The YU community was shocked and saddened by the untimely passing of Dr. Charles Raffel (1950-2014), beloved teacher and assistant professor of Jewish Philosophy at Stern College. News of his death sparked an outpouring of emotion from students and faculty; the void created by his passing and the absence of his trademark blend of humor, scholarship, and warmth have been sorely felt by the Stern community.
Dr. Raffel was born in Boston and grew up in Dorchester. After he attended Wesleyan University for his undergraduate studies, he spent a year and a half at YU in the RIETS beit midrash, where he sat in on the shiurim of Rav Schachter. During this time, he also developed a close relationship with the Rav. In 1973, he began his graduate studies at Brandeis in the department of Judaic and Near Eastern studies. There he met Dr. Jay Berkovitz, current professor of Judaic and Near Eastern studies and director of the Center for Jewish studies at Amherst. Though the two students were enrolled in different tracks, (Dr. Raffel was going for Jewish philosophy and Dr. Berkovitz for Jewish history), they were both from Boston and both observant (at a time when this was somewhat rare), and so became instant friends. They also shared a deep admiration for the Rav, whose teachings became an ongoing topic of conversation throughout their forty years of friendship.
Looking back on their time in graduate school together, Dr. Berkovitz describes Dr. Raffel, whom he called Chuck, “as a brilliant student —he had a keen intellect and had excellent text skills. Perhaps above all, he had the extraordinary ability to understand complex issues and to frame them in a way that illuminated them with unusual clarity. There were many instances in graduate school and long after when we would share with each other things we wrote or were thinking about. Chuck always succeeded in identifying the core issues, however clouded they were.”
It was at Brandeis that Dr. Raffel met the late Dr. Marvin Fox, a scholar of Maimonidean philosophy and one of most formative influences on Dr. Raffel’s scholarship. When Dr. Fox came to Brandeis in 1974, students in the Department of Judaic and Near Eastern studies instantly gravitated to him. However, the closest bond developed between Dr. Fox and Dr. Raffel. Recalls Dr. Berkovitz, “In Professor Fox, Chuck had found a rebbe who combined the lomdus (learning) of the beit midrash with the critical scholarship of the university. In Chuck, Professor Fox found a student who was capable of profoundly appreciating the subtleties of Jewish and general philosophy together with rabbinic thought. Those were exciting times, as Jewish studies in the academy was beginning to develop into what it is today, and Professor Fox was a leading figure in that burgeoning field. He was also a role model to us all, but most of all to Chuck.”
Under the mentorship of Dr. Fox and the late Professor Alexander Altmann, Dr. Raffel began his doctorate on “Maimonides Theory of Providence,” which he completed in 1983.
After graduation from Brandeis, Dr. Raffel worked for the American Jewish Committee, and then joined the faculty of Stern College, where he spent his entire academic career. At Stern, he developed a close relationship with Dr. Ephraim Kanarfogel, current chair of the Rebecca Ivry Department of Jewish Studies at Stern. Rabbi Kanarfogel described Dr. Raffel as the “anchor” of the Jewish philosophy department. Throughout the years, the two shared many meaningful conversations about Jewish scholarship, the memories of which Rabbi Kanarfogel still cherishes:
“Dr. Raffel and I always enjoyed talking about our great teachers, what we learned from them, in terms of both method and content, and what kinds of exemplary human beings they were: in learning, Rav Soloveitchik and Rav Schachter, and in scholarship, his late Professors Alexander Altmann and Marvin Fox at Brandeis, and my late mentors, Professors Jacob Katz and Yisra’el Ta-Shma of the Hebrew University, among others. We seemed to do some of this all the time—including the last time that we spoke at SCW during the week before Erev Pesach. What always struck me about these conversations was how passionate Dr. Raffel was about truly excellent learning and scholarship, how easily humorous Dr. Raffel was—he used to pick up on ‘favorite expressions’ and such of his teachers which was indeed a very high form of flattery—and how compassionate and caring he was. His teachers (and mine) not only taught their students how to think and learn, but also how to be mentschen. Dr. Raffel assimilated all of these lessons very well and as such, it was always a joy to speak with him. I will miss him and these conversations very much.”
Dr. Raffel also worked closely with Dr. David Shatz, professor of philosophy and co-chair of the philosophy department at Stern. Dr. Shatz and Dr. Raffel were colleagues for over 35 years and their offices in Stern were next door to each other. In a tribute to Dr. Raffel which he delivered at the SCW awards ceremony on May 1st, Dr. Shatz described his long-time colleague as a person who was “full of insight—about everything: ideas, people, situations.”
About Dr. Raffel’s skills as a teacher, Dr. Shatz remarked: “His classes were vintage him: an astonishingly seamless blend of informality and rigor, hilarity and intellectual excitement. Chuck cared deeply about his students: he cared about their intellectual and personal growth, he cared about their careers and their futures.”
In the poignant conclusion to his tribute, Dr. Shatz addressed Dr. Raffel, “Chuck, you have left a legacy—a legacy of probably thousands of students for whom you opened up the world of Jewish thought and whom you inspired, and who can—thanks to you —inspire their children. You have left a legacy of colleagues and friends whose lives you touched and for whom you were precious. You will never be forgotten; and remembering you will continue to bring us light.”