Two Approaches toward Convening the Sanhedrin and Resuming Semikha in the Modern Era

Abstract

Abstract Before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Rabbi Aharon Mendel HaKohen indefatigably promoted a program of reconvening the Sanhedrin and resuming semikha – the historical form of rabbinical ordination that entailed “laying of hands.” Holding a rabbinical post in Cairo, he observed a diminishing status of the community rabbi, caused, he thought, by the growing Zionist idea. To restore rabbinic power, he wished to establish an association of rabbis that would serve as a Jewish authority for the election of the Sanhedrin and the resumption of semikha . By examining Rabbi Mendel’s view, along with those of other rabbis of his age, including Rabbi Mordechai HaKohen and Rabbi Eliyahu Bechor Chazan, this article provides an important perspective on a central issue of the period of the emergence and growth of Zionist ideology.