ḥaver

views updated May 18 2018

Ḥaver or ḥaber (Heb., ‘member, companion’). Member of a group which observed the Jewish laws of tithing and heave-offering. The laws of membership date back at least to the 1st cent. BCE, and differ according to the schools of Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai. Later, in the geonic (see GAON) period, the term was used to describe important scholars, who were God-fearing but not sufficiently learned to be ordained as rabbis.

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