New York—“When a rebbe feels that his student is qualified to give halachic advice, he will give the student permission to do so,” said Rabbi Hershel Schachter, a Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University’s rabbinical seminary. As part of a ceremony tradition begun four years ago during the last Chag HaSemicha, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS)’s roshei yeshiva leave the convocation hall first and then become the first to greet and dance with the newly ordained rabbis as they arrive on the street.
The simcha dancing that occurs is but a small glimpse into the strong connection and sense of fellowship that is built by students with their rebbeim at YU, which is one advantage that the musmachim (rabbinic graduates) take with them as they begin their careers, especially those who engage in work outside the tri-state area, or ‘out of town,’ as it is colloquially referred. Unlike Teaneck, “It can seem like they’re alone in Omaha or Oregon or Toledo, Ohio. You’re facing one way, and the rest of the shul is facing another way,” said Rabbi Levi Mostofsky, who is director of YU’s department of continuing education.
The religious and historic event of YU’s Chag HaSemicha brings together what many agree are the best minds of the contemporary orthodox world to bestow semicha on four years worth of musmachim. It is a special time for the musmachim and their families, as it is a culmination and celebration of numerous years of intense study and rigorous examinations.
The Chag HaSemicha Convocation on Sunday, March 23, will honor the 205 musmachim who have completed their semicha training between 2011 and 2014. 37 of these graduates hail from the greater Teaneck community. These musmachim join the more than 3,000 men who have graduated from RIETS since its first Chag HaSemicha in 1906.
“Our semicha students experience a training program at RIETS like no other,” said Rabbi Menachem Penner, acting dean of RIETS, who will oversee his first Chag HaSemicha since the departure of Rabbi Yona Reiss last year to become the Av Beis Din of the prestigious Chicago Rabbinical Council. “Aside from the erudition and scholarship—which remain the emphasis of our program—we are producing professionally qualified and sensitive individuals who have received the requisite professional skills to lead our community into the future,” said Penner.
In terms of requirements, every student in semicha must either get a degree of higher learning (masters or Ph.D.), or must learn in kollel in the afternoons for three years on Sundays through Thursdays. That’s in addition to the rigorous morning program which, by completion, requires every student’s mastery of four core subjects: niddah (family purity), aveilus (mourning), basar v’chalav (meat and dairy), and tahuvrot (forbidden foods), as well as packing in four semesters of Talmud study with the rest of the yeshiva.
Along with its rich history of Torah scholarship, RIETS has in recent years implemented an enhanced rabbinic professional education program, which students attend each Friday morning for a year during their time in semicha. Designed to meet the complicated communal and spiritual needs of our time, the program offers programs on pastoral psychology, public speaking, leadership training and community building, as well as how to address a wide range of contemporary halachic issues.
These programs are designed to help the graduates prepare to execute their roles, but they still benefit from YU’s influence after they leave campus. “They go from being in a very community type of environment in the yeshiva, to sometimes being in one of relative isolation. You are culturally and socially by yourself. What we try to do is connect people with a wide range of professional and personal support programs,” said Mostofsky. YU’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF), Mostofsky added, runs a robust placement and career development office, and assists musmachim with resume building, interviewing skills, and even with contract negotiations, and also run continuing education and support programs, including a website called HYPERLINK “http://rabbanan.org” rabbanan.org, which is a password protected site just for rabbis.
This class of rabbis represents an internationally diverse group, hailing from five continents and more than 50 North American cities. While many of the musmachim will remain engaged in either full-time post-semicha Torah study in kollels or in jobs they prepared for with the program’s four major tracks—chinuch (education), the pulpit, outreach/the chaplaincy, or non-profit work—others will also pursue careers in professions such as medicine and law.
Rabbi Tsvi Selengut, who is one of the musmachim celebrating his semicha on Sunday, has entered the rabbinate from the pulpit track. He told JLBC that the friendships and mentoring relationships that he developed with his rabbeim, his rebbe, Rabbi Baruch Simon, and with his fellow semicha students are all important elements he takes with him as rabbi at Congregation Ohab Zedek in Belle Harbor, New York, where he has been for the past two years. Originally from Teaneck’s West Englewood neighborhood, and a graduate RYNJ and TABC, Selengut said that his opportunities at RIETS have included, for the past few years, a chavrusa with Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, Dean Emeritus of RIETS. It is an experience he could have gotten nowhere else. “My developing of these kinds of relationships within the rabbinate, along with the intense, formal study of halacha in the program, will all help me to be more effective in my community,” he said.
