List of rabbinical schools

Following is an incomplete list of rabbinical schools, organized by denomination. For general discussion of Rabbinic ordination, see Semikhah #Concept and Rabbi #Ordination; for an overview of the differing emphases between denominations re ordination-training, see Yeshiva #Curriculum.

Orthodox

Orthodox yeshivas are institutions of Torah study generally, "Torah lishma", and are not focused on the training of rabbis per se. (Their curricula emphasize Talmud along with the study of halacha (Jewish law); if less emphasized, Tanakh (bible) and Jewish thought /Musar /Hasidic philosophy are also studied.) Rabbinical training proper, generally takes one of three forms.

Many Yeshivot host a specific Rabbinic kollel, or other program, focusing on Semikhah (ordination); these are then an integral part of the yeshiva. These programs build students' ability to "pasken", i.e. decide cases in Halacha, extending and relying on the textual and analytical skills built over several years of Talmud study; this, in parallel, includes preparation of the specific sections of Shulchan Aruch required for certification-testing (always kashrut; often shabbat, niddah; sometimes avelut, marriage laws). [1][2][3][4] [5] [6] See Yeshiva #Jewish law and #Talmud study. These programs span 2 years on average, depending on the topics covered. Alongside their Rabbinic studies, students here typically participate in the Yeshiva's senior Talmud shiur. Institutions:

• Most Religious Zionist Rabbis are trained at Mercaz HaRav and / or the various Hesder Yeshivot (well known are Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh, Yeshivat Hakotel, Yeshivat Sha'alvim, and Yeshivat Har Etzion) typically preparing for the "Semikhah of the Rabbanut"
• Haredi yeshivot in Israel generally do not offer a "semikha program", although if required students may be tested by the Rosh Yeshiva. Well known Ashkenazi (Lithuanian) yeshivot are Mir and Ponevezh; the leading Sephardi yeshiva is Porat Yosef. Students here also, often sit the Rabbanut exams.
• In the US, well known Haredi semachot are through Hebrew Theological College, "Rabbinical Seminary of America", Telz, and Ner Yisroel (others, such as Chaim Berlin and "Lakewood", as at Israeli Yeshivot, do not commonly ordain)
• In Europe Gateshead Talmudical College is probably the best known, others include the Yeshiva of Aix-les-Bains and Torat Chayim in Moscow; elsewhere, Yeshiva Gedolah in Sydney, Yeshiva Gedolah of Johannesburg.
• Many Hasidic dynasties have their own yeshivot - see for example Satmar (Hasidic dynasty) #Institutions, Bobov (Hasidic dynasty) #Institutions and Breslov (Hasidic group) #Today - focusing on general learning as opposed to semicha, which is granted on a limited basis as at Charedi yeshivot.
• The Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim operate the global Tomchei Tmimim network, many of which, in contrast, include a semicha program. Since the 1950's, unlike at other streams, semikha is obtained by the bulk of Chabad yeshiva students; the Lubavitcher Rebbe instructed students to obtain ordination before getting married,[7] formally studying kashrut and shabbos before starting a home (although often with a practical orientation [8]).

Some institutions specifically focus on rabbinic training. These typically prepare all of the above topics, and extend their curriculum to other applicable areas of Jewish law (e.g. laws of the synagogue and Jewish prayer), and to systematic discussion of Jewish philosophy re contemporary issues, or "hashkafa"; as well as offering some elements of "practical Rabbinics" (e.g. homiletics and public speaking, life-cycle events, pastoral care), always secondary however. These programs average 3 years, but may be up to 5 years. Institutions well known for their Rabbinic training:

