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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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