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Rabbi
[Hebrew, rabi = my master] - A scholar who is
an expert in the Scriptures and religious questions. A rabbi is a
yeshiva graduate who has been issued a smicha [Hebrew, authorization]
upon completion of his studies, which grants the right to teach and
decide disputes of a religious nature regarding Jewish law.
A rabbi was the religious leader of a Community, and one of its
officials. Formally employed by the Community, he would have a variety
of functions. He would sign and confirm Community laws, monitor whether
elections for Community offices were being carried out properly, head
the Jewish court, officiate at marriage ceremonies, put curses (cherem)
on people, and supervise teaching in the school; sometimes he was also
the director of the yeshiva.
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His opinion was decisive in disputes. Many
Communities tried to restrict the rabbi's power, for example through
decrees that they be hired for a period of only six years. Rabbis were
paid from Community coffers, and in the seventeenth century, this
amounted to approximately eight to ten zlotys a week. They also received
other benefits, such as a free place to live and, often, exemption from
taxes. They earned money from officiating at marriages, divorces and
funerals.
In the nineteenth century, legislation of the partitioning powers
defined these functions. In the Kingdom of Poland, the office of
nadrabin ("chief rabbi") was created; in Austria and Prussia, a
requirement that rabbis know German was introduced. In Austria and
Prussia, the first university-level Judaic Studies programs were
established. Reformed rabbis, including those from partitioned Poland,
studied there. In independent Poland, a state exam was introduced for
rabbis. A requirement that they know Polish was also instituted, though
this was not enforced very rigorously.
(H.W./CM)
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