Rabbi

Rabbi, Rabbinate (Heb., ‘my master’). Hence ‘Rabbinic Judaism’. Jewish learned man who has received ordination (see SEMIKHAH). The term rabbi was not used as a title until the time of Hillel. In Talmudic times, this was not granted outside Erez Israel, so that the Babylonian sages bore the title of ‘Rav’. During this period rabbis were interpreters and expounders of the scriptures and oral law. It was not until the Middle Ages that a rabbi became the spiritual leader of a particular Jewish community. Originally rabbis were not paid. By the 14th cent. there is evidence of payment, not for teaching the law, but as compensation for loss of time taken up with rabbinical duties. In order to serve, the Ashkenazim in particular insisted that rabbis should have a diploma of Semikhah; and his duties were laid down in a letter of appointment (ketav rabbanut). As community leader, he was asked to give responsa on legal problems and ambiguities, and to serve in Jewish courts; later, in E. Europe, the office was frequently combined with that of ‘rosh yeshivah’ (head of the yeshivah). Nowadays the role of the rabbi varies from community to community. Among Reform congregations, he (and since 1972 possibly she) performs a function analogous to that of a Christian minister. The Orthodox rabbi has also taken on these duties, but has retained his role as legal consultant and interpreter of the written and oral law.