On December 11, 2001, 94 graduates - the largest in SIJS history - received degrees at the 14th Ordination and Commencement Exercises of the Schechter Institute. In a packed hall that included members of the SIJS Board of Governors, in Jerusalem for the institute's 16th annual board meeting, Prof. Itzhak Zamir, respected jurist and retired Supreme Court Justice, and Mr. Stef Wertheimer, industrialist and builder of the Galilee, received JTS honorary doctorate degrees. Eighty-four M.A. degrees in Jewish Studies and two D.H.L. degrees were conferred. Eight Masorti rabbis were ordained -also a record-breaking number.