rabbi - History, Sages as rabbis, The role of the rabbi in the last 200 years
In Judaism after AD 70, a title for accredited Jewish teachers or sages, who often exercised judicial functions too; prior to 70, used less technically as a form of respectful address, as presumably in the New Testament Gospels. The teachings of these early sages are preserved in the Mishnah, the Talmud, and many other forms of rabbinic literature. Rabban is a superior form of the title, used in the Mishnah for four early scholars: Gamaliel the Elder, Johanan ben Zakkai, Gamaliel II, and Simeon ben Gamaliel II. Today rabbis also have pastoral functions and a role in worship, much like ministers or clergy of other faiths.
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Rabbi (Sephardic Hebrew רִבִּי ribbī;
The role of rabbis within Jewish communities has been and continues to be multifaceted. Today rabbis are still responsible for teaching on matters of Jewish religion in general and law in particular;
Rabbis often work as religious leaders. Synagogue rabbis (also known as "pulpit rabbis") typically speak on behalf of their communities on a wide range of issues, offer spiritual leadership for their congregation, and are usually involved in Jewish lifecycle events. Nevertheless, rabbis are not essential to the performance of Jewish liturgy and ritual, and Jewish congregations can persist indefinitely without a rabbi assigned to them.
Some religious leaders such as Hasidic rebbes and Talmudic rosh yeshivas may not even have a formal semicha ("ordination") and may have arrived at their positions by lineage or by being acknowledged for their great knowledge and insights into Talmud and Halakha and other areas of traditional Torah scholarship.
History
Moses and Joshua: The first "rabbis"
By tradition Moses was the first rabbi of the Children of Israel.
By Jewish tradition, the authority granted by semicha has been passed from rabbi to rabbi from Moses to the present day.
Era of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible)
The governments of the kingdoms of Israel and the Judah were based on a system of Jewish kings, prophets, the legal authority of the court of the Sanhedrin and the ritual authority of priesthood.
All of the above personalities would have been expected and assumed to be steeped in the wisdom of the Torah and the commandments, which would have made them - in modern language - "rabbis". And only Torah is truly good, as it is said: 'I have given you a good teaching, do not forsake My Torah' (Psalms 128:2). (Ethics of the Fathers 6:3)
With the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem, the end of the Jewish monarchy, and the decline of the dual instititutions of prophets and the priesthood, the focus of scholarly and spiritual leadership within the Jewish people shifted to the sages of the Men of the Great Assembly (Anshe Knesset HaGedolah).
Sages as rabbis
The rabbi is not an occupation found in the Torah (i.e.
The role of the rabbi in the last 200 years
In 19th century Germany and the United States, the duties of the rabbi became increasingly influenced by the duties of the Protestant Christian Minister, hence the title "pulpit rabbis". Non-Orthodox rabbis, on a day-to-day business basis, now spend more time on these traditionally non-rabbinic functions than they do teaching, or answering questions on Jewish law and philosophy. Within the Modern Orthodox community, rabbis still mainly deal with teaching and questions of Jewish law, but are increasingly dealing with these same pastoral functions. Orthodox Judaism's National Council of Young Israel and Modern Orthodox Judaism's Rabbinical Council of America have set up supplemental pastoral training programs for their rabbis.
Traditionally, rabbis have never been an intermediary between God and man.
Becoming a rabbi
Traditionally, a man obtains semicha ("rabbinic ordination") after the completion of an arduous learning program in the codes of Jewish law and responsa. Although not strictly necessary, many Orthodox rabbis hold that a beth din (court of Jewish law) should be made up of dayanim.
Orthodox Judaism
An Orthodox semicha requires the successful completion of a rigorous program encompassing Jewish law and responsa in keeping with longstanding tradition.
The entrance requirements for an Orthodox yeshiva include a strong background within Jewish law, liturgy, Talmudic study, and attendant languages (e.g., Hebrew, Aramaic and in some cases Yiddish).
Haredi and Hasidic Judaism
While Haredi and Hasidic yeshivas (also known as "Talmudical/Rabbinical schools or academies") do grant official semicha ("ordination") to many students wishing to become rabbis, most of the students within the yeshivas are not learning Torah or Talmud because they desire to become rabbis or hold any official positions.
The curriculum for obtaining semicha ("ordination") as rabbis for Haredi and Hasidic scholars is the same as described above for all Orthodox students wishing to obtain the official title of "Rabbi" and to be recognized as such.
