Abraham Hecht

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.cite book
author = Marquis Who's Who
title = Abraham Berl Hecht
work =
date = 2006
url = http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
accessdate = 2007-03-26 ] cite news
first = Jennifer
last = Siegel
title = Speech Reflects Chabad Split
work = Jewish Daily Forward
date = 2005-07-15
url = http://www.forward.com/articles/speech-reflects-chabad-split/
accessdate = 2007-03-26 ] cite news
first = Larry
last = Yudelson
title = Rabbis against peace treaty mull assassination, revolts
work = Jewish Telegraphic Agency (reprinted in the Jewish news weekly of Northern California)
date = 1995-06-23
url = http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/21019/edition_id/20/format/html/displaystory.html
accessdate = 2007-03-26 ]

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.

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.cite news
first = Larry
last = Yudelson
title = Rabbis against peace treaty mull assassination, revolts
work = Jewish Telegraphic Agency (reprinted in the Jewish news weekly of Northern California)
date = 1995-06-23
url = http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/21019/edition_id/20/format/html/displaystory.html
accessdate = 2007-03-26 ] 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." 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."cite news
first = R. I.
last = Friedman
title = The Rabbi Who Sentenced Yitzak Rabin to Death
work = New York Magazine
page = 24
date = 1995-10-09 ] At the time Hecht was a senior rabbi of Shaare Zion Congregation in Brooklyn, the largest Sephardic Jewish congregation in the U.S.cite news
first = Larry
last = Sexton
title = Synagogue Debates Dismissing Rabbi Over View on Violence
work = New York Times
page = B1
date = 1995-11-17 ]

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.cite news
first = Larry
last = Sexton
title = How a Rabbi's Rhetoric Did, Or Did Not, Justify Assassination
work = New York Times
page = 51
date = 1995-12-03 ] cite news
author = Reuters
title = Israel Bars Seven U.S. Jews, Calling Them Security Risks
work = New York Times
page = A12
date = 1995-12-21 ] According to Samuel G. Freedman, author of "", 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.cite news
first = Allan C.
last = Brownfeld
title = Extremism in Israel Is Fueled by a Growing Ultra-Orthodox Movement in the U.S.
work = Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
page = 71
date = January 2001
accessdate = 2007-03-26 ] cite news
title = Man Admits Placing Bomb At Synagogue.(National Desk).
work = New York Times
page = NA
date = 1997-03-20
accessdate = 2007-03-26 ]

References