Following is a listing of rabbinical schools, organized by denomination. The emphasis of the training will differ correspondingly: Orthodox semikhah centers on the study of Talmud-based halacha (Jewish law), while in other programs, the emphasis may shift to "the other functions of a modern rabbi such as preaching, counseling, and pastoral work.”Ordination (Semicha), myjewishlearning.comRabbi Steven Blane (N.D.). "Ordination and Semicha", jsli.net Conservative yeshivot occupy a position midway, in that their training places (significantly) more emphasis on halacha and Talmud than other non-Orthodox programs.
Reform
In Reform Judaism, rabbinic programs span five years and incorporate a master's degree. Studies are mandated in pastoral care, the historical development of Judaism, academic biblical criticism, in addition to the study of traditional rabbinic texts. Rabbinical students also are required to gain practical rabbinic experience by working at a congregation as a rabbinic intern during each year of study from year one onwards. All Reform seminaries ordain women and LGBTQ people as rabbis and cantors.
The seminary of Reform Judaism in the United States is Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. It has campuses in Cincinnati, New York City, and Los Angeles. In Israel, the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College is the only seminary for training Reform Jewish clergy. In the United Kingdom, the Reform and Liberal movements maintain Leo Baeck College in London for the training and ordination of rabbis. In Germany the Abraham Geiger College trains and ordains candidates for the Progressive rabbinate. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Reform Movement maintains the Instituto Iberoamericano de Formación Rabinica Reformista (Iberoamerican Institute for Training Reform Rabbis).The IIFRR serves the Latin American Reform communities and has had online teaching as part of its curriculum, counting as teachers and supporting lecturers rabbis from the Reform communities throughout Latin America, North America, Israel and Europe.
Conservative
Conservative institutions, in ordaining men, women and LGBT people as rabbis and cantors, provide an "integrated program" of academic learning and professional development, spanning five or six years.
In addition to knowledge and mastery of the study of Talmud and halakhah, Conservative semikhah also requires that its rabbinical students receive intensive training in Tanakh, classical biblical commentaries, biblical criticism, Midrash, Kabbalah and Hasidut, the historical development of Judaism from antiquity to modernity, Jewish ethics, the halakhic methodology of Conservative responsa, and classical and modern works of Jewish theology and philosophy.
Conservative programs include also synagogue administration, pastoral care, chaplaincy, non-profit management, and navigating the modern world in a Jewish context, and incorporate professional placement. Students are required to study for one year - usually the program's third - in Israel.
Ordination is granted at: The Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem (Jerusalem's Conservative Yeshiva does not grant ordination) Budapest University of Jewish Studies in Budapest, Hungary Zacharias Frankel College in Potsdam Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Orthodox
Orthodox yeshivas are institutions of Torah study generally, "Torah lishma",Pirkei Avot 6:1 and are notSee discussion by Rambam: Hilchot Teshuva 10:5 and commentary on Makkot 3:16 focused on the training of rabbis per se. Their curricula emphasize Talmud along with the study of halacha (Jewish law); if less emphasized, Tanakh (bible) and Jewish thought / Musar / Hasidic philosophy are also studied. (Orthodox yeshivas do not allow women to enroll.) Rabbinical training proper - often culminating up to a decade of study Membership in the Rabbinical Council of America requires at least six year’s yeshiva study; see discussion under Master of Rabbinic Studies. - generally takes one of three forms.
Many yeshivot host a specific Rabbinic kollel, or other program, focusing on Semikhah (ordination); these are then an integral part of the yeshiva. These programs build students' ability to "pasken", i.e. decide cases in Halacha, extending and relying on the textual and analytical skills built over the several prior years of Talmud study; this, in parallel, includes preparation of the specific sections of Shulchan Aruch required for certification-testing (always kashrut; often shabbat, niddah; sometimes avelut, marriage laws).Semicha Standards, Rabbinical Council of America Executive Committee, 2015.מידע לנבחנים - רבנות ("Information re testing for Rabbanut, the Semikhah Certification of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel"), www.gov.ilCATALOG, Rabbinical College of AmericaSemikhah Requirements, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary Semicha Coursework, Hebrew Theological CollegeCatalog, Rabbinical College Bobover See and § Talmud study. These programs span 2–4 years, depending on the topics covered. Alongside their Rabbinic studies, students here typically participate in the Yeshiva's senior Talmud shiur. Institutions: Most Religious Zionist Rabbis are trained at Mercaz HaRav and / or the various Hesder Yeshivot (well known are Kerem B'Yavneh, Hakotel, Sha'alvim, and Har Etzion; the largest is Sderot) typically preparing for the "Semikhah of the Rabbanut" Haredi yeshivot in Israel generally do not offer a "semikha program" per se, although students often prepare to be tested by the Rosh Yeshiva. Well known Ashkenazi (Lithuanian) yeshivot are Mir and Ponevezh; the leading Sephardi yeshiva is Porat Yosef. Students here also, often sit the Rabbanut exams. In the US, well known Haredi semachot are through "Rabbinical Seminary of America", Telz, and Ner Yisroel (others, such as Chaim Berlin and "Lakewood", as at Israeli Yeshivot, do not commonly ordain). In Europe Gateshead Talmudical College is probably the best known; others include the Yeshiva of Aix-les-Bains and Torat Chayim in Moscow; elsewhere, Yeshiva Gedolah in Sydney, Yeshiva Gedolah of Johannesburg. Many Hasidic dynasties have their own yeshivot - see for example under Satmar, Belz, Bobov, Pupa, and Breslov - focusing on general learning as opposed to semicha, which is granted on a limited basis as at Charedi yeshivot. The Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim operate the global Tomchei Tmimim network, many of which, in contrast, include a semicha program. Since the 1950's, unlike in other streams, semicha is obtained by the bulk of Chabad yeshiva students: the Lubavitcher Rebbe instructed students to obtain ordination before getting married;A New Crop of Students To Receive Rabbinic Ordination, lubavitch.comHundreds Gain Rabbinic Ordination While Deep Into Successful Careers, chabad.org formally studying kashrut and shabbos before starting a home; although, this often with a more practical orientation, שיחת יום ג' פ' וארא, כ"ד טבת, ה'תשי"ב ;§ כגThe certificate - see example - may in fact specify that further apprenticeship is required if the holder is to serve as a community Rabbi. and spanning one year, the final of four.
