When did biblical Semicha become extinct?[1]
The conventional approach is that it became extinct sometime within the Talmudic era due to government decrees which gave a penalty of death for those who gave Semicha.[2] However, the Rebbe explains, and proves, that in truth it only became completely extinct much later on in the times of the early Rishonim.[3] The Rebbe explains that while Biblical Semicha did become rare within the Talmudic era, nonetheless, it still existed as an anomaly up until the Rishonic period of the Rif.
[1] See Pesakim Uteshuvos 242:16; See regarding the general concept of Biblical Semicha: Sanhedrin 2b; Rambam Sanhedrin 4
[2] See Sanhedrin 14a [Five major Tanaim getting Semicha from Rav Yehuda Ben Bava]; Ramban Sefer Hamitzvos Asei 153 [Semicha ended with Rebbe Hillel son on Yehuda Nesia in year 4118, which is 357 ACE]; Sefer Hazechus on Rif Gittin 4; Tashbeitz in Zohar HaRakia 54; Chasam Sofer O.C. 203; Beis Efraim O.C. 51
[3] Rebbe in Toras Menachem 5745 1 p. 465-480 based on Ran, Ritva and Milchamos Hashem of Ramban Rosh Hashanha 4 that the Rif blew Shofar on Rosh Hashanah that fell on Shabbos;
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