My friend and colleague, Rabbi Asher Lopatin, is Rahm Emmanuel's rabbi. In the three cases I know about of halakhically observant, powerful Jews, I confirmed their status by whether they asked shylas. I know about Lieberman (who asked Rabbi Barry Freundel), and Robert Wexler (a member of my parents' shul) and now I have confirmation that Emmanuel asks shylas as well: On Rosh Hashana, Rahm Emanuel called his rabbi with a question: Could he violate the holiday to sit in on a conference call about the $700 billion bank bailout package that congressional Democrats were fiercely trying to revive?Read the whole article, though, especially if you're still wavering about Obama's concern for Jews and Israel.
It didn't take long for Rabbi Asher Lopatin, who heads Emanuel's modern Orthodox congregation in suburban Chicago, to give him an answer.
"I told him it was my halachic opinion that the financial system was on the point of failing and it could be a disaster, and this was a matter of life and death, to get this passed, as long as the violation was kept to a minimum," Lopatin told The Jerusalem Post.
Update: Emmanuel's Talent:
Noam Schreiber of TNR says that Rahm is a superlative choice, and gives examples of his pragmatism.
Note, if Rahm does a good job, then *he* may get the coveted cement-shoe prize of being named the most probable "First Jewish President" (previous prizeholders were Joe Lieberman and Elliot Spitzer, wonderful company to join)
3 comments:
Will you explain for the rest of "I confirmed their status by whether they asked shylas."
Sorry for the ambiguity. I mean that a person is Orthodox when they ask a shyla of a rabbi and follow the ruling (even if it's not what they wanted in the first place). Now it's true that I don't know if Rahm would have listened to "no" (I know Wexler did in a different circumstance), but I at least know that Rahm's rabbi is Orthodox (and a friend of mine)
Sorry for the ambiguity. I mean that a person is Orthodox when they ask a shyla of a rabbi and follow the ruling (even if it's not what they wanted in the first place). Now it's true that I don't know if Rahm would have listened to "no" (I know Wexler did in a different circumstance), but I at least know that Rahm's rabbi is Orthodox (and a friend of mine)
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