A growing backlog in the Chief Rabbinate has left candidates for rabbinical ordination exams waiting more than a year and a half for their grades. The problem affects avrekhim, including students in religious-Zionist kollelim and reservists, who took the tests at the start of last winter and in spring last year and still have no results.
The exams in question are the prestigious dayanut, or rabbinical judge, track. Passing four exams qualifies a candidate to compete for a seat as a rabbinical court judge, although many take them without seeking an official post. Preparation usually takes about 10 years and requires mastery of a very large body of halakhic literature. The delay concerns the first four written exams, including three on sections of Choshen Mishpat, one on Even HaEzer, plus additional tests on drafting rulings and an oral interview before a rabbinical panel.
According to checks with the Chief Rabbinate's examinations division, no one was found to grade the exams, and a solution identified months ago has not yet been implemented. Until recently, only serving or retired judges could grade these tests, but in recent years it has been hard to find people willing to devote the time to lengthy and detailed papers. About eight months ago, the Rabbinate proposed allowing legal assistants to judges to grade them, after some candidates had already been waiting a year for scores, but no tender has yet been issued for potential graders to apply.
Candidates told Yedioth Ahronoth the situation shows contempt for examinees and for Torah scholars. They said some people have finished the exam and still do not know whether they passed, after years of preparation. They also said that if they must retake the test, they will have to start over because so much time has passed. Although the Rabbinate set a deadline of 120 business days from the exam date to issue grades, the promise has not been kept, and each candidate paid 600 shekels per exam in advance. The Chief Rabbinate did not respond.
