Rabbi Rackman Urges Support of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate; Rabbi Henkin Concurs in Langer Ruling

Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, chairman of the board of governors of the Religious Zionists of America, called on the American Orthodox Jewish community to close ranks in support of the Chief Rabbinate in Israel,. He congratulated Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren on the publication of his “brilliant responsum” on the celebrated case of the Langer children, which removed the taint of bastardy against Hanoch and Miriam Langer and permitted them to marry their fiances.

In a statement issued Friday, Rabbi Rackman said “we are confident that he (Rabbi Goren) will solve many additional problems confronting the State and the people of Israel and thus demonstrate the viability of the halacha for individual Jews in an age of technology and for a sovereign State among the family of nations.”

At the same time, Rabbi Rackman hailed the statement of Rabbi Yosef Henkin, described as the dean of the Orthodox rabbinate in America, which concurred in Rabbi Goren’s ruling. Rackman added that Rabbi Henkin’s approval “should once and for all silence those who reacted most negatively,” against the Langer ruling, “presumably because they did not know the facts or see the full text of the opinion.”

The Rabbinical Council of America reaffirmed last week at its mid-winter conference its full support of the office of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate as the religious authority in all matter of Judaism in Israel. Rabbi Bernard Twersky, press secretary of the Rabbinical Council, the organization of Orthodox rabbis, said the overwhelming vote was a manifestation of the support “and the profound confidence of the Orthodox rabbis in the authority of the Chief Rabbinate office on problems of a religious nature.”