Rabbinical exam candidates wait more than a year and a half for grades amid scoring crisis

Candidates who took the Chief Rabbinate’s rabbinical ordination exams, including students in national-religious yeshivot and reserve soldiers, have been waiting more than 18 months for their grades. The exams are among the most demanding in the rabbinical system and require roughly 10 years of preparation and wide-ranging study of halakhic literature.

According to checks with the Rabbinate’s examinations division, the problem has lasted for the past two years and has prevented results from being issued for candidates who sat the tests in early winter and the following spring. The delay concerns four main written exams, three on different sections of Choshen Mishpat and one on Even HaEzer.

Under the rules, these exams may be graded only by a sitting or retired judge, but in recent years it has become difficult to find judges willing to spend the time needed to review the detailed papers. About eight months ago, the Chief Rabbinate proposed a fix, allowing legal assistants to judges to also grade the exams, but the official tender that would let potential graders apply has still not been published. As a result, the solution has not been implemented and the backlog continues.

Some candidates told Yedioth Ahronoth that the situation shows contempt for examinees and for Torah scholars. They said the prolonged uncertainty, unlike the 120 business-day deadline set for grading, means they have carried the stress for a year or more. They also noted that they paid 600 shekels per exam in advance for production and grading, but still have not received what they paid for.