Before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Rabbi Aharon Mendel HaKohen indefatigably promoted a program of reconvening the Sanhedrin and resuming semikha – the historical form of rabbinical ordination that entailed “laying of hands.” Holding a rabbinical post in Cairo, he observed a diminishing status of the community rabbi, caused, he thought, by the growing Zionist idea. To restore rabbinic power, he wished to establish an association of rabbis that would serve as a Jewish authority for the election of the Sanhedrin and the resumption of semikha. By examining Rabbi Mendel’s view, along with those of other rabbis of his age, including Rabbi Mordechai HaKohen and Rabbi Eliyahu Bechor Chazan, this article provides an important perspective on a central issue of the period of the emergence and growth of Zionist ideology.

中文翻译：

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现代时期召开公会和恢复塞米哈的两种途径

1948 年以色列建国之前，拉比阿伦·门德尔·哈科恩 (Rabbi Aharon Mendel HaKohen) 不知疲倦地推动了重新召集公会和恢复公会的计划。塞米哈– 拉比任命的历史形式需要“按手”。他在开罗担任拉比职务，他观察到社区拉比的地位不断下降，他认为这是由于犹太复国主义思想的兴起造成的。为了恢复拉比的权力，他希望建立一个拉比协会，作为犹太公会选举和恢复犹太教的权威。塞米哈。通过研究孟德尔拉比以及他那个时代的其他拉比，包括拉比 Mordechai HaKohen 和拉比 Eliyahu Bechor Chazan 的观点，本文为犹太复国主义意识形态出现和发展时期的一个中心问题提供了一个重要的视角。