Rabbis are often viewed as klei kodesh (holy vessels). They are instruments for transmitting the sacredness of the Jewish tradition through contact with others, rather than "holy people" set aside from others. Klei kodesh are endowed with attributes enabling them to transform that which comes in contact with them. These qualities are forges in the fires of Torah study; they emerge from serious struggles with God and tradition.

Men and women can become authentic rabbis only if they possess a profound measure of yirat HaShem (far of God) that compels them to accept their ultimate responsibility to God. Yirat HaShem imbues a rabbi with humility, inspiring sensitivity to the needs of God's creations. Only through such a deep and abiding commitment to God and Torah can a rabbi inspire his or her community and find sufficient personal resources to sustain a lifetime of idealism in Jewish service, often in the face of apathy and resistance.

I understand rabbinic education as the training of qualified men and women to become klei kodesh with the ability to transform those with whom they will have contact, whether in congregations, schools, camps, chaplaincies, organizations, educational settings or on college campuses. I take as my manual for rabbinic education the sixth mishnah of the braita of Rabbi Meir. The entire braita is called Kinyan Torah (the acquiring of Torah) and is best known as the sixth chapter of Pirkei Avot. Rabbi Shmuel Uceda draws a parallel between Kinyan Torah and "acquiring of rabbinic leadership" in his commentary Midrash Shmuel.

On Becoming A Rabbi

The mishnah teaches that the rabbinate is acquired through 48 acts (devarim), which together provide the qualities that earn a man or woman the recognition by the community as Rabbi. Of the 48, there are five that speak to me most powerfully from my own experiences as a rabbi.

First one becomes a rabbi b'limud (through study). Study should blend traditional texts and commentaries with critical scholarship. Authentic rabbinic education must reflect the faith that the wisdom of the past can offer insights that reveal the voice of God today. That same faith inspires the belief that the texts of today and tomorrow will continue to enhance our understanding of Torah.

Where one studies to become a rabbi is as important as what one studies. Jewish spiritual leadership cannot be cultivated today without grappling with the impact of the State of Israel on Jewish identity and Jewish destiny. A year of rabbinic study in Israel allows future rabbis to encounter issues of Israel, the diaspora and the connection between the two.

Qualities of the rabbi are acquired b'arikhat s'fatayim (through "ordering the lips," or effective speech). Through sensitive listening to the needs, fears and joys of others, the rabbi earns trust and respect. In small group seminars where, under the guidance ok skilled facilitators, students probe issues of faith and observance, they learn to listen to their peers; through interning in hospitals, sharing time with the ages, feeding people with AIDS and staffing homeless shelters, they learn to listen to others; by working in synagogues, schools, youth programs, camps and universities, future rabbis learn how to listen to an communicate with Jews of all ages.

The rabbi must also seek to be ahuv (beloved). A rabbi becomes beloved by acting in kindly ways that earn love. Accordingly, rabbinic education must prepare individuals to attend to the needs of those who would call them rabbi. They must be ready to celebrate healing and visit the sick; to sanctify birth and to comfort the mourners, to rejoice at s'makhot and to console the lonely. One is recognized as a rabbi for guiding others in their search for truth, meaning, peace, and wholeness. It is through the privilege of being involved in the lives of others and deepening their appreciation for Jewish life that a rabbi finds the fulfillment he or she sought in entering the rabbinate.

One becomes a rabbi b'kabbalat yisurim (by accepting adversity). Midrah Shmuel offers the insight that one who desires to be a rabbi must anticipate resistance to his or her religious leadership as a reality and accept this change willingly. Leadership training is essential so the rabbi can encounter resistance and criticism and view it as an opportunity for dialogue rather than as reason for discouragement. Rabbis must be prepared to champion the norms, values, beliefs and commitments that define the relationship as defined by mitzah certainly cuts against the grain of today's society (as Steven Carte noted in The Culture of Disbelief).

Kabbalat yisurim is particularly important for the Conservative rabbi, who must articulate clearly the boundaries of Jewish life for a generation that outwardly resists boundaries, but simultaneously seeks to satisfy a hunger for traditional Jewish experience. Clashes are inevitable. Turning these tensions into opportunities for discovery of the sacred in God's teachings is the challenge.

Still, I believe Jews, young and old, will search most urgently for a rabbi who will transmit by word and by deed a love for the teachings that have sanctified Jewish lives throughout the generations.

I am privileged to observe rabbinical students at the Seminary in their formative experiences. Each day I take encouragement from their enthusiasm for the anticipated privilege of being rabbis. I am optimistic that they, like those who came before, will possess the commitment, vision and skill to inspire a dramatic renewal in Jewish life.