Q&A: Whom Should I Call “Rabbi”
Whom Should I Call “Rabbi”
Question
Hello Rabbi, in many conversations with people, I mention Jewish figures and the other side in the conversation wonders why I don’t honor him with the title “Rabbi.” Their claim is that if he is a Torah scholar / has ordination / is accepted by the public, then I am obligated to refer to him with the title “Rabbi.” I feel that if I call everyone like that “Rabbi,” it cheapens the title. Beyond that, some of those “rabbis” are not at all accepted by me. Where is the line? I would even be happy if the Rabbi could give some general guidelines.
Answer
I think that any Torah scholar whom some group relates to as a rabbi should be called “Rabbi.” Even if you don’t think highly of him. If he is a clearly negative person, there is room to discuss it, but it is not enough that you simply disagree with him.
Discussion on Answer
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, despite all my criticism, should be called “Rabbi.” If I didn’t do that, it was probably from inattention. I no longer remember.
I don’t know Amnon Yitzhak, and I don’t know the quality of his knowledge. But he really is such an extreme clown that it is hard to relate to him as a rabbi.
I obviously don’t have a sharp criterion. Common sense is what determines it.
Your question stems from the pride within you, since there are people who deserve to be called rabbi on the basis of their wisdom or stature even when they do not have rabbinic ordination (original semikhah does not exist today, and ordination in our times is itself open to question).
It is hard for you to “give honor to a rabbi.”
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef is certainly a rabbi.
Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak is certainly a rabbi (ask the hundreds of thousands of his students, and of those who are not his students, who consult him regularly on halakhic matters).
Laitman is absolutely not a rabbi; it has been said about him that he reveals improper interpretations and that one should in general keep away from him.
Michael Abraham is questionable; even in the answer he gave you he contradicted himself. He said he does not know Amnon Yitzhak, but on the other hand he “ruled” for you that he is “such an extreme clown that it is hard to relate to him as a rabbi” (so I didn’t understand—does Michael know the rabbi or not?)
He does not know his Torah level, but in any case his behavior is that of an extreme clown, so (a) it is hard to assume that he has knowledge and understanding, and (b) even if he does have knowledge and understanding, his clownishness disqualifies him. Excessive use of the title “Rabbi” sometimes stems from cheapening the title and from a lack of discernment in the area.
I support Truth Speaker. Also, if we do not rely on faith in the sages and appreciation for the great ones of the generations, it is obvious that we will lose our identity as Jews over the generations. And whoever disagrees—good luck to him..
Who is considered a Torah scholar for this purpose? Sorry that I’m discussing this, but I saw that in “Two Wagons” the Rabbi referred to Amnon Yitzhak as “Rabbi,” and later on (maybe I imagined it) no longer gave him that title. For my own part, innocently, in the early years of my life I didn’t call him “Rabbi,” not out of disrespect but because he wasn’t known as such (rather as someone who brings people to repentance), and unrelated to my personal impression of his approach and personality. But I saw that the Rabbi himself used to call him that, and since then I’ve been unsure. And here too on the site there are different versions regarding Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef (who in my opinion is certainly a rabbi, again regardless of how I evaluate his approach).
Also, what about someone whom the public commonly calls “Michael Laitman,” though I personally do call him “Rabbi” even though I am not among his students at all, because he has wisdom and understanding in the esoteric parts of the Torah (I personally know that he has wisdom in this area from what understanding I myself have in it, even though his articles online for the secular public are phrased childishly, and when he starts talking about subjects in which he has no background, like physics, he says a lot of nonsense; he studied biology). But in the halakhic field he is only an ordinary graduate of some classic Haredi yeshiva (and he is also a baal teshuvah). In other words, is a Torah scholar in the area of aggadic literature and thought—who certainly studied Talmud and Jewish law and is not ignorant in those fields—also considered one for this purpose? And what about grammar? Should Rabbi Wolf Heidenheim be called rabbi?
Should some friend from yeshiva who teaches in a high-school yeshiva or a hesder yeshiva (when I surpass him, say, in my understanding of Torah) also be called that in front of his students? Should I call Rabbi Chaim Navon “Rabbi” even though I know him personally as “Chaimi”? In a conversation I had with him, I heard him call Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon—when I studied with him in first-year yeshiva class—by the name “Y.Tz.”?