List of rabbinical schools

This is an incomplete list of Jewish rabbinical schools, organized by denomination. For general discussion of Rabbinic ordination, see Semikhah #Concept and Rabbi #Ordination; for an overview of the differing emphases between denominations re ordination-training, see Yeshiva #Curriculum.

Orthodox

See: Yeshiva #Contemporary Orthodox yeshivas; Rabbi #Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Judaism.

Orthodox yeshivas are institutions of Torah study generally, and are not focused on the training of rabbis per se. (Their curricula emphasize Talmud along with the study of halacha (Jewish law); if less emphasized, Tanakh (bible) and Jewish thought /Musar /Hasidic philosophy are often studied also.) Rabbinical training proper, generally takes one of four forms. (1) Many Yeshivot host a specific Rabbinic kollel, or other program, focusing on Semikhah (ordination). These programs build students' ability to "pasken", i.e. decide cases in Halacha, extending and relying on the textual skills built over several years of Talmud study; this, in parallel, includes preparation of the specific sections of Shulchan Aruch required for certification-testing. See Yeshiva #Jewish law. (Alongside their Rabbinic studies, students here typically participate in the Yeshiva's senior Talmud shiur.) (2) Some institutions specifically focus on rabbinic training. These typically extend their curriculum to include other relevant areas of Jewish law (e.g. laws of the synagogue and Jewish prayer), and discussion of contemporary issues, or "hashkafa"; as well as offering some elements of "practical Rabbinics", always secondary however. (3) Outside of these, it is common also for a student to prepare material independently, so as to be tested by a well known Rosh Yeshiva or posek (so called "private semicha" ). (4) Lately several institutions are established around semicha-testing (as opposed to Rabbinical training); these provide syllabi / material, within a structured learning program, often via online training, and are then a hybrid of institutional and private. (Although sometimes referred to (derisively) as "online-semicha", their syllabi and testing are standard, and their role is, in fact, conceptualized as providing structured learning in Halacha.)

Institutions well known for their Rabbinic training:

• Israel-based programs preparing Rabbis for Diaspora communities: The Jerusalem Kollel, Ohr Somayach's Ohr La'Golah, Aish HaTorah's semicha program, The Center for Kehilla Development
• Most Religious Zionist Rabbis are trained at Mercaz HaRav and / or the various Hesder Yeshivot (well known are Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh, Yeshivat Hakotel, Yeshivat Sha'alvim, and Yeshivat Har Etzion) typically preparing for the "Semikhah of the Rabbanut"; see also the Hebrew Article Machon Ariel
• Haredi yeshivot in Israel generally do not offer a "semikha program", although if required students may be tested by the Rosh Yeshiva. Well known Ashkenazi (Lithuanian) yeshivot are Mir and Ponevezh; the leading Sephardi yeshiva is Porat Yosef. Students here also, often sit the Rabbanut exams.
• In the US, well known Haredi semachot are through Hebrew Theological College, Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen, Yeshivas Ner Yisroel ( "Lakewood", Beth Medrash Govoha, as at Israeli Yeshivot, does not commonly ordain); most Modern Orthodox Rabbis are trained at RIETS, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, many at the Israeli Yeshivat HaMivtar.
• In Europe Gateshead Talmudical College is probably the best known, but others include the reestablished Yeshiva of Aix-les-Bains, Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary and Judith Lady Montefiore College
• Various Chabad institutions are located globally, and include the Rabbinical College of America, Yeshivah Gedolah Zal, Rabbinical College of Canada, Rabbinical College of Pretoria
• Semicha-testing programs: Pirchei Shoshanim , The Institute For Rabbinical Studies , Yeshivas Iyun Halacha

Conservative

See: Yeshiva #Conservative movement yeshivas; Rabbi #Conservative Judaism.

In addition to knowledge and mastery of the study of Talmud and halakhah, Conservative semikhah also requires that its rabbinical students receive intensive training in Tanakh, classical biblical commentaries, biblical criticism, Midrash, Kabbalah and Hasidut, the historical development of Judaism from antiquity to modernity, Jewish ethics, the halakhic methodology of Conservative responsa, classical and modern works of Jewish theology and philosophy, synagogue administration, pastoral care, chaplaincy, non-profit management, and navigating the modern world in a Jewish context. Most Conservative seminaries ordain women and openly LGBT people as rabbis and cantors.

