Rebbetzin

Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis (left) with US Ambassador to Hungary, April Foley

Rebbetzin (Yiddish: רביצין) or Rabbanit (Hebrew: רַבָּנִית) is the title used for the wife of a rabbi, typically from the Orthodox, or Haredi, and Hasidic Jewish groups.

The Yiddish word has a trilingual etymology: Hebrew rebbə "master", plus the Slavic feminine suffix -itsa and the German feminine suffix -in.

In many Chassidic courts, Rebbetzins are considered to be spiritual counselors, and give blessings. In circles such as the Chassidic dynasty of Belz, the girls schools are run by the rebbetzin. There are also several recorded instances of female rebbes, who while technically rebbetzins, were full-fledged rebbes in their own right. One such famous case is the Maiden of Ludmir.

The rabbi's wife plays an important community role, especially in small communities. In many ways, she is called on to be as knowledgeable as the rabbi in the realm of woman's observances: in this manner, for something that does not require a psak (ruling), she can be approached when a woman does not feel comfortable approaching the rabbi, or where the rabbi maybe should not be approached. For instance, the rebbetzin may often be the "mikvah lady" and help with more mundane questions regarding the laws of niddah. Part of it, certainly, is that she always has the rabbi's ear, and that she would know if the question needs to be asked, in order to get a psak.

When a rabbi is a "pulpit rabbi," (versus a teacher or a "lay rabbi") his wife becomes something of a first lady of the community and performs social tasks and "outreach" roles, freeing her husband to attend to rabbinical duties.

With the growth of independent scholarship among Orthodox women, some women have informally received the title on their own merit, irrespective of their husbands.[1]

Liberal Judaism

In Liberal Judaism, women began being ordained in 1978. For congregations with a woman rabbi [or a gay man], the question of the role of the rabbi's husband is an interesting one. Historically, liberal congregations have assumed that the wife of the rabbi would serve in an auxiliary, volunteer role to her husband's congregation. She might chair the sisterhood, maintain the synagogue kitchen, or host meals for congregants in their home. She and the family's children could be found each Shabbat seated in the sanctuary's front row, dressed impeccably and modelling appropriate behaviour for the community.

This image is less true today for all partners of liberal rabbis, but especially so for rabbis' husbands, who are assumed to prefer to have their own career and areas of interest. Some do take time off to raise the family's children, so that their partners can put more time into the congregation. Others may find ways to involve themselves on a volunteer basis in the congregation, such as by playing musical accompaniment when their partners lead services. Still other partnerships involve two rabbis or a rabbi and a cantor, and if a congregation hires a couple with this pairing of skills it is understood that they will earn two salaries, not the one traditionally received by the rabbi and his rebbetzin.

There are different approaches to the terminology of the husband of a rabbi, none fully accepted. Some say "rebbitzer" the masculine form of "rebbitzin"; some say "hubbitzin" an English form that adds "hubby" to the mix of languages already involved. Rabbi Laura Geller, one of the first Reform Rabbis, when asked what the community should call her husband, offered a classic response: "lucky" [2]!

See also

References

  1. ↑ See, for example Rebbetzin Pavlov, Rebbetzin Heller, et al.
  2. ↑ Rabbi Avivah W. Erlick
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