Rabbi

A rabbi (/ˈræbaɪ/ ^ⓘ; Hebrew: רַבִּי, romanized: rabbī, IPA: [ʁəbːi]) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. A person becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as semikhah—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts, including the Tanakh, Midrash, Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmud, Halakha, and rabbinic commentaries thereon. The basic form of the rabbi developed between the Second Temple (167 BCE–73 CE)—being heavily influenced by the Pharisees—and Rabbinic periods (70–640 CE), when learned teachers—overlapping with the Tannaim, Amoraim, Savoraim, and early Geonim—assembled to codify Judaism's written and oral laws. The title "rabbi" was first used in the first century CE. In more recent centuries, the duties of a rabbi became increasingly influenced by the duties of the Protestant Christian minister, hence the title "pulpit rabbis." Further, in 19th-century Germany and the United States, rabbinical activities such as delivering sermons, pastoral counseling, and representing the community to the outside all increased in importance.

Within the various Jewish denominations, there are different requirements for rabbinic ordination, and differences in opinion regarding who is recognized as a rabbi. Non-Orthodox movements, including Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, and Jewish Renewal, have set their requirements for semikhah based on what they consider halakhic reasons (as in Conservative Judaism) and ethical reasons (as in Reform and Reconstructionist) Judaism).

The word comes from the Mishnaic Hebrew construct רְבִּי rǝbbī, meaning 'Master [Name]'; the standard Hebrew noun is רב rav 'master'. Rav is also used as a title for rabbis, as are rabbeinu ('our master') and ha-rav ('the master'). A derived term is rebbe.

The Hebrew root in turn derives from the Semitic root ר-ב-ב‎ (R-B-B), which in Biblical Aramaic means 'great' in many senses, including 'revered', but appears primarily as a prefix in construct forms. Although the usage rabim 'many' (as 1 Kings 18:25, הָרַבִּים) 'the majority', 'the multitude' occurs for the assembly of the community in the Dead Sea Scrolls, there's no evidence to support an association of this use with the later title "rabbi". The root is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning 'lord' (generally used when talking about God, but also about temporal lords), and to the Syriac word ܪܒܝ rabi.

Some communities, especially Sephardic and Yemenite Jews, historically pronounced the title רִבִּי rībbī; this pronunciation competed with רְבִּי rǝbbī and רַבִּי rabbī in Ashkenaz until the modern period.

"Rabbi" is not an occupation found in the Hebrew Bible, and ancient generations did not apply related titles such as rabban, rabbi, or rav for either the Babylonian sages or the sages in Israel. For example, Hillel I and Shammai (the religious leaders of the early first century) had no rabbinic title prefixed to their names. The titles "rabban" and "rabbi" are first mentioned in Jewish literature in the Mishnah. Rabban was first used for Rabban Gamaliel the Elder, Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel (his son), and Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, all of whom were patriarchs or presidents of the Sanhedrin in the first century. Early recipients of the title rabbi include Rabbi Zadok and Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob, beginning in the time of the disciples of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai. The title "Rabbi" (the Greek transliteration of ῥαββί) occurs in the Christian books of Matthew, Mark, and John in the New Testament, in which it is used—sometimes negatively—in reference to the "Scribes and Pharisees" as well as to Jesus.

According to some,^{[weasel words]} the title "rabbi" or "rabban" was first used after 70 CE to refer to Yohanan ben Zakkai and his students, and references in Rabbinic texts and the New Testament to rabbis earlier in the 1st century are anachronisms or retroactive honorifics. Other scholars^{[like whom?]} believe that the term "rabbi" was a well-known informal title by the beginning of the first century CE, and thus that the Jewish and Christian references to rabbis reflect the titles used in this period.

The governments of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were based on a system that included the Jewish kings; the Jewish prophets; the legal authority of the high court of Jerusalem, the Great Sanhedrin; and the ritual authority of the priesthood (כֹּהֲנִים, kōhănīm). Members of the Sanhedrin had to receive their ordination through an unbroken line of transmission from Moses; however, instead of being called "rabbis", they were referred to as "priests" or "scribes", like Ezra, who is called in the Hebrew Bible "Ezra the priest-scribe, a scholar in matters concerning GOD's commandments and laws to Israel"(Ezra 7:11, Revised JPS Edition). "Rabbi" as a title does not appear in the Hebrew Bible, though later Rabbinic sources occasionally use it as a title for wise biblical figures, as in tractate Pirkei Avot 6:3.