14-Year-Old Petitions High Court for Right to be Rabbi
ISRAEL — After being tested over course of a year by 10 senior rabbis, Moshe Raziel Sharify of Netanya files necessary forms to become rabbi.
A 14-year-old boy petitioned the High Court of Justice on Wednesday to force the Chief Rabbinate to check his ordination exam, so that he may be able to be ordained as a rabbi.
After being tested over the course of a year by 10 senior rabbis, Moshe Raziel Sharify of Netanya had filled the necessary forms and was invited by the Department of Examinations and Certifications of the Chief Rabbinate for the rabbinate’s written exam in July.
However, Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who came to wish the examinees luck, noticed the young face and ordered that his form not be checked and graded in line with the rabbinate’s policy that the minimum age for ordination is 22.
In a preliminary meeting of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate over Sharify’s ordination, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger had been in favor of allowing the young man to become a rabbi. However, as director of Metzger’s office Rabbi Haim Hemdinger told The Jerusalem Post in August, the chief Ashkenazi rabbi’s opinion did not win out, with Amar leading the opposition.
All the same, the invitation for the exam was sent to Sharify, but according to sources in the rabbinate, only out of the desire to encourage his exceptional skills and ambition, without the intent to actually consider his candidacy. The rabbinate later said that the invitation was a mistake.
Following the incident, Sharify’s father Nissan, who has a doctorate in law, said he would petition the High Court of Justice to have his son’s examination marked and counted, like the examinations of all other candidates.
On Sunday the court received the petition, filed by Nissan and his firm, which demanded that the young Sharify’s test be checked, and to overrule the rabbinate’s policy that determines 22 as the minimum age for ordination, or at least to order the forming of a committee to examine exceptions to the rule.
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By Rhonda Spivak and Jonah Mandel for the Jerusalem Post
go-d-s right hand man
great story !
if he gets married and has children and grandchildren before the age of forty he will be an eternal role model !
1bigpotatohead
Bring him to Crown heights to be Rov, he wont need Simicha here.
funny
L’havdil, it reminds me of the young Al Sharpton who became an ordained minister at a very young age (I think it was 12) & look what happened to him! Maybe this kid will fight for the Jews!
AH
So he plans to get his semicha by appealing to a secular court (for that’s what the “High Court of Justice” is). What’s wrong with this picture?
C.H.
Let him be a Rabbi!
If he learned and knows then why not, this is how it was done back in the days.
They can put him under th guidance of older and more experienced Rabbi’s for a few years.
elisha
i disagree if a person forces on them its not a sign of proper maturity
avraham
king Salomon was king at 12!!
mg
halevai this should be our problem :)
how ironic, we cannot get a rov here,
Great Story
The greatest chassidic Rabbbi of all times… Reb Nachman of Brastlav,was already a Rabbi and married at the age of 13…. Moshe is just a few years behind Ha Gadol, that is quite impressive!!!!
A Rav means more than Torah knowledge
I agree with all those saying that if a fourteen year old shnook decides that he needs to be a Rav, the Beis Din has a right to deny his request, and if this shnook then tries to become a Rav by taking them to a secular court, then I guess the Beis Din can comfortably be assured that their decision was the right one.
oy
someone who tries to force people shouldn’t be a rabbi
disagree-s
what do you mean he shouldn’t be rabbi because he’s trying to force them in a secular court they wouldn’t let him be a rabbi anyhow how else should he do it?
Generation Acharonim
What’s truly sad is that THIS should be the norm! So, why isn’t it?
emes
Wanting to become a rabbi by making a bizayon hatorah and committing what may be considered an act of mesirah. Trying to impose his authority on those who don’t want him to have any. Makes perfect sense to me. I can see that he mastered both Choshen Mishpat and the fifth chelek of the Shulchan Aruch big time.
Peyos!
Sorry, There is something missing here in the picture!
His Peyos! I don’t mean to judge, but can someone be a rabbi without Peyos?
Maybe it’s behind his ears!
Maybe for sure! Hevey Dan l’kaf Zchus!
To #12
So tell me: why indeed is it so important for him to get his semicha right now? Let’s grant that he does know everything he needs for it. So? Does he think that it is all worthless, chas veshalom, unless he has a piece of paper and a title? He ought to understand that studying Torah is a goal in itself, and that Chazal were right when they said “al taasem atarah lehisgadel bah” – don’t make the words of Torah a crown to glorify yourself with.