YISHMAʿEʾL BEN ELISHAʿ (c. 50–c. 135 CE), Palestinian tanna. Yishmaʿeʾl was ʿAqivaʾ ben Yosef's most famous contemporary; rabbinic tradition has constantly placed the sayings of these...

SPEKTOR, YITSḤAQ ELḤANAN (1817–1896) was an Orthodox rabbi and foremost traditional Jewish legal authority during the last half of the nineteenth century. Born in Rosh, in the Grodno district of Russia, Spektor was raised in a...

A learned man who has received *ordination. ‘Rabbi’ literally means ‘my master’ and the title has been used since the time of *Hillel for those who have received *semikhah. This was only granted in Israel so the learned men of...

(Hebrew: “my master”) In classical Judaism, a master of the Torah with the knowledge necessary to render legal decisions based upon Jewish law. In modern times, the rabbi increasingly has become a synagogue functionary, charged with...

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Dickter, Adam The Jewish Week 01-04-2002 Rabbi On The Rocks Friday, the rabbi emerged from the ice. Rabbi Abraham Abraham that is, the Brighton Beach personality who looks like Poseidon and annually joins the meshugena bathers for their dip in the...

Brawarsky, Sandee The Jewish Week 10-22-2004 Two new works celebrate the contributions of two rabbis who went against the grain. Two new books present the legacies of extraordinary rabbis. Thirty-seven years before Rabbi Sally Priesand was ordained at Hebrew Union College,...

Reform Rabbi Eric Yoffie urged the largest assembly of U.S. Muslims on Friday to help "fight the fanatics" in their two religions, marking the first time a major Jewish leader has addressed the group in its four-decade history.Yoffie, president of the liberal Union for Reform...

Dark beards blowing, black felt fedoras flying off their heads, the four Hasidic rabbis clapped their chests with open palms and cheered as the firefighting helicopter dipped its bucket into their camp swimming pool.At the Camp Gan Israel, crews fighting devastating blazes in the mountains...