Yeshiva Holds Quadrennial Chag HaSemikha

RIETS Celebrates 147 Ordinations,  Katsav Receives Honorary Doctorate

By Shlomo Greenwald

Throngs of friends, family members, and observers crowded Lamport Auditorium on Sunday, March 10th, to witness the quadrennial Chag HaSemikha, which conferred rabbinical ordination on 147 people, ranging in age from 24-50, who hailed from thirteen states and five countries. This year’s Chag, which featured the first-ever simulcast of the event to Yeshiva’s Gruss Center in Jerusalem –where ten of the musmakhim viewed the gala – also conferred an honorary doctorate upon Israel’s President Moshe Katsav. 

In conjunction with Katsav’s personal bodyguards from Shin Bet and the NYPD, University Security set up a metal detector and efficiently seated all 1,200 guests in Lamport Auditorium, allowing the event to commence promptly at 11:00 am.  Donald Sommers, University Chief of Security, reported that “the utmost security measures were taken,” adding that security was especially tight due to the grave situation in Israel.

Kicking off the event, Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, Dean of RIETS, announced all the names of the musmakhim.  Though he asked everyone to hold their applause, he emphasized the name of Rabbi Lavi Greenspan, who completed semikhah and passed the bar exams after going blind at age 26, and, despite Charlop’s plea, Greenspan was given a long standing ovation.  Charlop also paused at the name of Rabbi Seth Binus, who is seriously ill, wishing him a refuah sh’leimah.

Following Charlop’s recitation, University President and Rosh HaYeshiva Dr. Norman Lamm conferred an honorary doctorate on Katsav.  In his keynote address, the Israeli President spoke about his country’s commitment to rooting-out terrorism, stressing that Israel’s war is not with Palestinian people, but rather with the terrorists. 

Members of the audience felt that Katsav had spoken carefully, but they did not deem him a powerful orator.  As one RIETS faculty member explained, “Katsav was not elected to deliver messages to the public—it’s not what he does well—but rather he was elected for political reasons.”  Moreover, the most recent Israeli politician to address the University was former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, generally considered a premiere Israeli orator.

After Katsav received his honorary doctorate and was speedily ushered out of the auditorium, philanthropist Herbert Smilowitz was presented with the Eitz Chaim award for his generous financial support.  Following the general reception, which took place in Belfer Hall, there was a private lunch celebration for the Smilowitz family, whose grandson was among the musmakhim, in Rabbi Lamm’s office.  Mr. Smilowitz described the event as “wonderful and very much in-line with some of the previous events I have attended.”

Dispersed throughout the celebration were moments of silence in recognition of the victims of Middle East violence.  There was also special recognition afforded those that received semikhah forty years ago, including Rabbi Yosef Blau, Rabbi Robert Hirt, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, and Rabbi Haym Soloveitchik.

The recently deceased  Rabbis Ahron Soloveitchik and Joseph Wanefsky, in whose name three kollel elyon members recently put together a collection of Torah thoughts distributed to all the musmakhim, were also mentioned.  As well, Rabbi Daniel Rapp and Rabbi Jonathan Reiss received the Yadin Yadin honor, the highest honor conferred upon musmakhim.  This was the first time such an honor was bestowed since 1993.

In his final Chag HaSemikhah, some observers noted that Rabbi Lamm’s lasting imprint was best realized neither in his provocative speech nor in his ability to courageously criticize some of his bosses’ decisions, but in the naming of the Rabbi Nachum Lamm Yadin Yadin Kollel L’hora’ah in his honor.  “It indicates his mark on the yeshiva, and the respect he garnered while here,” an observer noted.