“We enjoy the precious privilege of hearing and observing some of the greatest halachic decisors of our time,” said Rabbi Motti Neuburger, who is rabbi at Beis Medrash Zichron Shalom of Queens, and is in his fourth year of study with the Wexner Kollel Elyon. “Chazal (our sages) tell us that this type of exposure may, at times, prove to be more instructive than the actual Torah study itself. In addition, our training at RIETS is not limited to walls of the Bais HaMedrash. Our learning is supplemented and enhanced with a wide array of very informative classes, each of which prepares us for a different aspect of the rabbinate. Professional coaches help us hone our writing and speaking skills, while world-renowned psychologists train us to be insightful, sensitive, empathic and resourceful, as we execute our pastoral responsibilities,” he said. Neuburger is a true ‘hometown boy’ of Bergen County. He spent his early years at RYNJ, and enters the rabbinate in the footsteps of his father, Rabbi Yaakov Neuburger, the beloved mara d’asra of Congregation Beth Abraham and a YU Rosh Yeshiva, and his grandfather, Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, the above-mentioned Dean Emeritus of RIETS (who is also the son of a rabbi).
The chinuch track of the RIETS semicha program provides many of our country’s modern orthodox day schools with their rabbeim. Teaching 9th to 12th grade as a new member of the faculty at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston is one of Rabbi David Schlusselberg’s accomplishments this year. “Chinuch isn’t just about being a teacher, or a school rabbi; there’s a lot of other avenues, and a lot of challenges that come your way,” Schlusselberg said. He added that the classes in contemporary halacha were very powerful for him, as they helped “paint the picture and helps you be as prepared as possible.” Growing up in Teaneck at Congregation B’nai Yeshurun and attending Frisch High School, Schlusselberg is also a musician who plays four instruments and sings. In addition to celebrating his semicha this month, he is also celebrating the release his first musical venture, an acoustic rock/alternative style CD of Jewish music, which is available on iTunes and in local Jewish stores.
Rabbi Ben Krinsky, another Teaneck native who joins the rabbinate from the chinuch track, has come a long way to return home. He is teaching Judaic studies in Yavneh Academy, the same school he attended. He is assistant teaching with the rabbi who was his own 5th grade rebbe. He brings with him a master’s in education from YU’s Azrieli School of Education. “There is an emphasis on the practical aspects of being in the rabbinate,” Krinsky said. “The different roshei yeshiva have all different kinds of personalities and expertise and it’s not just a requirement, but a true opportunity to interact with all of them throughout semicha,” he said. “Rabbi Schachter isn’t someone who just teaches about eruvim (symbolic enclosures that permit carrying on Shabbos). He goes out and builds them. Rabbi Neuburger, who taught us about medical halacha on Shabbos, was the rabbi at Einstein School of Medicine for several years, and Rabbi Reiss talked to us about his work at the Beis Din of America,” Krinsky said.
Though many enter the semicha program planning to enter the rabbinate, chinuch, non-profit or chaplaincy track, some students decide to pursue additional degrees after completing the program. Rabbi Sam Ash, whose family moved to Teaneck from Rochester around the time he began studying at YU, will be joining the ranks of another hallowed institution, Harvard Law School, this coming fall. “People might have this understanding that studying for semicha should be reserved for those who are exclusively going to use their semicha in formal rabbinic roles. I disagree with that, because these are valuable assets for any committed member of the Jewish community.
“One of the things we believe in at RIETS, is Torah lishmah, the study of Torah for its own sake. These are values we should all support, because we have a stronger community if we have more educated, more committed and more aware people,” said Ash. “Even if we don’t ultimately poskin shailas (decide halachic questions), we are more knowledgeable and this allows us all to deepen our collective observance,” Ash said.
By Elizabeth Kratz
