Kuntres ha-semikhah (Notebook on Ordination)
Levi Ibn Ḥabib
1538
This is a short essay on the debate concerning practical halakhic issues that took place between the sages of Safed and those of Jerusalem wherein the sages of Safed saw fit to implement the ruling stated by our master, R. Moses Maimonides in his commentary to the Mishnah of Tractate Sanhedrin, and laid down in chapter 4 of his halakhot, i.e., that the sages of the Land of Israel may confer ordination, even if they themselves are not ordained. They ordained the greatest among them, the great sage R. Jacob Berab, and sent to us, the residents of Jerusalem, the letter recording their concurrence, which commences: “Behold, this people of God, etc.”
And they conferred ordination upon me, Levi, son of our master, R. Jacob Ibn Ḥabib, a Jerusalemite, too, out of their exceeding perfection and humility, sending me a letter conferring ordination through the very agent delivering their aforesaid letter, written on behalf and with the concurrence of them all, and signed by the sage.
Now, when I perceived, on cursory examination, that this ordination possessed no legal force, I sent them back a reply—a lengthy tract to hinder their endeavor, beginning: “I have seen the letter, etc.” Moreover, the sage who initiated the matter, before seeing my aforesaid tract, had himself composed one endorsing the act of ordination, commencing: “Since, etc.,” which came into my possession, to which I penned my tract in refutation, which begins: “This too I do seek, etc.” But in due course, my original tract reached the sage, whereupon he wrote another in refutation, commencing: “It being the case that, etc.”—in response to which I penned my tract that starts: “Behold, I have now set forth my case, etc.” And may the God of Judgment not enter into judgment with us for having introduced extraneous matters [into our controversy] without justification; and may Zion be redeemed with justice speedily in our days, and thrones for judgment be established there—thrones for the House of David. Amen!
Herewith the text of the letter of the rabbis of Safed and their endorsement [of ordination] which was sent to us, signed by them, whereby—owing to their exceeding perfection and humility—they left us with power to affirm with our signatures in person:
Lo! A unique nation, the people of the covenantal oath, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, established as head [of the nations] since before the earth existed, unto which the nations seek, wondering: “Whence come our governors and rulers?”—judges and officials who rule over the people in praise, in fame and in glory. And now that they have transgressed the laws, God’s wrath has been kindled against His people, and He has broken forth against them—one calamity upon another—leaving them bereft of king or prince, mighty man or warrior in the battle of Torah, those wise in heavenly mysteries and those discerning in respect of [supernatural] charms have pined away because of our iniquity, for it is great! And the Almighty’s people are scattered abroad and dispersed; we have all strayed like sheep, each man turning toward his own path, and our iniquities have daily increased in utmost measure. The crown upon our head has fallen; it has been pierced to the ground; no longer is there a prophet teaching righteousness or one who can judge cases involving financial penalties or advise a wicked man of his defects; and, when an individual is close to returning to God, he will say to himself: “Why should I toil in vain? What profit is there if I fast and go about mournfully and receive the maximum of forty lashes when this will be powerless to exempt me from my penalty of excommunication, and my sin will remain constantly before me and my shame will never be erased?” This has been a stumbling block within our nation, impeding their return to the Almighty, and inducing them to adhere to their folly and backsliding ways, and to seal up the gates of repentance. And who is he and where is he, going by the name of Israel and relying upon Israel’s God, proclaiming: “I am for the Lord!” who can restrain himself concerning this matter and whose eyes do not shed tears that the Lord’s people has descended to the gates? And now, almost in a flash, favor has been shown us by the Lord our God, in leaving us a remnant and preserving us to this day; and He has raised us up from the tumultuous pit of exiles and annihilations that have been intertwined and landed upon our necks in the gentile lands, and has brought us unto His chosen place and unto the city upon which His name is called—and granted us a foothold in His holy place.
Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, we have arisen and stood upright—we, the youngest of the flock upon the sacred soil—to act zealously for the Almighty’s honor—for how profaned it is! No one calls in righteousness, returning wholeheartedly unto the Lord, and no one contends in a trustworthy manner. And we said, each man to his brother: “Be strong, and let us strengthen ourselves on behalf of our people and the cities of our God; and let us raise the banner of the Torah that has been cast down to the ground for so long and been trampled upon in the streets.”
