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Updated: 2021.02.15 
Though Orthodox rabbis today still call their ordination סמיכה, from at least the time of the first of the Sho•phᵊt•imꞋ, סמיכה is multiply disconnected through the ages. not equivalent to, and doesn't confer the same authority. Today's rabbinic סמיכה no longer even involves "laying on of hands"!
Ta•lᵊmudꞋ declares that even genealogical continuity, once mixed-up, can never be "unmixed-up." (Ma•sëkꞋët Qi•dush•inꞋ 70b). Scripture documents that, from the death of Yᵊho•shuꞋa Bin-Nun c. BCE 1540, Israel immediately went into chaos for 40 years where everyone did as they pleased. For 8 years, Israel was ruled by Assyria, under imposed Assyrian assimilation.
No continuous סמיכה can be documented even from the inception of the Mi•shᵊkânꞋ – losing custody of the A•ronꞋ ha-Bᵊrit a couple of times – to the Beit ha-Mi•qᵊdâshꞋ hâ-Rish•onꞋ, separated by 6 centuries!
Just one false link breaks and invalidates the entire assumed – fabricated – chain. Yet, from the very first Shō•pheitꞋ, every link after Yᵊho•shuꞋa Bin-Nun is riddled with countless contradictions of archeological hard evidence and contra-historical assumptions. Not one of the claimed segments are, in fact, even internally as connected, much less seamless, as rabbis have claimed, based nakedly on preconceived beliefs, assumed as axiomatic, and wishful thinking.
No continuous סמיכה from Yᵊho•shuꞋa Bin-Nun even reached the first Sho•pheitꞋ! Nor is there any documentation of continuous סמיכה from one Sho•pheitꞋ to the next; nor to the first Nâ•viꞋ, nor from every Nâ•viꞋ to the other; nor to Shᵊmu•eilꞋ ha-Nâ•viꞋ and Dâ•widꞋ ha-MëlꞋëkh c BCE 1075.
Apparently, when the Church felt compelled to rewrite history to corroborate Christianity by fabricating a fictional origin and succession of popes, Jews then felt compelled to defend their traditions by fabricating a competing, but no less fictitious, continuous chain of succession of סמיכה from Mōsh•ëhꞋ to themselves. Thus, in preempting the Church, they claimed to arrogate (i.e. usurp) Mōsh•ëhꞋ's authority.
As a result, power-addicted rabbis since have had the khu•tzᵊp•âhꞋ to contradict both Ta•na"khꞋ and the historical record. Yet, both Ta•na"khꞋ and the historical record concur in demonstrating, ad nauseum, repeated fabricated glosses that merely give the illusion of a chain of continuity from the סמיכה of Mōsh•ëhꞋ to the סמיכה conferred by today's rabbis. In fact, a few leaders from each era, often unconnected to one another and separated by a generation or even a millennium, are glossed over and peddled as an assumed seamless, uninterrupted chain of סמיכה.
The Israelis (Northern 10 Tribes) were forcibly transferred en mass to eastern parts of then-Assyria (later Babylon, modern Iraq) where they were forcibly assimilated into the local population, their identity thereby blotted out and any סמיכה extinguished with them.
The exile of all Jewish leaders of importance, i.e. VIPs, from Yᵊru•shâ•laꞋyim to Bâ•vëlꞋ resulted in nearly 50 years as subjugated exiles under imposed Babylonian assimilation. Ta•na"khꞋ itself documents that, upon returning to Judaea, Babylonian returnees, products of their self-important Babylonian-assimilated Talmudic (later Gâ•ōnꞋic) Academies, imposed their Babylonian assimilations in Judaea by authority of the Babylonian king: reforming to Babylonian month names and reformng the original spring New Year to the Babylonian autumnal New Year – Rōsh ha-Shân•âhꞋ – of Ma•rᵊdukhꞋ. This a•vōd•âhꞋ zâr•âhꞋ is yet another, even more absolute, discontinuity of סמיכה! From the time of the Babylonian-assimilated Talmudic Academies, סמיכה was conferred by every ordained teacher on his tal•mid•imꞋ. This tradition continues as rabbis today still regard these Scripture-contradicting, Babylonian-assimilated Talmudic Academies as absolute, Scripture-overriding, greater than י‑‑ה Authority – the pinnacle of "Jewish" learning from c BCE 589 to 1038 CE.
By the time the Beit ha-Mi•qᵊdâshꞋ ha-Shein•iꞋ was completed, c BCE 516, the hiatus since the previous סמיכה spanned 70 years (BCE 586-16).