• In Israel: Ohr Torah Stone's Straus Rabbinical Seminary, [9] the Meretz Kollel, and Machon Ariel which trains Rabbis and Dayanim (Rabbinic Judges); Kollel Eretz Hemda trains Dayanim; there are several specialized kollels preparing candidates for the Chief Rabbinate Dayanut test. See a more complete listing in the Hebrew, at category כוללי אברכים בארץ ישראל
• Israel-based programs preparing Rabbis for Diaspora communities: The Shehebar Sephardic Center, [10] The Jerusalem Kollel, Ohr Somayach's Ohr La'Golah, Aish HaTorah's semicha program, The Center for Kehilla Development, [11] Ner Le'Elef, [12] Mizrachi's Manhigut-Toranit program,[13] Institute for Community Rabbis in the Diaspora (Ariel Institute),[14] and similarly, Eretz Hemda. [15]
• In Europe, the leading institutions are Rabbinerseminar zu Berlin and Judith Lady Montefiore College
• Most American Modern Orthodox Rabbis are trained at RIETS, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, many at the Israeli Yeshivat HaMivtar (Straus).
• Open Orthodox (sometimes called "Neo-Conservative") Rabbis are trained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah; this movement also operates Yeshiva Maharat, which, controversially ordains women Rabbis; one other Orthodox Yeshiva, Beit Midrash Har’el, [16] also ordains women, and also with controversy [17] (for discussion re other Orthodox women's programs see Women rabbis and Torah scholars § Orthodox Judaism generally, and re Midrashot, [Notes 1] )
• Various Chabad institutions are located globally, and include the Rabbinical College of America, Rabbinical College of Australia and New Zealand, Rabbinical College of Canada, Rabbinical College of Pretoria; the testing and preparation here, certifying community Rabbis, is standard,[18] and thus more extensive and in more depth than at Tomchei Tmimim above.[8] [19]

Outside of these, it is common also for a student to prepare material independently, so as to be tested by a well known Rosh Yeshiva or posek, so called "private semicha"[1] (many from the late R. Zalman Nechemia Goldberg). This Semikhah certifies solely the holder's ability, and thus right, to pasken; see, again, Semikhah #Concept. Recently, several institutions are established around semicha-testing (i.e. as opposed to Rabbinical training); these publish syllabi, with a corresponding learning program, and often provide online training, [20] and are then a hybrid of Yeshiva and private; they are sometimes referred to as "on-line semicha programs." [1] In some cases, the program is completed in one year. [Notes 2]

• Semicha-testing programs: Pirchei Shoshanim, [21] Yeshivas Iyun Halacha, [22] Yeshiva Chonen Daas [23]
• Chabad programs: The Institute For Rabbinical Studies, [24] Machon Smicha, [25] HSSP, [26] Machon Limud Halacha [27](these mirror Tomchei Tmimim)
• WebYeshiva, a fully online Yeshiva, offers semikha culminating a four year program.

Conservative

In addition to knowledge and mastery of the study of Talmud and halakhah, Conservative semikhah also requires that its rabbinical students receive intensive training in Tanakh, classical biblical commentaries, biblical criticism, Midrash, Kabbalah and Hasidut, the historical development of Judaism from antiquity to modernity, Jewish ethics, the halakhic methodology of Conservative responsa, classical and modern works of Jewish theology and philosophy, synagogue administration, pastoral care, chaplaincy, non-profit management, and navigating the modern world in a Jewish context. Most Conservative seminaries ordain women and openly LGBT people as rabbis and cantors.

Ordination is granted at:

• the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York,
• the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles,
• the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem (Jerusalem's Conservative Yeshiva does not grant ordination),
• the Budapest University of Jewish Studies,
• the Zacharias Frankel College in Potsdam,
• and the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires.

Reform

In Reform Judaism, rabbinic studies are mandated in pastoral care, the historical development of Judaism, academic biblical criticism, in addition to the study of traditional rabbinic texts. Rabbinical students also are required to gain practical rabbinic experience by working at a congregation as a rabbinic intern during each year of study from year one onwards. All Reform seminaries ordain women and openly LGBT people as rabbis and cantors.

