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What makes a kosher smicha? Can an individual orthodox
Rabbi ordain and give smicha to one of his students if he feels the student
is worthy? What types of ordinations are there? Can one be ordained to
do kiruv and outreach, while another ordained to perform gets, and another
ordained to be a head of a congregation etc. Should smicha from a yeshiva
be considered anymore valid than from an individual tzadik Rabbi? Can
a community accept or hold up a learned person to be its Rabbi if there
is a need in the community and he is the only qualified person to lead
the community? What exactly is it that makes a Rabbi a Rabbi?
Bobby
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Bobby Shalom!
In a practical way Smichah is what you can get away with
and I will explain.
If a Yeshiva student wishes to be a congregational Rabbi he will be asked
for his papers. If he has my name on his Smichah it will not help him
get the job. Congregations are careful to take students who have more
official Smichos.
[Official Smichos are from official organizations such as Yeshiva University
or the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. Very close to this kind of Smichah are
the ones given by the more famous Rabbis such as Rav Moshe Feinstein zz"l]
There are some Rabbis who have many requests to give Smichah to others.
They most often give tests. Some of them give oral and some written tests.
Even the ones with written exams sometimes allow you to do them at home.
Any way it is done the idea is that Rabbi has a standard and his signature
on a Smichah means that the holder of the Smichah has reached that standard.]
I once had a friend who worked in a bank and learned with me every evening
the material for Smichah. In the end he took a test by a Rabbi and passed
and got Smichah. He had two reasons to do this: (1) his bank recognized
the Smichah as a kind of higher education and raised his pay level slightly
and (2) in his synagogue there was no official Rabbinical authority but
instead somebody who learned a long time ago in Yeshiva was giving "psak".
The Smichah he received was enough to make his word at least equal to
the other guy's.
In the past 15 years the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has succeeded well
in defining what is called Smichah. They give a battery of tests. Depending
on which ones you pass you can become a dayan in a Rabbinical court or
a Rabbi in a city or in a small town or in a neighborhood. Before taking
these tests you must have studied in recognized institutions for certain
numbers of years as well as recommendations from the heads of those institutions.
One of the institutions that has a program for Ordination
(Smichah) is the Diaspora Yeshiva.
The program is also recognized for the credits it gives at the end of
the course.
If you have a specific request for a congregation Rabbi
I recommend being very careful before closing the deal with someone without
maximum credentials and recommendations. Don't be sorry later; be smart
now. There are enough stories around about bad Rabbis that you shouldn't
feel rushed before a decision is made.
There is a closely related Smichah you might not know about. Those who
write Torah scrolls, mezzuzzot and tefillin must pass a test. Also those
who CHECK Torah scrolls, mezzuzzot, and Tefillin. Also those who check
shatnez. Also those who do ritual slaughtering and those who check the
slaughtered animals for Treifus. There are now organizations that give
courses that end in official exams and give diplomas that are also called
SMICHAH.
For several years there have been Rabbis calling for Kosher supervisors
(mashgichim) to take courses before beginning work. Even though there
is one official school doing this in Israel, the percentage of mashgichim
who have official recognition is tiny.
Thank you for asking your question. Feel free to ask another.
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