A Modern Orthodox Life by Rabbi Emanuel Rackman brings together some 13 sermons, 62 columns (out of nearly one thousand columns) published in the New York Jewish Week from 1971 through 1992 by one of Modern Orthodoxy s most distinguished figures. Some of the writings in this volume go back many years, but the thoughts they express are as pertinent today as they were when first set down. They cover a broad range of topics that will be of interest to thoughtful readers of every Jewish background. All in all, this volume is a moving and profoundly human distillation of the wisdom of a lifetime spent in the rabbinate.

Rabbi Emanuel Rackman is Chancellor Emeritus of Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, and previously served for many decades first as its President beginning in 1977 and then as its Chancellor. Before taking up his responsibilities at Bar-Ilan, he was Provost of Yeshiva University in New York City, where he taught political science and jurisprudence. During his long and fruitful career, he has also served as spiritual leader of Shaaray Tefila in Far Rockaway, NY. (1946-1967) and the Fifth Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan (1967-1977), as president of the New York Board of Rabbis (1955-1957) and the Rabbinical Council of America (1958-1960), as chairman of the Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy in the U.S. Armed Forces, and as associate editor of Tradition, a publication of the Rabbinical Council of America.

Born in Albany, NY in 1910, he graduated Columbia College in 1929 and graduated Columbia Law School in 1931 and was ordained at R.I.E.T.S. in that same year. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Columbia in 1952. He served as a chaplain in World War II and in the Air Force Reserves for 20 years thereafter. He also headed Jewish Studies at the City University of New York from 1971 to 1977.

This book is a treasure for anyone interested in passionate, rational Judaism. Reading Rabbi Rackman s sermons and essays, some going back many decades, I was struck by how relevant they are today, and how important his voice was, and is, particularly in an Orthodox Jewish community that has become more fundamentalist in practice and less compassionate in spirit. There is no better time to reflect on and appreciate Rabbi Rackman s shared wisdom.
Gary Rosenblatt, Editor and Publisher, The Jewish Week, New York

No one can describe or model the essence of Modern Orthodox Judaism better than Rabbi Rackman. This fascinatingly readable collection of sermons from the 50 s and 60 s, and columns from the 70 s through the 90 s, is at once a history of Modern Orthodox thought in America and the impressive measure of one of its most eloquent, informative, and inspiring spokesmen.
Haskel Lookstein, Senior Rabbi, Congreation Kehilath Jeshurun, New York

If you read these works and afterwards check the original date, you will understand what way ahead of his time means. This book contains a lifetime of wisdom, of compassionate caring, of courage and fearlessness in speaking out for justice when others fell silent. Read this book for its stimulating Torah, its insightful spirituality and, most of all, to encounter the mind and soul of a great rabbinic leader of our times.
Blu and Yitz Greenberg; Blu Greenberg is a founder and Past
President of JOFA and Yitz Greenberg is a Past President of
the Jewish Life Network and CLAL.

This book -- and Rabbi Rackman -- provide a model for how Jewish life ought to be conducted and how Jewish principles and commitments should find expression in both private life and the public arena.
David Ellenson, President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion.

Rabbi Emanuel Rackman is a legend in our times. Caring, incisive and courageous, his essays reflect bold responses to the

A Modern Orthodox Life

Sermons and Columns of Rabbi Emanuel RackmanBy Emanuel Rackman

KTAV Publishing House, Inc.

Copyright © 2008 Emanuel Rackman
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-60280-023-6

Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................ixSERMONS1950 Shabbat Shuvah....................................................................................3Passover 1950 Judaism: A Social Religion........................................................................10Passover 1951 The Love of Jews..................................................................................161952 The Great Challenge of Our Day....................................................................23Shavuot 1953 Altar and Courthouse..............................................................................28Shavuot 1953 The Yoke of the Law...............................................................................33Kol Nidre 1954 Days of Awe.......................................................................................37Yom Kippur Eve 1955 Responsibility for Our Own Sins...................................................................42Rosh Hashanah 1957 Helping God to Use Us.............................................................................46Sabbath of Penitence 1958 Children of Three or Eight........................................................................53Rosh Hashanah 1959 Selflessness......................................................................................59Yom Kippur eve 1962 The Sin of Habit..................................................................................65Passover 1963 The Lesson of Not Seeing God......................................................................71COLUMNS09-02-71 Is Term "Goy" Perjorative?.........................................................................................7909-16-71 Appetite Satisfaction on a Higher Plane Is Definition of Kashruth..................................................8209-23-71 Talmud Flatly Forbids Criminal Record for Those Who Repented.......................................................8512-23-71 Deprive Them: Can Christmas permissiveness fail to weaken Jewishness of the coming generation?.....................8801-25-73 Zealots Who Offend: Can their ugly behavior be devoid of blind hatred for other human beings?......................9302-01-73 Bodies Belong to Whom? Judaism denies a person the right to abuse or destroy gift from God.........................9603-01-73 Intellectual Idolatry: Name of God taken in vain when linked arrogantly to any empty ideology......................10005-03-73 Price of Exposure: In all times, Jews have been exposed to rival cultures and generation gaps......................10205-17-73 No Jewish Watergate: Right to privacy was firmly established centuries ahead of other nations......................10705-24-73 America Vindicated: Exposure of Watergate seen as result of liberties this country maintains.......................11106-21-73 A Convert's Status: He has embraced the Torah of his own free will and derives special merit.......................11509-06-73 Joy of Being Jewish: It is enough to compensate for all problems, trials and grim forebodings......................11903-29-75 One-Sided Orthodoxy? Passover message insists honesty just as important as ritual observance.......................12210-05-75 Ethics of the Heart: How pious men refused to take advantage of common business practice...........................12611-09-75 Pragmatic Needs, not Halacha, Hold Key to West Bank................................................................12904-11-76 Assurance of Future: What else can explain continuity of identity?.................................................13205-02-76 "Denominations Fail" to Give an Accurate Idea of Jewish Life.......................................................13505-16-76 Jews Racists? Aid given equally to Jews and non-Jews...............................................................13806-06-76 Halacha Seen Viable Basis for Israel Despite Some lacks............................................................14106-27-76 America's Jewish Debt Is Not to Jews of 1776, But to Judaism's Tenets..............................................14409-26-76 Letter to My Son...................................................................................................1471980c Concern for a Positive Jewish Image is No Heresy...................................................................1581980c The Case for Israel's Prisoner Exchanges...........................................................................1621980c A Step Toward Bridging the Religious-Secular Gap...................................................................16511-26-82 Modern Orthodox Jews Keep Authentic Tradition Alive................................................................16801-07-83 The Bible Is a Guide to Mankind, Not to God........................................................................17202-11-83 One of Century's Great Jewish Teachers Is 80.......................................................................17506-17-83 Retirement: The ages-old dilemma...................................................................................17811-11-83 Needed: A Universal Jewish Family Law..............................................................................1811984c Forgive the Germans, But May They Never Forget.....................................................................18503-84 Self-defense No Guarantee of Right to Violence.....................................................................18803-84 Orthodoxy's Rift Must Be Healed....................................................................................19204-84 An Advocate of Integration Without Assimilation....................................................................19504-13-84 Jewish Education Belongs in the Family Too.........................................................................19806-08-84 Israeli Terrorism: Reasons but no excuses..........................................................................20106-15-84 Progress Often Surprise Result of the Bitterest Confrontations.....................................................20409-84 The Special, Two-Faceted Sensitivity of Jews.......................................................................20811-02-84 When Extremism Is Sin, When It's a Virtue..........................................................................21012-84 Paradoxes for Committed Jews in a Secular World....................................................................21402-28-85 Why Good Deeds Don't Guarantee Rewards - and Vice Versa............................................................21803-08-85 Questioning and Accepting Reasons for Commandments.................................................................22109-27-85 An Optimist Sees Pessimism in Ecclesiastes.........................................................................22412-27-85 Judaism's Special Sensitivity in Human Relations...................................................................2271986 Orthodoxy's Champion of Sacred and Secular Syntheses...............................................................2301990c Think Before Acting: A godlike life requires discipline and unrelenting...