The advent of the Hellenic era created new challenges, some to assimilate Hellenism and others to oppose assimilating Hellenism. This came to a head when Yәhō•shuꞋa Bën-Shim•ōnꞋ Jr. Bën-Tzâ•dōq′ ha-Kō•hein′, by the authority of the Seleucid Satrap An•tiꞋ•ŏkh•ŏs ŏ Ëp•i•phan•eisꞋ, ousted his own brother, Yәkhōn•yâh′ Bën-Shim•ōn′ Jr. Bën-Tzâ•dōq′ ha-Kō•heinꞋ ha-Jâ•dōlꞋ as Kō•heinꞋ ha-Jâ•dōlꞋ, thereby delegitimizing both the thence-Hellenist "Temple" and the Kᵊhun•âhꞋ. These Hellenist priests became known as the Tzᵊdōq•imꞋ.
Until after the Hellenization of BCE 167, there were no rabbis (and, therefore, no ordinations of rabbis). So no ordination of any rabbi has ever been a valid sᵊmikh•ōtꞋ!!! Since there was yet another break in 135 CE, there's not even a valid neo-sᵊmikh•ōtꞋ of succession from YaꞋvᵊn•ëh!
Despite all this, many delusionals ("believers") still persist in reciting a children's fable pretending there are no missing links (even while their rabbis recognize that all of today's so-called sᵊmikh•ōtꞋ are mere reform, faux-sᵊmikh•âhꞋ substitutes.
Millennia after the סמיכה of Mōsh•ëhꞋ, rabbinic tradition – begun by the very first Pᵊrush•imꞋ secession from the Biblical Kha•sid•imꞋ c BCE 135 – has fabricated glosses over countless historical gaps (disconnects) to string together a Christian-like myth that supposedly traces a supernatural coursing power conducted through סמיכה from Mōsh•ëhꞋ at Har Sin•aiꞋ to modern rabbis.
By an enormous logical fallacy, Babylonian-assimilated rabbis (or, perhaps, more recently, Dark Ages European-assimilated rabbis) wrongly interpreted that Mōsh•ëhꞋ – magically, superstitiously and supernaturally (i.e., divinely, idolatrously), by his hand (arrogating the exclusive Power of י‑‑ה), "apportioned" a part of Mōsh•ëhꞋ's spirit to Yᵊho•shuꞋa Bin-Nun. As a result, superstitious modern rabbinic סמיכה, worshiping Dark Ages European prayer incantations and supernatural magic amulets that pervert mᵊzuz•ōtꞋ and tᵊphil•inꞋ, are wrongly perceived as a supernatural course of rabbinic power derived from Mōsh•ëhꞋ (citing innumerable intermediaries, rather than directly from י‑‑ה).
To the contrary, the Scriptural account describes י‑‑ה's command to Mōsh•ëhꞋ to ascribe to Yᵊho•shuꞋa Bin-Nun מֵהוֹדְךָ as Mōsh•ëhꞋ וַיְצַוֵּהוּ Yᵊho•shuꞋa Bin-Nun as his successor fellow-servant of י‑‑ה (consider ibid. 27.20 with Dᵊvâr•imꞋ 34.9).
"It was only during the Tanâ•imꞋ period, in the generation after RibꞋi Hi•leilꞋ, that [רבי] was employed as a title for the sages" — exclusively of the Judaean Academies. (The title רַב was used exclusively for the Babylonian-assimilated "sages" of the Diaspora.) "The term [רבי equating to רִבִּי] was first used in reference to the rabbis of the Great (Judean) Συνέδριον during the first century C.E."
In ËrꞋëtz Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ, it also became necessary for the individual teacher having סמיכה to obtain the consent of the Nâ•siꞋ before conferring סמיכה on their tal•mid•imꞋ. סמיכה could only be granted by teachers residing in ËrꞋëtz Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ to tal•mid•imꞋ present in the ËrꞋëtz Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ at the time סמיכה was conferred upon them. On account of the high regard in which the patriarchs of Beit-Hi•leilꞋ were held subsequent to 20 C.E. when the Pᵊrush•imꞋ achieved predominance in the Beit-Din ha-Jâ•dolꞋ, no סמיכה was considered valid without the consent of the Nâ•siꞋ. The Nâ•siꞋ was, at first, permitted to confer it without consulting the Beit-Din ha-Jâ•dolꞋ. Later, the Nâ•siꞋ could only confer סמיכה with the affirmation of the Beit-Din ha-Jâ•dolꞋ. This סמיכה, alone, carried the title RibꞋi.
"After the *Bar-KōkhꞋvâ Revolt (132–35 C.E.), the Roman emperor Hadrian attempted to end the spiritual authority still wielded by the Great (Judean) Συνέδριον, which had been shorn of all government support, by forbidding the granting of סמיכה to new scholars. It was declared that 'whoever performed an ordination should be put to death, and whoever received ordination should be put to death, the city in which the ordination took place demolished, and the boundaries wherein it had been performed uprooted'." Hence, (the already multiply disconnected) סמיכה was displaced, yet again, by a new term introduced in ËrꞋëtz Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ: מִנּוּי – yet another disconnect. In BâvëlꞋ, however, the already multiply disconnected form of סמיכה, with the accompanying title Rav , was retained.
