Rabbi

:See Semicha for article about "ordination" of rabbis.

Rabbinic seminaries unrelated to the major Jewish denominations

There are several possibilities for receiving rabbinic ordination in addition to seminaries maintained by the large Jewish denominations. These include seminaries maintained by smaller denominational movements, and nondenominational (also called "transdenominational" or "postdenominational") Jewish seminaries.

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• The Union for Traditional Judaism (UTJ), an offshoot of the right-wing of Conservative Judaism and the left-wing of Orthodoxy, has a seminary in New Jersey; the seminary is accepted by all non-Orthodox rabbis as a valid, traditional rabbinical seminary. Orthodox Jews are divided on the legitimacy of this seminary, as they usually view all non-Orthodox seminaries as heretical; this seminary, however, bridges Conservative and Orthodox Judaism, and some Orthodox synagogues have hired UTJ rabbis.
• The Jewish Renewal movement has an ordination program, ALEPH, but no central campus. The ordination of rabbis by this program is highly controversial. Many rabbis with Conservative and Reform Judaism, and some within Reconstructionist Judaism, reject this program as insufficiently rigorous. They advocate that their rabbis not be accepted in professional rabbinic organizations. The Rabbinical Assembly, the body of Conservative rabbis, rejects the validity of this program. All Orthodox groups reject the validity of this organization.
• The Academy for Jewish Religion, in New York City, has, since 1956, been a rabbinic (and cantorial) seminary not affiliated 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. Orthodox Jews are divided on the legitimacy of these seminaries; most consider their ordinations invalid.
• Shema Yisrael Torah Network is an organization that helps Jews from all over the world learn Halacha from the most basic levels up until rabbinical smicha exams that are performed by the Chief Rabbinical office in Jerusalem, Israel