not qualified to make halakhic determinations … they excel in being a pastoral presence.” She also points out that the traditional educational path to becoming a rabbi can be exclusionary. “There is a need for alternative seminaries,” Hausman says, “because the cost of obtaining smicha at an academic institution, and the time involved to graduate, are obstacles to those who would like to serve, as well as those who are seeking a second career in midlife.” Valles told me that she wasn’t concerned about accred- itation since she wasn’t planning on becoming a congre- gational rabbi. She also pointed out that if your student population consists of working professionals who already have experience in Jewish institutions, they may not have
study pursued over many years; being steeped in rabbini- cal texts was what equipped someone to provide the kinds of guidance and leadership a rabbi would be called upon to offer. Nadler thinks that should still mean something. He also is worried about the lack of formal oversight. “None of these schools has any kind of state accreditation,” he says, and “their faculties rarely include the kinds of schol- ars, with doctorates, that the university-affiliated theolog- ical schools (mostly Christian) and the accredited Jewish schools [do].” For Nadler, the difference between these new rabbinical schools and the most-established ones — his list includes the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), the rabbinical school at Yeshiva University; the Jewish Theological Seminary; and Hebrew Union College — is structural. It amounts to, he says, “a collapse of any regulatory standards, a kind of schol- arly or academic nihilism.” A rabbinical program of the past would likely have been purely text-based, with a series of tests to demonstrate facility with the material. As rabbi- nical schools evolved over the 20th century, they generally included a great deal of text-based study, with a series of tests to demonstrate facility with the material, along with pastoral and homiletical train- ing. For example, the requirements listed for ordi- nation at RIETS are as follows: two semesters of studying the laws of kashrut; studies in the laws of niddah , mourning, and Shabbat; and several topics in contemporary halakha. Additionally, students must complete a master’s degree in a related field (education, social work, or the like) and two semesters in Jewish thought, and then, depending on the track they choose (pulpit, education, or lay leadership), anywhere from five to 10 courses in professional rabbinics. This is laid out in a four-year program with a year-long internship in the fourth year. To compare with an online rabbinical school: the cur- riculum of Rabbinical Seminary International (RSI) requires students to demonstrate the ability to con- duct religious services that include Hebrew, as well as those for life-cycle events. Textual study must be sufficient for students to demonstrate familiarity with the Bible and its interpreters, general know- ledge of Jewish history and aspects of the Talmud, and Jewish ethics and philosophy. The position of these newer schools is that they are simply being responsive to the needs of the modern rabbi. From RSI’s website: “The main emphasis of the learning experience of the modern rabbi is on personal and prac- tical spiritual ministry, not Jewish law. The curriculum of the Seminary does not call for intricate technical studies of Jewish law that no longer guides the lives of the majority of Jews today.… The modern rabbi is not a judge or an inter- preter of law. Instead, he or she serves as a spiritual guide for people searching for a greater spiritual connection and consciousness in Judaism.” Rabbi Jill Hausman, executive director of RSI, told me that that while their graduates “are
the same curricular needs as younger students enrolling fresh out of high school or university. Beyond that, she found pluralism was more important to her, as was the ability to do the work where she was — a benefit of studying online. “Find me an accredited rabbinical school that allows for remote learning, doesn’t require a stint in Israel, and is committed to a pluralist outlook on Jewish belief, law, and ritual and maybe I’d have preferred that. But, since that concept is still fictional, I think I chose the best possible option.” On the flip side, Valles argues that the more traditional schools cannot guarantee insight simply on the basis of having more conventional faculty: “To be quite frank, I think there are brilliant scholars who come from any and no scholastic background and terrible scholars who squeak
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