Wolf: Do you call Jackie Mason, Rabbi Jackie Mason?
Good question… I probably wouldn’t, simply because he doesn’t refer to himself that way.
Wolf: the classic ordained rabbanim who went off the d were Elisha Ben Abuya and Jesus.
Were either of them actually ordained? I don’t seem to recall ever seeing any evidence of that. Of Jesus, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have any. Of Elisha, is it possible that he became a heretic before ordination (much as Ben Azzai and Ben Zoma went insane/died before ordination)?
he latter was either an ordinary mamzer
And where is it written that a mamzer can’t achieve semicha? It’s true he can’t sit in the Sanhedrin, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t acheive semicha.
The Wolf