rabbi, in Judaism, a person qualified by academic studies of the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud to act as spiritual leader and religious teacher of a Jewish community or congregation. Ordination (certification as a rabbi) can be conferred by any rabbi, but one’s teacher customarily performs this function by issuing a written statement. Ordination carries with it no special religious status. For many generations the education of a rabbi consisted almost exclusively of Talmudic studies, but since the 19th century the necessity and value of a well-rounded, general education has been recognized.
Whereas rabbis assist at all religious marriages, their presence at most other ceremonies is not required. Nonetheless, they generally conduct religious services, assist at bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs, and are present at funerals and sometimes circumcisions. In questions of divorce, a rabbi’s role depends on an appointment to a special court of Jewish law.
A rabbi also preaches on occasion and counsels and consoles as needs arise. A rabbi has responsibility for the total religious education of the young, but the extent of the rabbi’s participation, beyond the realm of general supervision, is dictated by local circumstances. Modern rabbis are likewise involved in social and philanthropic works and are expected to lend support to any project sponsored by their congregations.
In some cases, rabbis function on a part-time basis, devoting the major portion of their energies to a secular profession. Because rabbis do not have sacerdotal status, many functions that they normally perform may be assumed by others who, although not ordained, are qualified to conduct the religious ceremonies with devotion and exactitude.
By 100 ce the term rabbi was in general use to denote a sage—i.e., an interpreter of Jewish law, and in early literature it appears in various forms. Jesus, for example, was sometimes called rabbi (John 1:49, 9:2) or rabboni (John 20:16) by his followers, while presidents of the Sanhedrins (Jewish councils in Palestine under Roman rule) were called rabban (“our master”). Similarly, Judah ha-Nasi, the codifier of the Mishna (c. 200 ce), the oldest postbiblical collection of Jewish oral laws, was called rabbenu (“our teacher”).
Gradually, salaried rabbi-judges and unsalaried rabbi-teachers (interpreters of Jewish law) came to perform routine services for their communities. From the 14th century, rabbi-teachers were receiving salaries (as rabbis generally do today) to free them from other obligations. Also in this period there began the tradition of submission of local scholars to their community’s rabbi.
Chief rabbis came into prominence in medieval Europe but found little favour with the Jewish communities that they represented, because most of them held their posts as appointees of the civil government. Of the chief rabbinates that survive today, that in Israel has a rabbinic council with two chief rabbis, one representing the Sephardic (Spanish) rite, the other the Ashkenazi (German). There is no central rabbinate for Jewry as a whole.