Abraham Hecht

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Abraham Hecht (Avraham Berl Hecht) (born April 5, 1922 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American Orthodox rabbi affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch and is president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America.[1] [2] [3]

Some regard Rabbi Abraham B. Hecht as one of America's most articulate Orthodox rabbinic leaders. Known as a "rabbi's rabbi" and scholar of Torah, he serves as president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America - Igud HaRabanim and is rabbi emeritus of the Shaarei Zion Congregation of Brooklyn, New York, the largest Sephardic congregation in North America comprised of more than thirty-five hundred families which he served for more than fifty years.

Hecht is an author and has published two books: "Spiritual Horizons and Spiritual Freedom' as well as a recently published auto biography.

As an orator he has inspired many to prcatice of Torah and mitzvot. A frequent contributor for over fifty years to various Jewish publications in English, Hebrew and Yiddish.

He is an advocate for Mihu Yehudi- Giyur K'halacha (Who is a Jew?, Shleimus HaTorah (see Torah study) and Shleimus HaAretz - Pikuach Nefesh (see Land of Israel.

His promoted awareness on behalf of "Family Values" within the Jewish community as well as in society at large and his work on behalf of the Seven Universal Laws of Noah (Sheva Mitzvoth Bnei Noach).

Rabbi Hecht is a Hasid (disciple) of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson and of the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and had the distinction of being of the first 10 students of Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in America. He also served as a Shliach ("emissary") in Boston, MA, Buffalo , NY, Newark, NJ, and New Haven, CT establishing Yeshiva Achei T'mimim elementary schools for both boys and girls.

[edit] Controversy

Hecht was featured in a June 23, 1995, article by Larry Yudelson for his assertion, at a rabbinical gathering, that Jewish Law (Halakha) could permit the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres for their proposal at Oslo to withdraw from parts of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.[4] On June 19, 1995, Hecht had told the gathered members of the International Rabbinical Coalition for Israel "that by handing over Israeli land and property, Israeli leaders are betraying Jews to non-Jews" and that, according to Maimonides, "such people should be killed before they can perform the deed."[4][5] An October, 1995, article in New York Magazine referred to Hecht as the rabbi who "sentenced" Yitzak Rabin to death and quoted Hecht as praising Israeli mass murderer and American expatriate, Baruch Goldstein, as "a great man, a holy man."[5] At the time Hecht was a senior rabbi of Shaare Zion Congregation in Brooklyn, the largest Sephardic Jewish congregation in the U.S.[6]

Rabin was assassinated in Israel on November 4, 1995, by Yigal Amir for signing the Oslo Accords. After the assassination, Hecht was placed on a six-month paid leave by his synagogue and was, along with six other American Jews, barred for "security" reasons by the Israeli government from entering the country.[7][8] According to Samuel G. Freedman, author of Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry, Hecht also influenced Harry Shapiro, who planted a pipe bomb at a Jacksonville synagogue in 1997 in order to prevent Peres from speaking in support of the Oslo Accords.[9][10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Marquis Who's Who (2006). Abraham Berl Hecht. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  2. ^ Siegel, Jennifer. "Speech Reflects Chabad Split", Jewish Daily Forward, July 15, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  3. ^ Yudelson, Larry. "Rabbis against peace treaty mull assassination, revolts", Jewish Telegraphic Agency (reprinted in the Jewish news weekly of Northern California), June 23, 1995. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  4. ^ a b Yudelson, Larry. "Rabbis against peace treaty mull assassination, revolts", Jewish Telegraphic Agency (reprinted in the Jewish news weekly of Northern California), June 23, 1995. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  5. ^ a b Friedman, R. I.. "The Rabbi Who Sentenced Yitzak Rabin to Death", New York Magazine, October 9, 1995, p. 24. 
  6. ^ Sexton, Larry. "Synagogue Debates Dismissing Rabbi Over View on Violence", New York Times, November 17, 1995, p. B1. 
  7. ^ Sexton, Larry. "How a Rabbi's Rhetoric Did, Or Did Not, Justify Assassination", New York Times, December 3, 1995, p. 51. 
  8. ^ Reuters. "Israel Bars Seven U.S. Jews, Calling Them Security Risks", New York Times, December 21, 1995, p. A12. 
  9. ^ Brownfeld, Allan C.. "Extremism in Israel Is Fueled by a Growing Ultra-Orthodox Movement in the U.S.", Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January 2001, p. 71. Retrieved on 2007-03-26. 
  10. ^ "Man Admits Placing Bomb At Synagogue.(National Desk).", New York Times, March 20, 1997, p. NA. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.