Jerusalem – The High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected the petition of Moshe Raziel Sharifi that the Chief Rabbinate be forced to check his ordination exam, so that he may be able to be ordained as a rabbi.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The Chief Rabbinate’s policy determines 22 as the minimal age for ordination, but Sharifi had proceeded to fill out the necessary forms ahead of last July’s examination, to which he was invited by the Department of Examinations and Certifications of the Chief Rabbinate. The rabbinate later said the invitation was a result of a mistake. While taking the test, however, Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar noticed the young face, and ordered that his test not be checked.
Following this decision, Sharifi’s father Nissim – an attorney – filed in November a petition to the court. Today, the court rejected the petition and ordered that the petitioners pay NIS 10,000 legal expenses.
At least this boychikle has ambition. Look at how many yungerleit sit and learn for years and years and don’t even go for the smicha.
The secular court is determining who can receive semichah? Ha’ir Shushan nevochah.
What a budding Rabbi…goes to secular courts to enable him to get smicha. Sign of the times, I guess.
I’ll bet he passed. Naturally, no child has any business being a rabbi (assuming we wish to take that position seriously), but this does suggest that R’ Amar knows that the test is a joke. After all, the child either passed or he didn’t– the rules say that he can’t be ordained until he’s 22; fine, but what’s the harm in grading the test? Only the fact that the rabbinate will be embarrassed.
He may have knowledge, but as is the case with many of today’s scholars, is the lack of chochma, mesora and common sense.
But also, apparently he is missing at least one of the ways of kinyan torah:
Hamakir Es Mekomo.
Big deal, so the child is very bright and studies hard. The poor judgement shown by the boy and his idiot father in this case makes me think that even when he comes of age he should be denied semicha. A Rav B’yisrael needs to be more than Google-Shulchan-Aruch.
Idiots. Why can there be a law of an age limit to be a congressman and a president. Why can’t the rabbinate decide what age to ordain a Rov? Why must everyone be an oberchochom
Serving in the rabbinate is more than passing an exam. As a Rav, a master of G-D’s law a Rav must have, Emunat Chachamim, Kavod HaTorah and Yirat Shamyaim wich provide the context for his Torah Knowledge. By going to the secular courts how is the young man demmonstrating his fidelity to G-D and His Torah.
There are very, very few things that are better in other countries than here, but forcing the plantiffs pay the legal costs if they lose is certainly one of them.
There are a lot of michtavim from Hagaon R’ Akivah Eiger stating his strong oppisition to the apointment of the son of the Tiferes Yisrael as a Rov because of his youth. He was also 14 at the time. I could imagine the Rabbanut feels the way for similar reasons.
in times of sanhedrin the father and boy would be charged with going to secular court מחלל שם שמים ומייקר שם ע”א he can’t anymore become a Rav!
it is a shame that if some one is qualified he can be rejected. I suppose they would have rejected Devora HaNeviah too. It is important to maintain incompetence in the chief rabbinate.
Well, I guess we like rabbis to have a little experience in life huh?
So this guy can sit someday. Give him a break, its probably his family driving him along huh? But that said, this young fellow deserves to at least get credit for his test by a grading. That doesn’t make him a rabbi, but perhaps if they don’t grade it, they may avoid legal challenges if he did get a high score.