the United States Armed Forces. After leaving Yeshiva, Rabbi Rackman became president (1977-1985) and Chancellor (since 1985) of Bar Ilan University. He currently divides his time between New York and Ramat Gan, Israel.
This interview was conducted by Menachem Butler and Zev Nagel.