• The seminary of Reform Judaism in the United States is Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. It has campuses in Cincinnati, New York City, and Los Angeles.
• In Israel, the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College is the only seminary for training Reform Jewish clergy.
• In the United Kingdom the Reform and Liberal movements maintain Leo Baeck College for the training and ordination of rabbis.
• In Germany the progressive Abraham Geiger College trains and ordains candidates for the rabbinate.
• In Latin America, the Reform Movement maintains the Instituto Iberoamericano de Formación Rabinica Reformista [28] (Iberoamerican Institute of Reform Rabbinical Formation), based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The IIFRR serves the Latin American Reform communities and has had online teaching as part of its curriculum, counting as teachers and supporting lecturers rabbis from the Reform communities throughout Latin America, North America, Israel and Europe.[28]

Reconstructionist

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College is located in Pennsylvania ; it ordains women as well as men (and openly LGBT people) as rabbis and cantors. In 2015 the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College voted to accept rabbinical students in interfaith relationships, making Reconstructionist Judaism the first type of Judaism to officially allow rabbis in relationships with non-Jewish partners.[29]

Other non-Orthodox

In general, Non-Orthodox institutions offer a synthesis of traditional and critical methods, allowing Jewish texts and tradition to encounter social change and modern scholarship. The curricula thus focus on classical Jewish subjects, including Talmud, Tanakh, Midrash, halacha, and Philosophy, with an openness to modern scholarship, but also on "the other functions of a modern rabbi such as preaching, counselling, and pastoral work". [30] Note that, often, in these institutions less emphasis is placed on Talmud and Jewish law, "but rather on sociology, cultural studies, and modern Jewish philosophy".[31] Institutions:

• Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary offers a two-year online rabbinical ordination program. It trains men and women. Rabbinic educators are Conservative, Reform and Orthodox rabbis, but the semicha is postdenominational.[32]
• Humanistic Judaism has the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, which currently has two centers of activity: one in Jerusalem and the other in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Both places ordain women as well as men as rabbis, and do not ordain cantors. Both, ordain openly LGBT people.
• Jewish Renewal has an ordination program, ALEPH, but no central campus. ALEPH ordains women as well as men as rabbis and cantors. It also ordains openly LGBT people.
• The Academy for Jewish Religion, in New York City, since 1956, and the unrelated Academy for Jewish Religion-California, in Los Angeles, since 2000, have been rabbinic (and cantorial) seminaries unaffiliated with any denomination or movement. Hebrew College, near Boston, includes a similarly unaffiliated rabbinic school, opened in the Fall of 2003. These seminaries are accepted by all non-Orthodox rabbis as valid rabbinical seminaries, and they all ordain women as well as men (and openly LGBT people) as rabbis and cantors. Orthodox Jews do not consider these ordinations valid, because these seminaries are not Orthodox.
• The Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute offers a training program, meets in weekly online classes via the Internet and ordains women as well as men as unaffiliated rabbis to meet the needs of unaffiliated Jews as well as interfaith couples and their families. It subscribes to Jewish Universalism, promoting religious tolerance and asserting that there are many paths to 'the One.' JSLI ordained its first class of rabbis in August 2011.[33] It does ordain openly LGBT people.
• The Rabbinical Seminary International is a rabbinical seminary in New York, which ordains women as well as men (and openly LGBT people) as rabbis; it does not ordain cantors. It is a transdenominational rabbinical seminary in the Neo-Hasidic tradition.[34]
• The Union for Traditional Judaism (UTJ), an offshoot of the left-wing of Orthodoxy and the right-wing of Conservative Judaism, has a non-denominational seminary in New Jersey;[35] the seminary is accepted by all non-Orthodox rabbis as a valid, traditional rabbinical seminary. The vast majority of Orthodox Jews do not recognize ordination from UTJ. However, it bridges Conservative and Orthodox Judaism, and Modern Orthodox synagogues have hired UTJ rabbis. Though the more mainstream body of Modern Orthodox Judaism, such as the Rabbinical Council of America, does not recognize ordination from UTJ. UTJ only ordains men as rabbis and cantors, and does not ordain openly LGBT men.
• The Hebrew Seminary of the Deaf is a non-denominational rabbinical seminary in Illinois, which ordains women as well as men (and openly LGBT people) as rabbis, and does not ordain cantors of either sex.[36]
• The Midrasha at the Oranim Academic College, [37] in partnership with the Shalom Hartman Institute,[38] offers a pluralistic ordination to both men and women. [39]

