Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS /riːts/) is the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University (YU). It is located along Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
Named after Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, the school's Hebrew name is Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchok Elchonon (Hebrew: ישיבת רבינו יצחק אלחנן). The name in Hebrew characters appears on the seals of all YU affiliates.
Program[edit]
The RIETS semikhah program is a structured four-year curriculum. The primary focus is on advanced Talmudic learning as well as developing a proficiency in deciding matters of classical and contemporary halakha (Jewish law; see Yeshiva § Jewish law).
There are a variety of required ancillary courses, such as homiletics, pastoral counseling, and Jewish philosophy, that are intended to train students for careers as practicing rabbis. There is an honors track within the general semikhah program whereby students receive an extra stipend and are required to take additional courses. The current Director of Semikhah is Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz.[12][13]
The majority of students in the semikhah program are also enrolled in the Katz Kollel which is led by the rosh kollel, Hershel Schachter. Many RIETS students are also concurrently enrolled in a variety of other graduate degree-granting programs in law, education, academic Jewish studies, psychology, and the sciences.
RIETS has two post-semikhah kollelim (referred to as the Kollel Elyon) which offer students the opportunity to study Torah at an advanced level and take supplemental courses for an additional 3 to 4 years while receiving a stipend. The roshei kollel of the Kollel Elyon are Michael Rosensweig and Mordechai Willig.
Faculty[edit]
Members of the Brisker dynasty, Moshe Soloveichik and Joseph B. Soloveitchik were heads of RIETS, and Ahron Soloveichik and Aharon Lichtenstein lectured there for significant portions of their careers. Shimon Shkop taught at RIETS for a short period in 1929, as did Shlomo Polachek, Menachem Mendel Zaks, Moshe Shatzkes, Nisson Alpert, Dovid Lifshitz and Moshe David Tendler.[14]
Later roshei yeshiva include: Hershel Schachter, Eliyahu Ben Haim, Mordechai Willig, Michael Rosensweig, Mayer Twersky, Jeremy Wieder, Yaakov Neuburger, Baruch Simon, Zvi Sobolofsky, David Hirsch, J. David Bleich, and Daniel Stein, Hershel Reichman and Ezra Schwartz.
Chag Hasemikhah[edit]
Ordination can technically be conferred upon a student who completes all of the necessary requirements for semikhah at any point in time. Nonetheless, every three or four years, RIETS conducts a formal Chag Hasemikhah—an official celebration of the students who received rabbinic ordination since the previous Chag. It is traditionally held on or about the yartzeit of Isaac Elchanan Spektor which is Adar 21.[15]