Jewish seminary
A Jewish seminary, better known as a rabbinical seminary or rabbinical school, is a Jewish educational institution for the purpose of training rabbis. (In some cases, a "Jewish seminary" may also refer to a cantorial school.{{Cite web |title=Cantor {{!}} Berklee |url=https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/cantor |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=www.berklee.edu |language=en}}) While rabbis have been part of Judaism for centuries,{{Cite report |url=https://oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0103.xml |title=Rabbinic Judaism |last=Ulmer |first=Rivka |date=2010-09-13 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/obo/9780195393361-0103 |language=en|url-access=subscription }} rabbinical seminaries only became distinct institutions in the early 19th century.{{Cite journal |last=Diner |first=Hasia |last2=Krah |first2=Markus |last3=Rabin |first3=Shari |last4=Schwartz |first4=Yitzchak |last5=Thulin |first5=Mirjam |last6=Czendze |first6=Oskar |last7=Schmidt |first7=Imanuel Clemens |last8=Cooperman |first8=Jessica |last9=Gallas |first9=Elisabeth |last10=Rürup |first10=Miriam |last11=Heyde |first11=Jürgen |last12=Meyer |first12=Thomas |last13=Ries |first13=Rotraud |last14=Ullrich |first14=Anna |last15=Geißler-Grünberg |first15=Anke |date=2021 |title=PaRDeS: Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany = Foreign Entanglements: Transnational American Jewish Studies |url=https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/51933 |journal=PaRDeS: Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany |issue=27 |pages=53–54 |doi=10.25932/publishup-51933 |issn=1614-6492}}
History
Today, rabbinical seminaries differ from other Jewish educational institutions due to the influence of the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment movement.{{Citation |last=Bowker |first=John |title=Rabbinical seminaries |date=2003-01-01 |work=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780192800947.001.0001/acref-9780192800947-e-5898 |access-date=2024-09-12 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780192800947.013.5898 |isbn=978-0-19-280094-7}} Before this movement, yeshivot granted rabbinical ordination to those who completed an intensive course of study focusing on Talmudic and halakhic literature. The development of rabbinical seminaries was not without controversy as these new institutions were to provide a secular degree alongside rabbinic ordination (semikha), and thus some viewed this as promotion of heresy and assimilation.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00werb/page/568/mode/2up |title=The Oxford dictionary of the Jewish religion |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-508605-8 |editor-last=Werblowsky |editor-first=R. J. Zwi |location=New York |pages=569–570 |language=en |editor-last2=Wigoder |editor-first2=Geoffrey}}
Examples
Some Jewish rabbinical seminaries include those listed below; this is not an exhaustive list.
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ !Est. !Institution !Movement !Location |
| 1875 |
| 1886
|Jewish Theological Seminary of America |New York City, NY, US |
| 1962
|Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano |Conservative |
| 1968 |
| 1873;
2009 |
| 1998
|N/A - Sephardi |
| 1984
|Schechter Rabbinical Seminary |Conservative (traditional) |
| 1956 |