Notes

1. In recent years some midrashot offer specialized programs (although not ordination) in Rabbinic-level Halakha, including Talmud-intensive study. Two formal professional certifications are offered: Nishmat trains women as Yoatzot Halacha, advisors in the laws of Family purity; Lindenbaum, through a joint program, prepares women as to'anot, advocates in religious courts for matters relating to divorce. Three programs mirror the Rabbinate’s ordination requirements for men: Ein HaNetziv trains students as "Teachers of Halacha"; Lindenbaum in "Halachik leadership"; Matan as "Halachik Respondents".
2. Although these programs are sometimes criticized, their syllabi are standard, and their role, in fact, is intended as providing structured learning in Halacha to those outside of a formal yeshiva; and their offerings then include non-semicha courses. As for the above, these programs assume a level of scholarship typically acquired over several years in Yeshiva. Note that membership in the Rabbinical Council of America requires six years yeshiva study, which excludes the time spent in an on-line program.

References

1. Semicha Standards, Rabbinical Council of America Executive Committee, 2015.
2. מידע לנבחנים - רבנות ("Information re testing for Rabbanut, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Semikhah Certification"), www.gov.il
3. CATALOG, Rabbinical College of America
4. Semikhah Requirements, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
5. Semicha Coursework, Hebrew Theological College
6. Catalog, Rabbinical College Bobover
7. A New Crop of Students To Receive Rabbinic Ordination, lubavitch.com
8. שיחת יום ג' פ' וארא, כ"ד טבת, ה'תשי"ב ;§ כג
9. Kollel for Israeli Rabbis
10. sscusa.org
11. The Center for Kehilla Development
12. nerleelef.com
13. manhigut-toranit.org
14. Institute for Community Rabbis in the Diaspora, mosdot-ariel.org
15. Yadin-Yadin for the Diaspora, eretzhemdah.org
16. Beit Midrash Har’el
17. Rabbi Herzl Hefter, "Why I ordained women"
18. Rabbinical Council of America List of Approved Yeshivot
19. שיחת יום א' פ' פינחס, י"ג תמוז, ה'תשי"ב;§ כ-כד
20. Dvora Lakein, 2010. Chabad Rabbi Launches Online Training Program for Rabbis
21. Yeshiva Pirchei Shoshanim
22. Yeshivas Iyun Halacha
23. chonendaas.org / rbssemicha.com
24. Online Smicha Institute For Rabbinical Studies, onlinesmicha.com
25. Machon Smicha, onlinemachon.com
26. Home Study Semicha Program, shulchanaruchharav.com
27. Machon Limud Halacha — Lema’an Yilmedu, lemaanyilmedu.com
28. http://www.institutorabinico.org
29. Lisa Hostein (October 1, 2015). "Reconstructionists give green light to intermarried rabbinical students". Jweekly. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
30. Ordination (Semicha), myjewishlearning.com
31. Rabbi Steven Blane (N.D.). "Ordination and Semicha", jsli.net
32. "Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary". PRS. January 23, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
33. "JSLI". JSLI. August 27, 2011. Archived from the original on April 29, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
34. "Rabbinical Seminary International". rabbinicalseminaryint.org. Archived from the original on September 23, 2011.
35. Ari L. Goldman, Religion Notes Archived January 31, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, Saturday, March 10, 1990
36. "Testimonials". Hebrewseminarydeaf.org. Archived from the original on December 4, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
37. Midrasha at Oranim
38. Beit Midrash for Israeli Rabbis, hartman.org.il
39. רבנות ישראלית, oranim.ac.il