Rabbi Dr. Emanuel Rackman passed away on Monday in New York at the age of 98. His funeral began in New York on Tuesday, and is scheduled to resume in Israel on Wednesday, at 2:00 PM at Eretz Hachayim Cemetery near Bet Shemesh.
Rabbi Rackman, who was a top leader of both Yeshiva and Bar Ilan Universities, graduated Yeshiva University High School in 1927 - he was the valedictorian - and Rabbi Issac Elchanan Theological Seminary, where his father had been Rosh Yeshiva 27 years before, in 1934.
He 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 Manhattan.
A former colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve, Rabbi Rackman was chairman of the Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy in the United States Armed Forces during World War II. In 1947, he began teaching political philosophy and jurisprudence at Yeshiva College, and was named University Professor of Political Science in 1970.
Rabbi Rackman received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Yeshiva University in 1961, and was Provost of Yeshiva University from 1970-1976. Subsequently he was President (1977-1985) and later Chancellor (since 1985) of Bar Ilan University.
Rabbi Rackman was president of the New York Board of Rabbis and of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA). He also served as Vice-President of the Religious Zionists of America (RZA).
In an interview in 2005 with Yeshiva College's The Commentator, Rabbi Rackman said, "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."
The Jewish Star reported that he was famous "for the sometimes controversial [Halakhic rulings] he formulated in order to allow Jewish women trapped in dead marriages, known as agunot, to remarry. Their cause was first championed by his late daughter-in-law, Honey Rackman, a founder of the Agunah International organization."
Rabbi Rackman was pre-deceased by his wife Ruth in 1997. His sons Michael, Bennett and Joseph will be sitting Shiva in Israel at the Sheraton Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem until Thurday afternoon.