Accordingly, we have selected the greatest in wisdom among us, the perfect sage, the great master, our teacher, R. Berab, to be ordained and appointed head of the talmudic academy; and he shall be called “Rabbi” and be the presiding head of the other sages among us, alongside him, who shall be called “Rabbis”; and they shall be ordained in perpetuity, implementing the laws of the Torah in truth and uprightness, judging the powerful; and if any evil individual deserves a beating, he shall be brought before them and they shall administer lashes to him in accordance with the Torah, in a manner commensurate with his pain threshold; and he will thereby be released from his penalty of excision, and will draw close to God on High—and, moreover, this entire nation shall come to its place in peace.
And this deed of righteousness and peace has been performed primarily for the redemption of our souls; and as we are a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord and a royal crown in the hand of our God, He will, in His mercy, cause His Divine Presence to extend over our handiwork and fulfill the word of His servant: “And I shall restore your judges as at first and your counselors as at the beginning, after which you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness, the faithful city.’ Amen! Amen!”
Here the letter ended, there being roughly about twenty-five signatories, all the great ones among them in prime position, and beneath them the remaining associates and students.
Text of my second tract explaining the invalidity of the letter and in refutation of its attached proofs, their being totally entangled in the thicket of errors upon which it is based:
This too do I seek for the House of Jacob, regarding the subject of the rabbinic ordination “in the heart of the Rabbis of Safed” which was prepared “in a spirit of counsel and understanding” and proper intent “to restore the Crown to its pristine glory.” And when they correctly perceived that it did not accord with halakhah, a few of their elders and great men retracted, and especially, when they saw that we, the youngest of the flock of Jerusalem, did not concur with it, by reason of the elaborate proofs adduced by us—and, from the outset, they too had never contemplated endorsing it unless we concurred with them—I thought that the matter had been laid to rest, relegated to the past, until I heard that the rabbi whom they sought to ordain, desiring elevation to greatness and pursuit of dominion, still adheres to his ordination and proceeds in accordance with his view—and has ordained others. And I have, moreover, seen a tract composed by him validating his aforesaid ordination to the point where he considers that it possesses sufficient force to enable him to ordain others. But not only is there insufficient force behind his words in that tract to validate the aforesaid ordination, but, on the contrary, it is invalidated by his very own words, as I shall explain, with the help of the One Who decrees, assists, and grants succor.
Now it is clear to anyone seeing the wording of my original tract how careful I was about the honor of the sage of perfect character; and indeed I augmented such honor, but did not derogate from it, nor did I breach the bounds of respect—this being how I intended to react to everything he said always; but I now fear that the words of my tract and the manner in which his reasoning is expressed in writing will not permit me to do so—whether because of the novel interpretations offered by him, never dreamt of by our ancestors and holy Rabbis, or of what he asserted about our statements—[of] the Jerusalemites—i.e., that they were erroneous, and especially because of what he wrote against the perfect sage, our teacher, R. Moses de Castro, being most disrespectful toward him without any justification. That outrage shattered my heart and no breath remained within me; and if, on that account, I step out of line and deviate from my straight path, the fault is his! He is the cause; it is he who has kindled the fire of anger and fury, who has “added to the bonfire.” But I shall nonetheless control my temper and exercise care in my speech to the best of my ability—according due honor to age and expertise in Torah. And I shall request the Most High and revered One, Who covers Himself with light as with a garment, to enlighten my eyes with the light of the commandments. [ . . . ]
I have wondered about this since from the time of the expulsion and the apostasy in Spain; I have continually been dispensing halakhic rulings in Israel and been the teacher of five thousand Jewish households in Fez, as is universally acknowledged, being then eighteen years old and still without a beard; and there were great sages there! But despite my being hungry and thirsty and lacking everything, I always followed the way of the Almighty and became absorbed in the Torah. Accordingly, I know for certain that, from the perspective of holiness, anyone hearing this will say: “Ordain for us all of this type, etc.”; and, God be praised, my name has never altered; if they call me “Rabbi” now, they called me “Rabbi” then, for this is my permanent title. And regarding the other conditions [for ordination], it is inappropriate for me to elaborate upon these, but assuredly we do not ordain in reliance upon the holy ones now buried in the earth, but rather upon those appointed [spiritual guides] in our generation. In conclusion, I have constantly endeavored that no letter, from aleph to tav, should complain about me, i.e., that the Divine Name has not been desecrated through me in respect of any of the letters [of the alphabet], so that they will never ascend to heaven to complain about me.
Translated by
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Credits
Levi Ibn Ḥabib, “Kuntres ha-semikhah (Notebook on Ordination)” (manuscript, Jerusalem,1538). Published in: Levi ben Ḥabib, Sefer She’elot u-teshuvot Maharalbaḥ (Jerusalem: Mekhon keren re’em, 2008), pp. 1–2, 22–23.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.
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