Parshas Lech Lecha
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
The Talmud in Succah 49b calls our forefather Abraham techilah l’geirim, the “first convert in historyâ€.
Additionally, we know that Abraham (together with his amazing wife, our matriarch Sarah, of course) was also the world’s first “outreach professional†(see Genesis 12:8 and Nachmanides’ commentary ibid; see also Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, Laws of Idolatry 1:3).
I think we can also say that Abraham was the very first “congregational rabbi†in history. He led a huge group of followers, numbering in the thousands and myriads, referred to in this week’s Torah portion as “the men of the house of Abraham†(see Genesis 17:23 and Maimonides Mishneh Torah ibid.).
This being the case, I thought this might be the perfect time to share with you:
TEN THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT RABBIS
(1) There is a difference between Ashkenazic and Sefardic Jews in how they pronounce the Hebrew word for “rabbiâ€: Ashkenazim say “rah-beeâ€, while Sefardim say “ree-beeâ€. Did you know that?
(2) The Hebrew word rabbi comes from the root word rav, which means “great one†or “master†or “officer†(see, for example, Jeremiah 39:13). Some have suggested that the word rav is related to the word riv, which means “fighting†(see this week’s Torah portion Genesis 13:7), so that a “rabbi†literally means “one who fightsâ€, i.e. he fights with his congregants’ spiritual inertia and spurs them on to go out of their comfort zone and to actualize their potential. [With this in mind, we can now appreciate the Hebrew name for a “sermon†– derashah – which also means “demandsâ€, i.e. the rabbi is there to demand greatness from the people, not just to make them feel complacent.]
(3) In Pirkei Avos (“Ethics of the Fathersâ€) 1:6 Yehoshua ben Perachyah teaches: “Make for yourself a Rabbi†The Tiferes Yisrael understands these words to be a charge that every city and community engage a rabbi who will act as a spiritual mentor. Indeed, every person needs a competent mentor who can help guide him through life, giving him advice when he needs it, and being a good role model for him. In other words, finding oneself a good rabbi is not optional!
(4) Even a rabbi needs a rabbi. That’s why a Torah scholar is referred to in the Talmud as a Talmid Chacham (lit., “a student scholarâ€). We are all works in progress and can benefit from the wisdom of other rabbis no matter how long ago we became rabbis ourselves.
(5) Everyone knows that a rabbi has to receive semichah (ordination) in order to become a rabbi. But what many don’t know is that what is called “ordination†today is not true ordination (which required an unbroken line of tradition from Moses, and which was abolished in the year 358 CE), but rather a certification that the individual is expert in certain areas of Torah law. Additionally, it implies that he has the permission of his teachers to render public decisions.
(6) A rabbi has to stand up for what’s right and for what G-d wants, even if that’s not always what the congregation wants – and even if that means he will have to forfeit his job. As the great Rabbi Yisrael Salanter ZTâ€L once put it: “A rabbi whom the people do not want to chase out of the city is no rabbi; and a rabbi who can be chased out of the city is no man."
(7) The role of the rabbi has changed greatly in recent times. For almost two millennia, the rabbi was viewed primarily as a teacher and disseminator of Torah values and a guide and role model to the people. Sure the rabbi would issue Halachic rulings on various areas of Jewish law when necessary, give the occasional sermon (many rabbis were known to give sermons only twice a year!) and he also officiated at weddings, funerals etc., but those are tasks that can technically be filled by anyone familiar with Jewish law, rabbi or not. The rabbi’s main job was to guide the people spiritually and to enable them to study Torah and to grow in their mitzvah observance and their connection to G-d. Today, although many rabbis still teach Torah to their congregants and guide them spiritually, they are viewed primarily as public servants who lead the services, read from the Torah, officiate at all religious ceremonies, in addition to the weekly sermon that they give during the services.
(8) When a rabbi passes on, his son has a claim to the position. In several places, our Sages derive that a son qualified for a communal appointment held by his father inherits the position. As Maimonides writes in Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Temple Vessels (4:20): “When the king, the high priest, or a different appointee dies, we appoint, in his stead, his son or someone else who would inherit from him. Whoever would be first to inherit from him comes first for the position of the deceased, provided he is a valid substitute… the same is true for any appointment in the Jewish people — one who receives it does so for himself and his descendants.â€
(9) Even though Yentl managed to sneak into a boy’s school to study Torah (or, as Homer Simpson famously quipped: Yentl puts the "she" in yeshiva), you would be hard-pressed to find a woman in an orthodox traditional semichah program these days. There are technical reasons why a woman can’t become a rabbi, which simply can’t be addressed in this short space. However, I will say this: The most important role of a rabbi – to enable and push those around him to grow in Torah and mitzvah observance (see #7 above) – is something which every woman can and must do. In fact, according to our tradition, that is the essence of the woman’s role – to enable her husband and children to be the best they can be and to actualize their potential.
(10) The Talmud in Bava Metzia 33a teaches: “If one finds his father’s lost item and his rabbi’s lost item, tending to his rabbi’s lost item takes precedence, as his father brought him into this world, and his rabbi, who taught him the wisdom of Torah, brings him to life in the World-to-Come. And if his father is a Torah scholar, then his father’s lost item takes precedence.†This Talmudic teaching speaks volumes about the importance of a rabbi in one’s life, sometimes even more than one’s own parents!
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