Ordination is granted at:

• the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles,
• the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York,
• the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem (Jerusalem's Conservative Yeshiva does not grant ordination),
• the Budapest University of Jewish Studies,
• the Zacharias Frankel College in Potsdam,
• and the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires.

Reform

See Rabbi #Reform Judaism

In Reform Judaism, rabbinic studies are mandated in pastoral care, the historical development of Judaism, academic biblical criticism, in addition to the study of traditional rabbinic texts. Rabbinical students also are required to gain practical rabbinic experience by working at a congregation as a rabbinic intern during each year of study from year one onwards. All Reform seminaries ordain women and openly LGBT people as rabbis and cantors.

• The seminary of Reform Judaism in the United States is Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. It has campuses in Cincinnati, New York City, Los Angeles, and in Jerusalem.
• In the United Kingdom the Reform and Liberal movements maintain Leo Baeck College for the training and ordination of rabbis.
• In Germany the progressive Abraham Geiger College trains and ordains candidates for the rabbinate.
• In Latin America, the Reform Movement maintains the Instituto Iberoamericano de Formación Rabinica Reformista (Iberoamerican Institute of Reform Rabbinical Formation), based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The IIFRR serves the Latin American Reform communities and has had online teaching as part of its curriculum, counting as teachers and supporting lecturers rabbis from the Reform communities throughout Latin America, North America, Israel and Europe.

Reconstructionist

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College is located in Pennsylvania ; it ordains women as well as men (and openly LGBT people) as rabbis and cantors. In 2015 the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College voted to accept rabbinical students in interfaith relationships, making Reconstructionist Judaism the first type of Judaism to officially allow rabbis in relationships with non-Jewish partners.

Other non-Orthodox

• Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary offers a two-year online rabbinical ordination program. It trains men and women. Rabbinic educators are Conservative, Reform and Orthodox rabbis, but the semicha is postdenominational.
• Humanistic Judaism has the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, which currently has two centers of activity: one in Jerusalem and the other in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Both places ordain women as well as men as rabbis, and do not ordain cantors. Both, ordain openly LGBT people.
• Jewish Renewal has an ordination program, ALEPH, but no central campus. ALEPH ordains women as well as men as rabbis and cantors. It also ordains openly LGBT people.
• The Academy for Jewish Religion, in New York City, since 1956, and the unrelated Academy for Jewish Religion-California, in Los Angeles, since 2000, have been rabbinic (and cantorial) seminaries unaffiliated with any denomination or movement. Hebrew College, near Boston, includes a similarly unaffiliated rabbinic school, opened in the Fall of 2003. These seminaries are accepted by all non-Orthodox rabbis as valid rabbinical seminaries, and they all ordain women as well as men (and openly LGBT people) as rabbis and cantors. Orthodox Jews do not consider these ordinations valid, because these seminaries do not consider Orthodox halacha to be binding.
• The Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute offers a training program, meets in weekly online classes via the Internet and ordains women as well as men as unaffiliated rabbis to meet the needs of unaffiliated Jews as well as interfaith couples and their families. It subscribes to Jewish Universalism, promoting religious tolerance and asserting that there are many paths to 'the One.' JSLI ordained its first class of rabbis in August 2011. It does ordain openly LGBT people.
• The Rabbinical Seminary International is a rabbinical seminary in New York, which ordains women as well as men (and openly LGBT people) as rabbis; it does not ordain cantors. It is a transdenominational rabbinical seminary in the Neo-Hasidic tradition.
• The Union for Traditional Judaism (UTJ), an offshoot of the left-wing of Orthodoxy and the right-wing of Conservative Judaism, has a non-denominational seminary in New Jersey; the seminary is accepted by all non-Orthodox rabbis as a valid, traditional rabbinical seminary. The vast majority of Orthodox Jews do not recognize ordination from UTJ. However, it bridges Conservative and Orthodox Judaism, and Modern Orthodox synagogues have hired UTJ rabbis. Though the more mainstream body of Modern Orthodox Judaism, such as the Rabbinical Council of America, does not recognize ordination from UTJ. UTJ only ordains men as rabbis and cantors, and does not ordain openly LGBT men.
• The Hebrew Seminary of the Deaf is a non-denominational rabbinical seminary in Illinois, which ordains women as well as men (and openly LGBT people) as rabbis, and does not ordain cantors of either sex.