Rabbi Rakeffet attended
Bnei Akiva as a youth.
Meir Kahane was one of his (). Rakeffet met his future wife, Malkah, while giving a at
Bnei Akiva. Rakeffet started his career in 1961 as a pulpit rabbi at Lower Merion Synagogue in
Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. In 1962, he moved from Lower Merion to become the spiritual leader of the first Orthodox
synagogue in suburban
Essex County, New Jersey: Congregation Beth Ephraim of
Maplewood and
South Orange, New Jersey. During that time, he also served as a high school
rebbe at the
Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy of
Yeshiva University (YU) in Manhattan. In 1969, he moved to
Israel and worked as a staff editor on the
Encyclopaedia Judaica. He also wrote numerous entries, including those of Rabbi
Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Rabbi
Eliezer Silver. Upon the conclusion of the
Encyclopaedia Judaica project, Rakeffet pursued teaching, with a particular focus on
Torah education for
Jewish diaspora students residing in Israel. He was a founding faculty member of Jerusalem Torah College (BMT) in 1969 and served as an educator there for two decades. Additionally, he instructed at
Machon Gold and Michlalah, and he was a founding faculty member at Midreshet Moriah, an advanced program for
Torah studies for
female scholars. Rakeffet joined the Gruss faculty, going on to recruit
Nechama Leibowitz to teach, as well. Rabbi Rakeffet served in the
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) until the maximum allowable age. He served in
Lebanon during the
1982 Lebanon War. In 1980, he was recruited by Aryeh Kroll to join the
Mossad's clandestine
Nativ operation to teach Torah in the
Soviet Union. Rakeffet visited the Soviet Union in 1981, 1985, and 1989 together with his wife Malkah, and recruited 200 others to also visit. His initial visit motivated him to help found the Shvut Ami organization. Following the collapse of the
Iron Curtain, Rakeffet, with his daughter, joined the International Coalition of Missing Israeli Soldiers. He participated in fundraising, built close ties with
Zechariah Baumel and his family, and helped evaluate leads; no conclusive results emerged. He later proposed using marriage standards for cases where evidence suggested soldiers might be deceased, aiming to help families find closure and assist negotiations. The IDF endorsed his proposal, and in 2001, he established a
beit din to analyze relevant evidence. After 2.5 years, the beit din concluded the soldiers had died. Rabbi Rakeffet's
halakhic innovation of "presumed dead; place of burial unknown" (מקל'ן), is currently used by the IDF to declare a missing soldier "Presumed Dead" in similar cases. One critic hailed the memoirs: "Although serious to the core, his wonderful sense of humor shines in this inspiring life story of a true intellectual who continues to devote his talents to the Jewish people and the State of Israel."{{cite web In June 2016, Rakafot Aharon Vol 3 was published by Shvut Ami. Rabbi Dr. Yaakov S. Weinstein of East Brunswick, NJ compiled and annotated it based on contemporary Halachic topics presented by Rabbi Rakeffet between 1998 and 2002 in his advanced shiurim given at YU's Gruss Kollel. The topics include: The classic Agunah, Mamzerut, and Artificial Insemination. In July 2019, Rakafot Aharon Vol. 4 was published by Shvut Ami. The first section on Hilkhot Kiddushin was compiled by Rabbi Dr. Weinstein, based on Rabbi Rakeffet's shiurim. The second section on the Russian Saga consists of material on Rabbi and Mrs. Rakffet's visits to the Soviet Union while working for the Mossad during the 1980s. The third section includes a portion of Rakeffet's published scholarship since 1993. The fourth section contains unique documents and pictures, including the identification of every student in a famous picture of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik's 1960 classroom. In July 2023, Rabbi Rakeffet published "Theodore Herzl and Contemporary Zionism in the Context of Joseph and His Brothers".{{cite web In October 2023, Rabbi Rakeffet published "Rabbinic Authority and Leadership on the Contemporary Scene".{{cite web ==Positions==