Definition of rabbi in English:

noun

• 1A Jewish scholar or teacher, especially one who studies or teaches Jewish law.

  Example sentences

  • ‘With my rabbi teaching me Torah and how to ask the big questions, it became harder and harder to travel and feel good about it.’
  • ‘They do this through courses, or by individual study with a rabbi.’
  • ‘It is regarded as a good thing by just about every Jew that there are Talmudic scholars and rabbis.’
  • ‘In Vilnius, Lithuania, his father's family were scholars and rabbis with huge private libraries.’
  • ‘In a Midrash, the ancient rabbis asked why Eve was created from Adam's side.’
  • ‘A few years later the rabbi was studying and came across some money stuck in his book.’
  • ‘My husband waited for me in the anteroom while I entered the rabbi's study to speak with him privately.’
  • ‘Does it matter if one of her professors, himself a rabbi, teaches with an eye toward pastoral work?’
  • ‘So before going ahead with any procedure, consult with a rabbi well-versed in Talmud and Jewish law.’
  • ‘He gave us the name of a rabbi in New York who was an acknowledged expert in these questions.’
  • ‘He is capable of learning what he thinks is worthwhile from each of these rabbis, from each of these sects, although he studies at the yeshiva in Cotia.’
  • ‘I have had many people in my life including rabbis and teachers who have greatly influenced me.’
  • ‘The ideal rabbi is a Torah scholar who guides the members of the Jewish community he serves.’
  • ‘I felt the presence of our people, of their daily lives as merchants, teachers, rabbis, doctors, and tailors.’
  • ‘The rabbi had taught that the only causal force in the universe is God.’
  • ‘The interviewee began to study with a rabbi and to consider conversion to Judaism.’
  • ‘The Oral Torah came with the implicit threat of karet-mess with the rabbis and you will be cut off - and established a scholar caste of educated men.’
  • ‘The text of the Gemara is quoting the rabbis who lived from about 200 CE to about 500 CE.’

  Synonyms

  academic, intellectual, learned person, professor, man of letters, woman of letters, mind, intellect, savant, polymath, highbrow, bluestocking

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1 A person appointed as a Jewish religious leader.
     Example sentences

     • ‘He regularly has clerics, rabbis and priests on for spirited debate.’
     • ‘Perhaps his father served as a community rabbi and he naturally chose the same calling.’
     • ‘Every now and then the loudspeakers burst into life and one of the rabbis or the religious leaders inside relays a message to those outside to tell them to keep up the fight, to keep being strong.’
     • ‘Our ecumenical outreach was limited, and I don't remember visits to our home by Jewish rabbis or Catholic priests.’
     • ‘When a community accepts a rabbi as their religious leader, his decisions are binding in all cases.’
     • ‘Women's active presence this past week was a sign of change, as was the presence of many rabbis and leaders of other faiths.’
     • ‘We hold dialogues and discussion groups with all faiths and enjoy the opportunity to work alongside of rabbis, ministers, preachers and priests everywhere.’
     • ‘Since the Middle Ages, rabbis served as spiritual leaders of communities.’
     • ‘Most are too insecure to consult a rabbi or join a religious community.’
     • ‘The day after my father died, his rabbi came to talk to the family in preparation for the funeral.’
     • ‘If only all priests and mullahs and rabbis exercised the same responsibility and rigour in their pronouncements.’
     • ‘Pastors, ministers, rabbis, imans, etc influence large audiences in their weekly sermons.’
     • ‘Talk with your rabbi, priest, pastor or other spiritual leader about resources.’
     • ‘The argument is effectively advocating locking up priests, rabbis and imams for doing nothing more than professing their beliefs.’
     • ‘Jewish rabbis and Islamic imams derive their authority from their mastery of a specific set of religious legal texts and the application of those texts to everyday life.’
     • ‘Mullahs, priests, rabbis - the business of religion was traditionally the males.’
     • ‘A rabbi differs from clergymen in other religions in a number of ways.’
     • ‘There are, the report said, rabbis and imams in Jewish and Muslim neighborhoods.’
     • ‘Those rabbis, priests, imams, gurus and other religious leaders have had it good too long.’
     • ‘They did not take the time to find out which pastor or rabbi was a leader in an area and which congregations people attended.’