Rabbi

{{Judaism}}{{Expand}}

{{cquote|A rabbi would never exaggerate! A rabbi composes, he creates thoughts, he tells stories that may never have happened, but he does ''not'' exaggerate!|||Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, "Like Father, Like Clown", ''The Simpsons''}}

'''Rabbis''' (from the [[Hebrew]] רַבִּי) are the spiritual and community leaders, as well as teachers, in Rabbinic [[Judaism]].  Originally legal scholars and judges in the Temple Judaism periods, they grew out of the legalistic and scholarly [[Pharisee]] movement of Temple Judaism after the [[Roman]] destruction of the Second Temple in 72 CE and the Roman persecution of ordained rabbis during that time period. Over the past two thousand years, rabbis and their social roles have evolved from legal scholars and judges to also include pastoral duties, sermonizing, and other community functions similar to that of a [[Christian]] [[minister]], due to social pressures and norms from Christian cultures.

However, the core function of rabbinical duties has always been and continues to be a scholar, teacher, and adjudicator for the rest of the Jewish population. Rabbinical ordination, called סמיכה‎‎ ''smicha'' (translation: "leaning [of the hands]"),{{efn|Originally done by Moshe Rabbeinu for [[Joshua]] and the 70 elders in [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0427.htm#15 Numbers 27:15-23] and [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0534.htm#9 Deuteronomy 34:9]; there's no indication that they had to undergo the defense aspect of the tradition.}} is done in a master-and-apprentice fashion combined with a doctorate defense — the prospective rabbi must demonstrate that they know the texts and how to interpret them to a quorum of other rabbis in order to earn the title.{{efn|Mishnah Sanhedrin 2a lays out the requirements for the granting of ''smicha''.}} Once the ''smicha'' has been granted, the rabbi is viewed as an authoritative source for questions on Jewish religion, Jewish law, and Jewish observance of those two (although rabbis will typically and frequently consult with other rabbis on difficult questions).

According to Jewish tradition, the chain of rabbinic ''smicha'' is unbroken back to the mythical first rabbi, Moshe Rabbeinu, a.k.a. [[Moses]], although it is highly likely that the present day chain has been broken on multiple occasions between the modern day and its likely origins during the Temple periods. One of the likely breaks involved the above-mentioned Roman persecutions, who were actively hunting the ordained rabbis during the first four centuries CE,{{efn|[[:File:Sanhedrin13b.jpg|Talmud Sanhedrin 14a]] According to the Talmud, which was a primary source to the persecutions, the chain of ''smicha'' was narrowed down to Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava after the Roman persecutions, and he was [[martyr]]ed after ordaining his five students by himself.}} with the explicit goal of breaking the chain of the Jewish Oral Law, knowledge of which was one of the conditions of gaining ''smicha'', and was passed teacher-to-student. During this time period, the remaining rabbis wrote down the entirety of the Oral Law in a compressed form, known as the Mishnah,<ref>[http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/mishnah/ Overview of the Mishnah] ''My Jewish Learning''.</ref> containing rulings and discussions on situations and legal options. This then became the core text of Rabbinic Judaism, with the Gemara "unpacking" the condensed text to explore the rationale behind each ruling, with the two texts combined being referred to as the [[Talmud]].

Education for a rabbi usually focuses on the [[Tanakh]] (the Torah and associated texts) and Talmud, as well as many other texts, opinions, analyses, and other writings accumulated over the last two-and-a-half thousand years. The Talmud, in particular, is viewed as being of particular merit in study, and is typically reviewed repeatedly and continuously throughout a rabbi's life<ref>http://www.dafyomi.org/faq.php</ref><ref group=note>Daf Yomi is a relatively recent (i.e. less than 100 years old) tradition to review one page of the canonized Talmud pages per day, with the complete cycle taking about seven-and-a-half years to complete.</ref> in order to apply new lessons and interpretations to the text. This makes arguing with a rabbi to be an interesting and either frustrating or entertaining experience, as the classic pastime for rabbis is literally reading over a set of two-thousand-year-old religious legal texts and eighty generations of accumulated analysis and argument of those texts, and finding logical ways and comparisons to apply the ancient laws to modern situations.{{efn|Occasionally helped by the imaginations of those ancient scholars, for example, rabbis looking for a precedent to cite regarding [[airplane]]s often find the hypothetical "tower flying through the air" discussed in the [[Babylonian]] Talmud [http://juchre.org/talmud/chagigah/chagigah2.htm#15b Chagigah 15b] to be most helpful.}} Particularly skilled and insightful rabbis are frequently given additional honorifics{{efn|There are many examples of such titled rabbis through Jewish history; a small sample would include [http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/who-was-rashi/ Rashi], [http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/nahmanides-ramban/ Nahmanides], [http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/maimonides-rambam/ Maimonides], and the [http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-hafetz-hayyim/ Chofetz Chaim], to pick a few of the more famous and influential.}} and status{{efn|One of particular note, especially in Orthodox Judaism, is that of ''posek'' (pl. ''poskim''), which simply means "decider" and is viewed as authoritative by other rabbis. {{wpa|Posek}}}} as being exceptional legal scholars — pick an argument with these at one's own risk.

In the modern era, the position of rabbi has been broadened from the traditional male-only, with Reformed, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements all embracing female rabbis, while even the more conservative Orthodox movement beginning to accept female rabbis, though the status of woman rabbis remains an ongoing debate within the larger Jewish community. There is progress even in the more restrictive Orthodox movement, in this regard, with the recent granting of ''smicha'' to women rabbis by the Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel, beginning in 2009, although the focus of that institute is explicitly the training of rabbi-teachers, not "pulpit rabbis".<ref>Jan 10, 2008 23:50 | Updated Jan 13, 2008 8:48|Jewishworld.Jpost.Com Hartman Institute to ordain women rabbis</ref>

Despite surface similarities with Christian priests, rabbis are not the priests of Judaism; that status is restricted to specific bloodlines within the Jewish community, known as Kohanim (singular: kohen), ostensibly in direct patrilineal descent from Moses' brother Aaron.<ref>[http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/kohanim-jewish-priests/ What are Kohenim?]</ref> Interestingly, there is a degree of [[genetic]] evidence for the claim of common ancestry among this group; genetic analysis shows a distinct common ancestor among a majority of those with the status of kohen, called y-chromosomal Aaron.<ref>({{wpa|Y-chromosomal Aaron}})</ref> However, in modern Judaism, the primary functions of kohanim are strictly ceremonial, when recognized at all, mostly involving fulfilling certain roles during [[prayer]],<ref>[http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/ask-the-expert-jewish-priests/ Ask The Expert: Jewish Priests]</ref> and many kohanim are not rabbis (although there is no reason or barrier for a kohen to not train as one).

==Notes==
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==References==
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