ANSWERS TO SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE
Following are the answers given by the Chairman of the Committee on Responsa to questions by Charles S. Ferber, District Manager of the Social Security Administration. These questions were asked of Dr. Sidney L. Regner, Executive Vice President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. They are for the purpose of determining whether cantors in Jewish congregations may be con-sidered ordained, commissioned, or licensed ministers in the sense of the terms used in the Social Security Act. The answers below are to the specific questions asked by the District Manager.
(1) Question: What are the requirements to become a rabbi?
Answer: In Orthodox Judaism, a man had to study Talmud and Jewish law, and was then examined by some well-known rabbi, who gave him semicha, or ordination. In modern Orthodoxy, and in Conservatism and Reform, the candidate must graduate from a recognized rabbinical school, pass its examinations, and be ordained at the graduation ceremony of ordination.
(2) Question: What is the significance of ordination in the Jewish religion?
Answer: Originally it had a mystic significance. The spirit descended through “the laying on of hands,” all the way from Moses. No one was truly ordained unless he was ordained by one who had previously been ordained by “the laying on of hands.” This mystic, unbroken ordination ceased, owing to the persecutions in the fourth century. Since then, we still use the word, “semicha, ” which means “laying on of hands,” but it is essentially “hatoras hora’a, ” which means the permission to the young scholar to teach independently of his master. Of course, the modern semicha has achieved authoritative standing and gained respect, but it is in essence a teacher’s certificate (Yore Deah 242:14).
(3) Question: Is an ordination ceremony or ritual required before an individual becomes an ordained rabbi?
Answer: None is required. The Orthodox rabbi would simply give the paper of semicha to the student. Modern seminaries will have something of a ceremony of ordination, but that is only for the sake of dignity. It has no status as a religious ceremony or as a sort of “sacrament,” and is not required.
(4) Question: Is a rabbi the only authoritative preacher and teacher of Judaism?
Answer: No; Judaism is essentially a lay religion. Any scholar can teach. There are certain functions which it has become customary for the “ordained” rabbi alone to perform, such as being in charge of the writing of a divorce, but any capable person may officiate at a marriage. All that the law requires with regard to marriage is that the man should know the law or, if he does not, he should have no dealings with the marriage ceremony (b. Kiddushin 6a). See the responsum in CCAR Yearbook, Vol. LXV, 1955, pp. 85-88, in which it is made clear that basically any competent person can officiate at marriages, but that in northern Europe the custom gradually moved toward restricting the right of performing the marriage ceremony to the rabbis of the community.
(5) Question: Are there any provisions in Judaism for licensing or commissioning of authoritative teachers and preachers of the faith other than through ordination? May a congregation license an individual to perform such services? If a congregation may do so, what is his title, and what are his duties? Is there a source in Jewish theology for permitting the congregation to confer such licenses or commissions? Does this authority extend beyond the particular congregation which licensed or commissioned the individual?
Answer: Congregations are required by Jewish law to appoint cantors to conduct the service, and these cantors have to have certain qualifications chiefly of character and maturity ( Orah Hayyim 53:4). This does not permanently confer an enduring status, as does ordination, on the person. He is selected for a certain term, and when the term is over, he ceases to be cantor. Sometimes he is selected as cantor only for the High Holy Days. As far as I know, there are no documents of appointment as there are for a rabbi.
But the question asks further whether a congregation may ordain a rabbi or select a man to be its rabbi. All rabbis are selected by the congregation. In earlier days, special, formal “letters of rabbinate” were issued by the congregation to the man they selected. Since they usually selected a learned man, he, almost invariably had semicha. But if he did not have semicha, would the congregation’s selection of him make him a rabbi? I do not know of any precedent for such an event, though there is nothing in Jewish tradition to prevent it. Contrariwise, many men in the traditional communities had semicha and yet did not serve as rabbis. If it would happen (though this would be comparatively rare, if it happened at all) that a man was selected who was not ordained, then he would be the rabbi only of that congregation. Perhaps the best answer would be that no congregation can confer semicha. Only other scholars can do so.
(6) Question: Does the Jewish religious community make any distinction between ordination, commissioning, or licensing of teachers and preachers of the faith? If distinctions are made, what are the differences?
Answer: This question is answered chiefly in the answers to the previous question. It could be added, of course, that a man who is ordained (semicha) is always known and recognized whether the ordained man becomes a rabbi or not. There was also, in past centuries, what might be considered honorific degrees conferred upon scholarly laymen (the degree “morenu”), which in many communities was used as a title when the man was publicly called up to the Torah on Saturday and holidays, but there is no official licensing other than the ordination or the temporary appointment of a cantor.
(7) Question: What authoritative body is established in Jewish theology for conferring ordination, licenses, or commissions, and what is the source of its authority?
Answer: There is no central authority in Jewish life for conferring any of the status mentioned above. Only another scholar (or a faculty of scholars in a theological college or yeshiva) confers ordination, and only a congregation selects its rabbis and its cantor. However, nowadays, cantoral schools have been established. The diploma given by these schools attests to the ability of the man to serve as a cantor. This might be looked upon in the future as a special status, but for the present it is no more status than that of any diploma of any school. The man becomes a cantor when a congregation selects him as such.
(8) Question: What are the requirements to be a cantor? Does the cantorial “Behold Me, Destitute of Good Works” recited at the beginning of the Additional High Holy Days Services fairly describe the duties and qualifications of a cantor? Are there any qualifications for being a cantor other than that he be a “grave, venerable, and righteous person, whose voice is sweet and acceptable to mankind”? Is a cantor anything other than “a humble conveyor of prayer” for himself, his family, and the congregation that deputed him?
Answer: The qualifications of a cantor are clearly described in the authoritative code, the Shulchan Aruch, 53:4: “The cantor must be worthy, which means free of sins, a man about whom there has been no evil report even in his childhood; he must be modest and acceptable to the people; he must have a pleasant voice, and must be experienced in reading Scripture.” This is a guide to the congregation, telling it what sort of man to select.
(9) Question: Is there any ceremony or ritual required before an individual becomes a cantor? If there is, who performs such ritual or ceremony, and what is his authority to do so?
(10) Question: What is a precentor and wherein does a cantor differ from a precentor?
Answer: There is no requirement for a “precentor” in Jewish law.
(11) Question: Does a cantor as such preach and teach the tenets of Judaism? Are the duties of a cantor akin to those of a rabbi as a preacher and teacher of Judaism?
Answer: The cantor is not a teacher, as a rabbi is.
(12) Question: Is it essential in Judaism that religious services or any portion thereof be conducted by a cantor, or may any individual competent to read the prayers, equally do so?
Answer: The services must be read aloud, usually with the traditional chant. The basic purpose of the audible reading is to fulfill the duty of worship for those who are unable to read the service themselves, but this reader need not be a cantor. Any member of the congregation can read the service aloud for the congregation. In fact, during most of the year, a member of the congregation (anyone, usually, who is commemorating the anniversary of a close relative) conducts the service. Some Reform congregations, therefore, do not have any cantor at all. The rabbi reads the service.