Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

“The seminary's form 990 was reviewed and signed by an independent accounting firm based on a draft return prepared by the seminary's finance department and director of tax. The draft return was reviewed by the seminary's chief financial officer and in-house general counsel. The final version of the form 990 was made available to the board of trustees via a secure web site prior to filing with the internal revenue service. The form 990, as filed, is made available to the public in accordance with internal revenue service rules and regulations.”

“The seminary's conflict of interest policy applies to all members of the seminary's board of trustees and board committees, its officers and key employees, and to select employees of the seminary as designated by the general counsel (collectively, the "covered persons"). The policy provides that covered persons are to act at all times in a manner consistent with their responsibilities to the seminary and avoid circumstances in which their financial or other ties to outside entities could present an actual, potential or apparent conflict of interest or impair the seminary's reputation. Further, all covered persons are not to engage in business with the seminary. In the case of a rare exception, a governance committee has been established to review the facts and, if it is in the seminary's best interests, approve such exceptions. Conflict waiver requests considered by the committee, whether or not approved, are reported to the board of trustees. Questions as to whether a transaction constitutes an "related party" transaction with respect to covered persons are resolved by the governance committee and the president in consultation with the general counsel. Covered persons are required to complete, sign and submit to the general counsel an annual disclosure statement; to promptly notify the general counsel of any change in the information previously reported on such person's disclosure statement; and to furnish supplemental information and/or confirm the continued accuracy of the current disclosure statement, if requested by the general counsel. The board, in consultation with the general counsel, has the authority to address non-compliance with the disclosure requirements or any other provision of the conflict of interest policy; and may recommend the removal of such non-complying covered person or other appropriate sanction. In addition, a covered person who believes a current, pending or proposed transaction would constitute a related party transaction or otherwise constitute an actual, potential or apparent conflict of interest, is required to promptly disclose to the general counsel and to the chair of each board and committee of which the covered person is a member, the existence of the conflict (or appearance of conflict) and other material information that the covered person may have regarding the transaction. New covered persons are provided with a copy of the conflict of interest policy and disclosure statement. The details of the policy and its requirements are reviewed with them. The general counsel maintains a database of interests of covered persons and a system for monitoring current, pending and proposed transactions for potential interested transactions based on the disclosures made in each covered person's annual disclosure statement and any periodic updates submitted pursuant to the policy. In addition to the conflict of interest policy above for covered persons, seminary employees are also subject to additional conflict of interest reporting requirements as set forth in the university employee handbook.”

“The seminary does not currently make its governing documents, conflict of interest policy or audited financial statements available to the public. The seminary does make its form 990 available to the public in accordance with internal revenue service rules and regulations.”

“The average hours per week listed for the officers, key employees and highest paid employees represents the seminary's official work week. However, in practice, such individuals work significantly more hours per week and are expected to be available for university business at all times other than the sabbath and the jewish holidays.”

“In addition to the board members who serve without compensation, the seminary utilizes many volunteers in the conduct of its activities. However, it does not track the number of these volunteers.”

“For more than a century, the rabbi isaac elchanan theological seminary (riets or the seminary) has been the western hemisphere's leading center for torah learning and training for the rabbinate, providing an unsurpassed educational experience in the classic mold of the great yeshivot. Embodying the historic concept of torah lishmah - learning for its own sake - and a responsiveness to community needs, riets is a deep fount of jewish knowledge and a preeminent source of rabbinic leadership for the next generation and beyond. The seminary has trained approximately 2,800 of the world's most distinguished orthodox rabbis, scholars and teachers. With their rich grounding in the full spectrum of our hallowed tradition, graduates assume a broad range of leadership roles in the community while ensuring the perpetuation of jewish scholarship. Firmly set in the emphasis on the talmud, codes and halakhah (jewish law), the seminary has developed programs to meet the communal and personal needs of our time and place, including business ethics, bioethics and technology, with the unique ambience of intellectual and spiritual exploration that has always characterized the great academies of jewish learning in the past. The rabbi joseph b. Soloveitchik semikhah program provides four postcollege years of intensive study of talmud, classical commentaries, codes and responsa literature, complemented by preparation for day to day aspects of the rabbinate. The rabbinic professional education program ensures success in a rabbinic career through a curriculum of public speaking, pastoral psychology, leadership training, counseling, homiletics, and current jewish community issues, supplemented by advanced coursework in education, rabbinate/pulpit and community/lay leadership. The irving i. Stone rabbinic internship program provides pulpit and educational internships in schools, synagogues and other agencies. The semikhah program leads to a semikhah yoreh yoreh. Upon completing all the requirements, students are issued a semikhah klaf, the traditional ordination certificate handwritten by a sofer. Semikhah yadin yadin, an advanced ordination that qualifies rabbis as poskim is offered through an intensive postgraduate program following traditional ordination. Riets' kollel (institutes of advanced learning) programs serve scholars of exceptional promise who wish to devote all of their academic energies to areas of talmud and halakhah. Each of riets' kollel programs is designed for students with distinct career goals, whether in jewish education, the rabbinate, jewish scholarship or other pursuits. Riets' kollel programs include: the marcus and adina katz kollel for intense study for prospective teachers and rabbinic scholars; the rabbi norman lamm kollel l'hora'ah (yadin yadin) trains outstanding scholars to fill the role of poskim (decisors of jewish law); the ludwig jesselson chaver kollel (lay leader) for those with a background in talmud but planning to enter professions other than the rabbinate; the bella and harry wexner kollel elyon and semikhah honors program, a kollel for post-semikhah (ordination) scholars combining intensive torah learning with courses in professional skills such as pastoral psychology, business ethics, communications and conflict resolution; the post-semikhah rabbi jacob h. Kupietzky memorial program for the study of kodshim (religious service within the temple in jerusalem); the israel henry beren institute for higher talmudic studies, a kollel that provides post-rabbinic training for future roshei yeshiva (teachers of talmud and torah); and the yu riets israel kollel at yeshiva university's caroline and joseph gruss institute in jerusalem which offers year-long programs of study for chaver, semikha and post-semikhah students. Riets' jacob e. Safra institute of sephardic studies together with the sephardic community program offers courses, lectures, and academic conferences and cultural events on campus and within the communit”

“The compensation of all employees earning in excess of a specified threshold salary level, as well as the seminary's dean, is reviewed by yeshiva university's compensation committee of its board of trustees. Yeshiva university is affiliated with the seminary. The independent members of the committee conduct a detailed review and approval of such compensation utilizing comparability data from third party salary surveys, form 990 salary disclosures from other organizations, and/or compensation studies prepared by an independent third party consulting firm. Contemporaneous documentation of the committee's deliberation and decisions are made a part of the committee's written minutes.”

“The seminary authorizes yeshiva university to be its common pay agent federal and state employment tax reporting and paying purposes. Accordingly, yeshiva university files all of the seminary's employment tax returns with the irs and new york, including forms w-2 and w-3. In addition, since yeshiva university performs the accounts payable and procurement functions on behalf of the seminary, yeshiva files forms 1099 and 1096 on behalf of the seminary. Accordingly, the seminary's form 990, part v, question 1a is reported as zero even though the seminary reports its own independent contractors on part vii, section b.”

“For the reporting period, the seminary had a change in net assets of $(108,011) related to a prior year transfer to yeshiva university of a donor advised fund that is now administered by yeshiva university in accordance with the donor agreement.”