Rabbi Emanuel Rackman a'h

Rabbi Rackman passed away today. Here's part of the message I received from my former shul in NY: "[We regret] to inform you of the passing of Rabbi Dr. Emanuel Rackman, a leader of Modern Orthodoxy, president of Bar-Ilan University in Israel, rabbi of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, and a man who held many other important posts during his long and storied life. Funeral services 12:00 noon on Tuesday, December 2nd, at Fifth Avenue Synagogue, 5 East 62nd Street (just off Fifth Avenue). The family will be receiving condolences there beginning at 11:00 a.m. The interment will be in Israel, where the first two days of shiva will be observed. The mourners will return to New York on Friday, December 5th, and observe shiva through Tuesday morning..."

I'd link to the Wiki page about him but, sadly enough, there hasn't been one made (and I'd make it, but with two 3 hour seminars to prepare for, there's no time. Maybe manana). His bio from this article from the YU newspaper shows how impressive a leader he was: (http://tinyurl.com/5fdo77):

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

I met Rabbi Rackman many times when I was working at KJ (see below) and he was one of the best pulpit rabbis around, a great pastoral leader. He taught me many lessons of how to take care of congregants that I could only aspire to (e.g. after shul on Shabbat he would go to the houses of the home-bound in order to make kiddush for each and every one). He is probably best known to many of you for his work in recent years in the struggle to free agunas.

His passing is a great loss.

A Different Agunah Problem

I received an email about a seiruv against a man named Samuel Rosenbloom. The Baltimore Beit Din cited him in contempt for not showing up and for not giving his wife a get. The email then said that he owns the web-business succah.com and that we should boycott the business until he gives his wife a get.

I am all for helping the batei dinim, and the email made reference to a good organization, ORA, who posted a PDF of the seiruv.

But before I publicized this, I felt that I can't destroy a business - days before Sukkot - on the basis of an email. Email is very dangerous. Who knows how long an email has been bouncing around the netspace. I've been using email regularly since 1993 and the same hoaxes are still poppin' about.

So I called the Baltimore Beit Din. They confirmed that the seiruv is still effective. But the Rabbi I spoke to did not think Rosenbloom was still affiliated with Succah.com!

I then called Succah.com and asked the man who answered the phone if Rosenbloom was still with the company. He said no, it was solely owned by Debra Weintraub. I told him that this was a serious matter and I need to confirm that, and I identified myself and gave my phone number. He insisted that I didn’t sound genuine and that I should just email succah.com to talk about this. I asked him twice for his name and he evaded the question. Then he hung up quickly. So I emailed succah.com (that was yesterday, Thursday).

Today I called succah.com again and I reached Weintraub. She says she owns the company exclusively and has for 6 years. I told her of the gravity of the email campaign against her company. She didn't act like a person who was outraged by a slander campaign. She sounded defensive and evasive - just like bad mashgichim do when I ask for their credentials. I asked if she knew Rosenbloom and she said yes, he worked for succah.com and was important as a consultant… he also does heavy lifting for her (she said she couldn't physically do all the stuff alone).

I asked if he received a salary or had any financial stake in succah.com; she said no. I asked if her relationship with him was exclusively professional. She said they were just friends.

The person who sent me the original email said that she received it from her rabbi. I emailed him today and he responded just a few minutes ago (some Erev YK this is for the both of us!) saying that he got the info from the RCA! So I just emailed them.

My conclusions:

1. If the RCA is sending this kind of message out, they need to do so with due-process.
2. Because the due-process was not demonstrated in the emails that have bounced around, I implore anyone who receives that kind of message to *not* forward it around until due-process is met.
3. The RCA - and the Baltimore Beit Din - must provide proof that succah.com should be boycotted. Otherwise, we are stealing money.
4. Rosenbloom was likely the guy I spoke to on Thursday. Weintraub's description of her relationship to Rosenbloom and to the company sounds odd.

Why due process? Because:

1. It's the basis of any legitimate legal system. It’s the *only* basis. The rule of law depends on equal treatment and clear transparent procedure. Without due-process, even a Beit Din with old rabbis with big white beards and thick spectacles is no more than a pack of vigilantes.
2. We in the Jewish community need to trust our beit dins. This ain't the way to do it.
3. We want people to support the practice of a ban/cherem/seiruv. It's one of the only weapons we have against recalcitrant husbands. What are we to do if we use the weaponry wrong?!
4. We tend to believe the husband is wrong and the wife is right - and we're willing to err on the side of the wife. Except, I happen to know of one high-ish profile case of a woman who led a campaign against her ex-husband where it turned out the guy was totally innocent. The woman was a crackpot, the husband was a tzaddik, and the wife slandered him mercilessly. Eventually she kidnapped their child and fled the country. DUE PROCESS WILL PREVENT THIS.

Anyway, bli neder, after Shabbos I'll be able to discover more of the case's ins and outs.

Data:
Baltimore Beit Din
(it has the same address of the synagogue Adath Yeshurun Mogen Abraham)
3 Pinelea Court
Pikesville, MD 21208 (the above pdf says Baltimore)
Fax: 410-922-7356
Rabbi Simcha Shafran (he's in the shul, I don’t know if he's in the beit din)
Phone: 410-655-0864

Succah.com
(301) 990-0466

The Organization for the Resolution of Agunot, Inc. 646.796.4551, info@getora.com
http://www.getora.com/

RCA
212-807-7888, 212-727-8452 (Fax)
info@rabbis.org