Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, leading Orthodox thinker, dies at 98

By Ben Harris
Published on December 11, 2008

Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, a leading Orthodox thinker and an early champion of women's rights, died Dec. 1 in New York. He was 98.

King and Heschel Remembered

By Elliot Fein
Published on January 2, 2003

Abraham Joshua Heschel is marching in line with Martin Luther King Jr. and a number of other key civil rights demonstrators. At the end of the demonstration, a journalist asked Heschel to describe his feelings about marching with King. He answered: "My feet were praying."

Heschel was prominent as a scholar, teacher and theologian, and widely respected because of his numerous publications. He was also well known as a result of his participation in Vatican II. Vatican II was the gathering in the early 1960s during which the Catholic Church introduced many significant internal changes. One of the changes included a historical reckoning: a formal process was begun that would eventually lead to the public announcement by the Church that "the Jews" did not kill Christ. From his participation in Vatican II, Heschel received the nickname from Catholics throughout the world of "Father Abraham."

Understanding and Responding to Evil

By Elliot Fein
Published on September 5, 2002

The subject of evil is something that has entered my mind often this past year. Since Sept. 11, and also from the ongoing news coverage from Israel, I have had many questions and have engaged in frequent discussions about this subject.