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

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.