"The appellation of '[רַבִּי]' is therefore never used for the Babylonian Âmōr•âyꞋim since they did not possess [Judaean] סמיכה, [ergo,] they have [instead] the title '[רַב]'. As a result, [and contrary to the later Babylonian-assimilated ōl•imꞋ ], the [early Babylonian] sages [in Exile acknowledged their] dependen[ce] upon their [Judaean] colleagues. 'We submit to them' was the Babylonian [Talmudic Academies'] attitude."
Accordingly, it seems clear that, by 135 C.E., RibꞋi was no longer conferred, adopting a lesser sᵊmikh•âhꞋ and title of Rab•iꞋ , which was then Hellenized among the Romans – and Hellenist Jews – in Greek as ῥαββί – rabbi.
By the 4th century CE, when the Καινής Διαθήκης was compiled, Hellenist Roman-occupier (gentile) Christians, lacking any awareness of the 1st century CE title, RibꞋi, assumed ῥαββί. Ergo, if the language in Mt. 23.7 "probably reflects the fact of its recent introduction," then the 4th century codices point to a later degradation of sᵊmikh•âhꞋ and titles from RibꞋi to ῥαββί. 135 CE, the birth year of RibꞋi YᵊhūdꞋâh ha-Nâ•siꞋ – the most likely year for this degradation – is, yet again, found to be a pivotal year.
When used to specify a person in Ta•lᵊmudꞋ (e.g., "One day, רבי went…," or "a servant in רבי's house…" and the like), רבי refers to רבי (RibꞋi) YᵊhūdꞋâh ha-Nâ•siꞋ (135-219 CE). This should not be confused with רַב, which, when used to specify a person in Ta•lᵊmudꞋ, refers to a ta•lᵊmidꞋ who received sᵊmikh•âhꞋ from one of the Babylonian-assimilated Talmudic Academies in the Exile (Diaspora).
By the 5th century CE, when Ta•lᵊmudꞋ was compiled, the distinction between RibꞋi and RabꞋi had been deliberately blurred by the Babylonian returnees who wielded the authority of the Babylonian king (e.g., displacing Biblical month names with Babylonian-assimilated month names, the Biblical spring New Year with the Babylonian-assimilated autumn New Year of Ma•rᵊdukhꞋ, et al., and insisting that the Babylonian-assimilated sᵊmikh•âhꞋ of רַב – from which ῥαββί derived – was superior to the native YᵊhūdꞋâh sᵊmikh•âhꞋ of רִבִּי). With the primary exception of the Tei•mân•iꞋ community, the native YᵊhūdꞋâh tradition was lost.
EuropeIt was in the Dark Ages that "the rabbi" became–in addition to, or instead of, the interpreter and decisor of Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ –the teacher, preacher, and spiritual head of the Jewish congregation or community.
In modern usage the word "rabbi" in Hebrew has sometimes become the equivalent of "mister." Thus every Jew called up to the reading of the Tor•âhꞋ is invited to do so as "Rabbi So-and-So the son of Rabbi So-and-So," and for the rabbi as spiritual head the title ha-Rav is employed. (Jewish Virtual Library).
Variants like "Rebbe," etc. are modern European (German-Yiddish) assimilation innovations of Ash•kәnazꞋ im Kha•sid•imꞋ or Qabâlist mystics lacking any historical authenticity and such titles are, therefore, to be shunned. (The Tor•âhꞋ teachers called by these historically unauthentic titles may still be upright Rabân•imꞋ .)
In modern usage, by contrast, rabbinic titles "Rav" and "Rabbi" no longer indicate, as they did during the last couple of centuries of the Biblical era, that its bearer is thoroughly acquainted with Ta•na"khꞋ Scripture (Tor•âhꞋ shë-bi•khᵊtâvꞋ). For centuries, the tunnel-visioned focus of rabbis on Ta•lᵊmudꞋ (Babylonian-assimilated rather than Judaean/Yᵊru•sha•lᵊm•iꞋ at that) and more recent interpretations has produced an increasingly exclusivist, Ultra-Orthodox, elitist rabbinic caste blissfully ignorant of, occasionally even brazenly contradicting and overriding, Scripture. In Israel today, רַב denotes an Orthodox teacher of rabbinic rulings, while רַבִּי is generally the appellation for non-Orthodox leaders. See also the exclusively 1st century (pre-70) C.E. ËrꞋëtz Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ title of RibꞋi.
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