History of Responsa Based Rabbinical Ordination

• In Event: Lessons from the Archives: Early Modern Sephardi Diaspora

Abstract

This paper will argue that the requirement in some communities for requiring rabbinical candidates to write responsa as part of their rabbinical ordination originates in the early practice of the Etz Haim Jesiba in Amsterdam. In 1698, its leaders instituted a novel practice; in addition to the normal Talmudic studies, the students were to be engaged with different situational questions every month, referred to as Psakim. Students were rotated to write a responsum for the question, debate the answers, and by the early 17th century the Responsa were published as part of the Pri Etz Chaim Responsa. This process went on unchanged until governments in the early 19th century increasingly made attempts to modernize their Jewish constituencies. The Dutch rabbinate was presented with the following government challenge: develop a formal procedure for rabbinical ordination that would apply uniformly to all candidates, both from the Portuguese (Sephardic) and Ashkenazic communities. As the paper shows, Jewish tradition had never formalized the rabbinical ordination process. To formalize the process into a regulation would require untraditional written examinations. The nature of the questions was debated between the Ashkenazic and Portuguese leaders. The Ashkenazic leaders preferred short non-situational questions which tested the student’s Talmudic thinking, and were probably used before in rabbinical oral exams. The Portuguese leaders preferred long situational questions, which were the norm in the earlier Psakim. After many exams, three long situational questions became the norm for both communities, and thus a return to the early Jesiba practice of Psakim. The paper is based on recently located archival material in various locales in the Netherlands. The paper also explores whether the practice of Responsa based rabbinical ordination took hold elsewhere. It finds that at a later date, not only are Dutch students required to write 3 Responsa for their rabbinical ordination, but so are rabbinical candidates at the Hildesheimer Seminary in Germany, and Seminaries in Italy. This practice continues in the Netherlands and Italy to this day.

Author

• Daniel Frances, University of Toronto