Some institutions specifically focus on rabbinic training; these are essentially "post-graduate", admitting students with an advanced Yeshiva background. These programs typically prepare all of the above topics, and extend the curriculum to other applicable areas of Jewish law (e.g.See, e.g.: "Community Rav Course" laws of the synagogue and Jewish prayer, the moadim); these often place a parallel emphasis on "hashkafa", i.e. a systematic discussion of contemporary issues in light of Jewish philosophy; they may also offer some element of "practical Rabbinics" (e.g. homiletics and public speaking, life-cycle events, pastoral care), always secondary, however. These programs average 3 years, but may be up to 5 years. Institutions well known for their Rabbinic training include: In Israel: the Meretz Kollel, Ohr Torah Stone's Straus Rabbinical Seminary,Kollel for Israeli Rabbis and Machon Ariel which trains Rabbis and Dayanim (Rabbinic Judges); Kollel Eretz Hemda trains Dayanim; there are several specialized kollels preparing candidates for the Chief Rabbinate Dayanut test. See a more complete listing in the Hebrew, at category כוללי אברכים בארץ ישראל. The Machon HaGavoah LeTorah at Bar-Ilan University offers a Halacha program, and subsequent Rabbinical training, to students with a Yeshiva background.תכניות לימוד, המכון הגבוה לתורה (mgl.org.il)הכשרת רבני קהילות, biu.ac.il Israel-based programs preparing Rabbis for Diaspora communities: The Shehebar Sephardic Center,sscusa.org The Jerusalem Kollel, Ohr Somayach's Ohr La'Golah, Aish HaTorah's semicha program, The Center for Kehilla Development,The Center for Kehilla Development Ner Le'Elef,nerleelef.com Mizrachi's Musmachim programMusmachim, mizrachi.org as well as its Manhigut Toranit program (advanced Semicha - “Rav Ir”),manhigut-toranit.org Institute for Community Rabbis in the Diaspora (Ariel Institute),Institute for Community Rabbis in the Diaspora, mosdot-ariel.org and similarly, Eretz Hemda.Yadin-Yadin for the Diaspora, eretzhemdah.org In Europe, the leading institutions are Rabbinerseminar zu Berlin and Judith Lady Montefiore College Most American Modern Orthodox Rabbis are trained at RIETS, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and some at Hebrew Theological College. A number earn Semicha in Israel at Yeshivat HaMivtar (Straus). A small number of Rabbis are ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a more liberal "Open Orthodox" Yeshiva in New York. Its sister institution, Yeshiva Maharat, controversially ordains women Rabbis; one other Orthodox Yeshiva, Beit Midrash Har'el,Beit Midrash Har’el also ordains women, and similarly with some controversyRabbi Herzl Hefter, "Why I ordained women" (for discussion of other Orthodox women's programs, see generallyIn recent years some midrashot offer specialized programs (although not ordination) in Rabbinic-level Halakha, including Talmud-intensive study. Two formal professional certifications are offered: Nishmat trains women as Yoatzot Halacha, advisors in the laws of Family purity; Lindenbaum, through a joint program, prepares women as to'anot, advocates in religious courts for matters relating to divorce. Three programs mirror the Chief Rabbinate’s ordination requirements for men: Ein HaNetziv trains students as "Teachers of Halacha"; Lindenbaum in "Halachik leadership"; Matan as "Halachik Respondents".). Common among Hassidim are Kollelim, such as Mechon L'Hoyroamechonlhoyroa.com and The "Chicago Chassidishe Kollel",kollelzyz.org among others, although they are many times not affiliated with any specific Hasidic sect. These Kollelim typicallySee for example The Chassidishe Kollel, chicagojewishhome.com; Siyum by Kollel Zichron Yitzchok Zev, chicagojewishhome.com; Happening in… Chicago, mishpacha.com focus on Halacha, and will usually have their members tested by leading Poskim. Various Chabad institutions are located globally, and include the Rabbinical College of America, Rabbinical College of Australia and New Zealand, Rabbinical College of Canada, Rabbinical College of Pretoria; the preparation and testing here, certifying community Rabbis, is standard,Rabbinical Council of America List of Approved Yeshivot and thus more extensive and in more depth than at Tomchei Tmimim above.שיחת יום א' פ' פינחס, י"ג תמוז, ה'תשי"ב;§ כ-כד
Outside of these, it is common also for a student to prepare material independently, so as to be tested by a well known Rosh Yeshiva or posek, so called "private semicha" (many from the late R. Zalman Nechemia Goldberg). This Semikhah certifies solely the holder's ability, and thus right, to pasken (i.e. "Heter Hora'ah"; see, again, ).