Women do not, and cannot, become "rabbis" in the Haredi and Hasidic worlds.
Within the Hasidic world, the positions of spiritual leadership are dynastically transmitted within established families, usually from fathers to sons, while a small number of students obtain official ordination to become dayanim ("judges") on religious courts, poskim ("decisors" of Jewish law), as well as teachers in the Hasidic schools.
Some yeshivas, such as Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim (in New York) and Yeshiva Ner Yisrael (in Baltimore, Maryland), may encourage their students to obtain ordination and mostly serve as rabbis who teach in other yeshivas or Hebrew day schools. Other yeshivas, such as Yeshiva Chaim Berlin (Brooklyn, New York) or the Mir yeshiva (in Brooklyn and Jerusalem), do not have an official "semicha/rabbinical program" to train rabbis, but provide semicha on an "as needs" basis if and when one of their senior students is offered a rabbinical position but only with the approval of their rosh yeshivas.
Consequently, within the world of Hasidic Judaism and Haredi Judaism, the English word and title of "Rabbi" for anyone is often-times scorned and derided, because in their view the once-lofty title of "Rabbi" has been debased in modern times. Hasidim and Haredim will therefore prefer using Hebrew names for rabbinic titles based on older traditions, such as: Rav (denoting "[great] rabbi"), HaRav ("the [great] rabbi"), Moreinu HaRav ("our teacher the [great] rabbi"), Moreinu ("our teacher"), Moreinu VeRabeinu HaRav ("our teacher and our rabbi/master the [great] rabbi"), Moreinu VeRabeinu ("our teacher and our rabbi/master"), Rosh yeshiva ("[the] head [of the] yeshiva"), Rosh HaYeshiva ("head [of] the yeshiva"), "Mashgiach" (for Mashgiach ruchani) ("spiritual supervsor/guide"), Mora DeAsra ("teacher/decisor" [of] the/this place"), HaGaon ("the genius"), Rebbe ("[our/my] rabbi"), HaTzadik ("the righteous/saintly"), HaKadosh ("the holy"), "ADMOR" ("Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabeinu") ("our master, our teacher and our rabbi/master") or often just plain Reb which is a shortened form of rebbe that can be used by, or applied to, any Jewish male as the situation applies.
Note: A Rebbetzin (a Yiddish usage common among Ashkenazim) or a Rabbanit (in Hebrew and used among Sephardim) is the official "title" used for, or by, the wife of any Orthodox, Haredi, or Hasidic rabbi.
Conservative and Masorti Judaism
Conservative Judaism holds that one may obtain rabbinic ordination after the completion of a rigorous program in the codes of Jewish law and responsa in keeping with Jewish tradition. It adds to these requirements by adding the study of: the Hebrew Bible, Mishna and Talmud, the Midrash literature, Jewish ethics and lore, the codes of Jewish law, the Conservative responsa literature, both traditional and modern Jewish works on theology and philosophy.
Conservative Judaism has less stringent study requirements for Talmud and responsa study compared to Orthodoxy but adds following subjects as requirements for rabbinic ordination: pastoral care and psychology, the historical development of Judaism;
Entrance requirements to a Conservative rabbinical study include a strong background within Jewish law and liturgy, knowledge of Hebrew, familiarity with rabbinic literature, Talmud, etc., and the completion of an undergraduate university degree. Ordination is granted at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies, the Jewish Theological Seminary of Budapest and the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires (Argentina).
Conservative seminaries are now ordaining female rabbis and training female cantors.
Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism
Reconstructionist Judaism and Reform Judaism have different requirements for ordination. Though Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis may learn less Talmud, Codes and halakhic responsa than in Orthodox or Conservative seminaries, they may study more in other areas such as sociology, cultural studies, modern Jewish philosophy, Hasidism, and pastoral care.
Both men and women may be rabbis or cantors.
The rabbinical college for Reconstructionist Judaism is called The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and is located in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia.
Historically and until the present, recognition of a rabbi relates to a community's perception of the rabbi's competence to interpret Jewish law and act as a teacher on central matters within Judaism.
As a result, there have always been greater or lesser disputes about the legitimacy and authority of rabbis.
As a practical matter, communities and individuals typically tend to follow the authority of the rabbi they have chosen as their leader (called by some as the mara d'atra) on issues of Jewish law.
The divisions between the various religious branches within Judaism may have their most pronounced manifestation on whether rabbis from one movement recognizes the legitimacy and/or authority of rabbis in another.
