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I find the title Rabbi to be pretty subjective. It seems to be based more on appearance than any sort of real criteria (unlike the title Doctor for example).
I would think that Smichah should be necessary but that isn’t necessarily the case. Examples:Is a rebbe (even elementary grades), does not have smichah
Is not a rebbe and does not have smichah, does have a beard
An accountant with a beard/smichah
Is very learned, does not have smichah
Has a trimmed beard/short beard/long beard/trimmed long/unkept
Is an official Rabbi
Has smichah and/or rebbe without a beardThe mishna says in Pirkei Avos that if a person learns even one letter from someone, he is suppose ro call him rabbi which literally means my teacher. David learned two things alone from Doag and he called him rabbi.
The question is how do we know one letter? Explains the Besht that sometimes one letter is more productive than two things alone. We learn from one letter that addition really diminishes.Reb Eliezer, how does that work when one learns from a heretic (say Reform, Conservative, or Open “Orthodox”)? If one has learned one letter from one a the above then this causes problems.
For example, if one refers to Avi Weiss (the creator of Open “Orthodox”) as Rabbi Avi Weiss (including other YCT graduates), then are we not giving credibility to the Open “Orthodox” movement in the same manner as if one were to daven in a Reform place?
There’s no such thing as real smicha anymore.
Also, the Chofetz Chaim didn’t have smicha (until he was an old man and got it for a technical governmental need.) Was the Chofetz Chaim therefore not a rabbi?
RebbeDebbie: Rabbi Avi Weiss actually provides your answer. He did receive semicha before his open orthodoxy revolution.
Just stick to MR. It’s alot less complicated
Mr. used to be a great title Mar. When one returned a wish gam lemar was told, say, gam lemosuk.
Currently, semicha is an acknowledgement of ones rebbi that he can pasken.
how does that work when one learns from a heretic
I suppose you would have to ask R’ Meir and his teacher Acher
iacisrmma: The same can be said for Abraham Herschel before he became a Conservative Rabbi and taught at the JTS. So back to my original question, if someone that teaches heretical views also teaches alef-beis (that’s two letters not one) should they be addressed as Rabbi by any frum yid? Would you daven in their non orthodox shul?
What about Steinsaltz נציב מלח who became a Baal Teshuva after writing apikorsishe books. How does he do teshuva? He will be in Gan Eden and his talmidim in the Gehonim.
“What about Steinsaltz נציב מלח who became a Baal Teshuva after writing apikorsishe books. How does he do teshuva? He will be in Gan Eden and his talmidim in the Gehonim”
What books specifically which he wrote are apikorsis?
You have the names?Rav Moshe, in teshuvos, when referring to Reform or Conservative Rabbis would spell out the word “rabbi” as if it was an english word–something like “רעבבי”
I view “Rabbi” as a title we use when interacting with the secular world. It should be used to denote some position of religious authority, whether in a shul, yeshivah, kashrus org., etc.
Internally, I prefer to use Rav and I use that for anyone that I would feel comfortable relying on for a halachic decision.
If it is not directly apikorsus, it can be misunderstood, חכמים הזהרו בדבריכם, what he wrote.
Rav Meir called אלישה בן אבו׳ (sorry don’t know how to spell his name) rebbe after he went off the derech
Actually, in written references, just use the letter “R” which can be read as “Rabbi”, “Rav”, “Reb” , “Rebbitzen” or R’L., “Rabbanit”. Such deliberate obfuscation is a useful tool when seeking to avoid a potentially confrontational or embarrassing encounter. In live situations, where speaking directly to or about a person, than you have to be even more circumspect by finding some honorific title that doesn’t illegitimately endow the person with “status” or “legitimacy” that has not been earned or recognized. Or perhaps adopt a Trumpian approach and create a nickname for the individual or use one of the “new age” gender neutral/undecided pronouns like “they” for he/she etc. Also, you could use the persons first and last names but I wouldn’t want to be the person referencing a gadol as Mr. XYZ, versus Maran, Sar Hatorah, Chacham, Harav, Hagodol etc.
English is very clumsy. To give respect to a Rav, we must speak to him in third person. You sometimes is too forward.
I have seen some contemporary Rabbonim referred to or called for Kibbudim as “Harav Hagaon” and some as “Hagaon Harav”. What is the a difference exactly? And what does it take to get bumped up from Rav to “Harav”? And is there a status difference between Kapotas with plastic buttons and covered ones?
The above question, a beard does not make a Rabbi.
It say in RMA CH’M 243,6 that you are not allowed to be served by a talmid chacham who knows gemora. He comes before one who knows halacha. I think, even though halacha is more important but to know the source of the halacha is important having the ability to compare one thing to another.
The RMA in CH’M 242,14 gives two views about a semicha:
1. His rebbi gives him permission to pasken when he is alive, so if the rebbe is not alive anymore, it is unnecessary.
2. It shows he is knowledgeable in gitin and kidushin. I don’t understand this one because he gets tested on Yorei Deah and maybe, Choshen Mishpat but not Even Ezreh. If he does not have semicha, the get and chalitza would not be good, except if people know he is knowledeable and he does not get semicha because of humility.
If it is a question of aguna, there is a place to be lenient. The idea is that if someone does this, he must know what he is doing. The RMA finishes that currently semicha is a means of asking permission to pasken.toast: Was the Chofetz Chaim simply a Mr. until he was 85 when he finally got smicha only as a result of needing to communicate with the Polish government, who insisted on only dealing with a rabbi?
Reb Eliezer: Very few rabbis or even general poskim are truly very knowledgeable in gittin, halacha l’maaisa.
toast: Wikipedia is an am haaretz. Assume anything they say about Yidden as likely false. Your example is another proof. They know little about the Chofetz Chaim, who had no smicha until he was in his 80s.
If bead becomes a determining criteria, then most of the hipsters in Brooklyn will gain the title of Rabbi.
If having a beard becomes a determining criteria, then most of the hipsters in Brooklyn will gain the title of Rabbi.
toast: I don’t disagree with most of your last comment. As you said the Chofetz Chaim was a town rabbi, a leader of a Yeshiva, and most importantly a major Torah scholar and as such was clearly, unambiguously and indisputably a rabbi despite having no smicha. My only point being that smicha isn’t required to be a rabbi (or Rov) today.
Also note that any person with smicha can, at will, issue smicha to any other individual. Even a newly minted rabbi who just received his own smicha can immediately give smicha to others. Such is a core feature of smicha.
I did not say that I “don’t view smichah with any legitimacy.” If you got smicha from, say, the Chazon Ish it certainly has a lot of legitimacy and confers rabbinical status on said individual.
I will certainly say that some smichas today don’t have any legitimacy.
Think of smicha the same way you would think of a graduate degree from a university in a secular context. Earning an advanced degree from Harvard, Yale or Stanford is a considerably more rigorous and legitimately prestigious achievement than the same degree from Yenavelt State Online University. Likewise, for some CR readers, smicha conferred by a rosh yeshiva at BMG, Telz, MIr etc. conveys considerably greater respect and prestige for legitimate reasons, namely the rigor of the learning, the comprehensiveness of the testing and the gadlus of the rabbonim conveying the smicha as compared to a smicha from REITS or R’L from Rav Avi Weiss or JTS. There are a lot of “Rebbeles” opening their own shuls and yeshivos in recent years with smicha from rabbonim whose own provenance is questionable but yet they have the standing to produce another generation of “rebbeim”.
In olden times semicha was יורה יורה kwnowing 110 simanim of YD and sometimes ידין ידין knowing CM.
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