Akiva's Semichah

A couple once came to Rav Shlomo Zalman to ask about placing their son, who had special needs, in an institution. He asked what the boy himself thought, and they admitted they had never thought to ask him. Rav Shlomo Zalman was upset. He said they were about to take the boy out of his home and put him in an unfamiliar place with a strict routine, and that the boy needed encouragement, not a sense of being betrayed.

He asked to see the boy and asked his name. “Akiva,” the boy said. Rav Shlomo Zalman told him that his own name was Shlomo Zalman, that many people ask him for guidance, and that Akiva was going to a special school. He asked Akiva to be his representative there and to look after all the religious matters of his new home.

Then he gave the boy semichah, telling him that he was now a rabbi and asking him to use this honor wisely. Akiva stared at him, and his parents sat amazed.