As a general rule within Orthodoxy and among some in the Conservative movement, rabbis are reluctant to accept the authority of other rabbis whose Halakhic standards are not as strict as their own.
Orthodox rabbinical establishment rejects the validity of Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis on the grounds that their movement's teachings are in violation of traditional Jewish tenets. Some Modern Orthodox rabbis are respectful toward non-Orthodox rabbis and focus on commonalities even as they disagree on interpretation of some areas of Halakha (with Conservative rabbis) or the authority of Halakha (with Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis). Conservative rabbis accept the legitimacy of Orthodox rabbis, though they are often critical of Orthodox positions. Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, on the premise that all the main movements are legitimate expressions of Judaism, will accept the legitimacy of other rabbis' leadership, though will not accept their views on Jewish law, since Reform and Reconstructionism reject Halakha as being conclusive Jewish law.These debates cause great problems for recognition of Jewish marriages, conversions, and other life decisions that are touched by Jewish law. Orthodox rabbis do not recognize marriages and conversions by non-Orthodox rabbis. Finally, the North American Reform and Reconstructionst movemements recognize patrilineality as a valid claim towards Judaism, whereas Conservative and Orthodox maintain the position expressed in the Talmud and Codes that one can be a Jew only through matrilineality (born of a Jewish mother) or through conversion to Judaism.
Rabbinic seminaries unrelated to the major Jewish denominations
There are several possibilities for receiving rabbinic ordination in addition to seminaries maintained by the large Jewish denominations. In general, the Reform and Reconstructionist denominations of Judaism recognize this program as valid, because they do not consider Jewish law binding, even on matters of exclusively Jewish significance. Shema Yisrael Torah Network is an organization that assists Jews from all over the world to learn Halacha from the most basic levels up until rabbinical smicha exams that are performed by the Chief Rabbinical office in Jerusalem, Israel
Women and the rabbinical credential
Jewish tradition and law does not presume that women have more or less of an aptitude or moral standing required of rabbis.
The issue of allowing women to become rabbis is not under active debate within the Orthodox community, though there is widespread agreement that women may often be consulted on matters of Jewish religious law. There have been reports that a small number of Orthodox yeshivas may have unofficially granted semicha to women, but the prevailing consensus among Orthodox leaders and a small number of Conservative communities is that it is not appropriate for women to become rabbis.
The idea that women could eventually be ordained as rabbis has sparked widespread opposition among the Orthodox rabbinate. He holds that the trend towards this goal is driven by sociology, and not halakha ("Jewish law".)
Modern Orthodox trends in female leadership
On the other hand, several efforts are underway within Modern Orthodox communities to include qualified women in activities traditionally limited to rabbis:
In the United States, Modern Orthodox rabbis Avi Weiss and Saul Berman created an advanced educational institute for women called Torat Miriam. (Helmreich, 1997) Rabbi Aryeh Strikovski (Mahanayim Yeshiva and Pardes Institute) worked in the 1990s with Rabbi Avraham Shapira (then a co-Chief rabbi of Israel) to initiate the program for training Orthodox women as halakhic Toanot ("advocates") in rabbinic courts. At Nishmat, the Jerusalem Center for Advanced Jewish Study for Women, Orthodox women may study the laws of family purity at the same level of detail that Orthodox males do. Rahel Berkovits, an Orthodox Talmud teacher at Jerusalem's Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, states that as a result of such changes in Haredi and Modern Orthodox Judaism, "Orthodox women have founded and overseen prayer communities, argue cases in rabbinic courts, advise on halachic issues, and dominate in social work activities that are all very associated with the role a rabbi performs, even though these women do not have the official title of rabbi."Becoming a Rabbi: To Have or Not to Have Ordination
There is no formal requirement to have semicha in order to be called "rabbi" by one's students; Laurie Goodstein, Causing a Stir, 2 Synagogues Hire Women to Aid Rabbis, February 6, 1998, New York Times Jeff Helmreich, Orthodox women moving toward religious leadership, Friday June 6, 1997, Long Island Jewish World Marilyn Henry, Orthodox women crossing threshold into synagogue, Jerusalem Post Service, May 15, 1998 Jonathan Mark, Women Take Giant Step In Orthodox Community: Prominent Manhattan shul hires ‘congregational intern’ for wide-ranging spiritual duties, The Jewish Week Dec. 19, 1997 Emanuel Rackman, (Women as Rabbis) Suggestions for Alternatives, Judaism , Vol.33,No.1, 1990, p.66-69.
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