In a day filled with festivities and brimming with pride from their families, the musmachim (rabbinic graduates) who took part in Yeshiva University’s 2017 Chag HaSemikhah joined more than 3,000 rabbinic alumni who have gone on to become distinguished Orthodox rabbis, scholars, educators and leaders around the world.

At the Chag HaSemikhah, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Hershel Schachter was awarded the HaRav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l Aluf Torah Award to mark his 50-year career at YU/RIETS. In 1967, at the age of 26, Rabbi Schachter joined the faculty as its youngest rosh yeshiva. Since 1971, Rabbi Schachter has been rosh kollel of the Marcos and Adina Katz Kollel (Institute for Advanced Research in Rabbinics). In addition to his teaching duties, he lectures, writes and is a world-renowned posek (halachic decisor) of Jewish law.

Rabbi Hershel Schachter is the son of the late Rabbi Melech Schachter, who was also a major rabbinic figure and rosh yeshiva at RIETS. At age 22, Rabbi Hershel Schachter was appointed assistant to the renowned Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt”l. Rabbi Schachter earned his BA from Yeshiva College, an MA in Hebrew literature from the Bernard Revel Graduate School in 1967 and was ordained at RIETS that same year. In addition to his teaching duties he is a prolific author and lecturer and has written more than 100 articles, in Hebrew and English, for such scholarly publications as HaPardes, Hadarom, Beth Yitzchak and Or Hamizrach. Sefarim written include Eretz HaTzvi, B’ikvei HaTzon, Ginat Egoz, Nefesh HaRav, MiPninei HaRav and Divrei HaRav. Rav Schachter makes himself available to the community for serious shailot (halachic questions) and is sought after to offer psakim (decisions) in some of the most difficult cases. Moreover, students can always find him in the beit midrash learning in his makom kavua (designated seat). Rav Schachter is married to Shoshana Shapiro, and their nine children are married and live throughout North America, Israel and Canada.

“Yeshiva University has been honored to have Rabbi Hershel Schachter as a core member of its educational staff for the past 50 years. Rabbi Schachter has influenced the lives of so many at the yeshiva, as well as the Orthodox world as a whole,” said Marc Merrill, director of communications for RIETS. “Rabbi Schachter has often been described as a walking sefer Torah, and so an actual sefer Torah was commissioned in honor of his tireless dedication to students of RIETS over the past five decades.” In recent months, Rabbi Schachter and his wife, Shoshana, have traveled to Los Angeles and communities across the tri-state area so that devoted talmidim could take part in writing letters in this special sefer Torah. “Overall it has been a huge success, and it has been inspiring seeing so many talmidim reunite to pay tribute to their rebbe. We really feel blessed that Rabbi Schachter has been able to teach at such a high level at RIETS for 50 years,” said Merrill.

Approximately 1,800 people were on campus for the Chag HaSemikhah event, and close to 8,000 people viewed it online. The class of rabbis represents an internationally diverse group, hailing from five continents and more than 50 North American cities. While most of the musmachim will remain engaged in either full-time post-semicha Torah study or in religious work such as Jewish education, the pulpit, outreach or nonprofit management, many will pursue careers in other professions, including medicine and law.

During the ceremony, in addition to RIETS honoring Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Hershel Schachter, RIETS Chairman Emeritus Rabbi Julius Berman was also honored with the Eitz Chaim Award.

Rabbi Julius Berman, a 1956 graduate of Yeshiva College and 1959 graduate of RIETS, is a longstanding board member and is currently chairman emeritus of RIETS, having served as its chairman for many years. He currently serves as the president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany. He has headed many national and international Jewish organizations, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Orthodox Union, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the American Zionist Youth Foundation. As a confidant of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt”l, Rabbi Berman was, and is, instrumental in publishing the Rav’s works. A partner in the law firm of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, he received his JD from New York University in 1960. He received an honorary doctorate from YU in 1995. Rabbi Berman is married to Dorothy Berman, a graduate of Stern College for Women and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, has three children, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

The RIETS service award was also bestowed upon Dr. David Arbesfeld, who comes from a prestigious Yeshiva University family that has sustained YU’s mission for generations. Like his father Hyman, Dr. Arbesfeld is an especially strong supporter of RIETS. He demonstrated his devotion to RIETS by assuming the entire cost of installing new lights, outlets and carpeting in the Jacob and Dreizel Glueck Center for Jewish Study. He also provided significant attention to the management of the project, working with vendors and others to ensure that the renovation would be done according to the highest standards for the benefit of the students. His involvement has helped, literally, to cast a new light on Torah study. A graduate of Yeshiva University High School (1977), Yeshiva College (1981) and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1986), Dr. Arbesfeld is a dermatologist who did his training at the former University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where he taught Mohs micrographic skin cancer surgery and was an assistant professor. He is now in private practice in Rockville Center, Long Island. In the summer, Dr. Arbesfeld coordinates an annual kosher travel excursion, which features Rav Hershel Schachter as scholar-in-residence. He also attends Rav Schachter’s shiur in Queens every week.

In addition, special acknowledgement was given to 10 grandfathers and RIETS alumni who watched their grandsons receive semicha at this year’s ceremony, as well as the musmachim celebrating their 50th anniversary.

“The Chag HaSemikhah is a singular event celebrating Yeshiva, our community and our future,” said Rabbi Menachem Penner, the Max and Marion Grill dean of RIETS and Undergraduate Torah Studies at YU. “Our opportunity to honor Rav Hershel Schachter and Rabbi Julius Berman takes this excitement to an even higher level.”

Following the ordination ceremony, RIETS held a Gala Evening of Celebration honoring Rabbi Schachter and Rabbi Berman at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. In addition, philanthropist Dr. David Arbesfeld was presented with the RIETS Service Award. The dinner raised more than $1 million for RIETS. To learn more or to support RIETS, visit yu.edu/riets.