Q&A: Primary Rabbi
Primary Rabbi
Question
Hello Rabbi Michael,
In a discussion we had in a group of friends who are graduates of Yeshivat HaGolan and who have recently been reading the Rabbi’s new trilogy,
the question came up whether the Rabbi has a primary rabbi.
If the answer is yes, I’d be glad to know who it is.
And if not, how does the Rabbi manage with the Mishnah’s statement: “Make for yourself a rabbi”?
Background to the question: we are graduates of Yeshivat Hesder HaGolan (most of us spent an extra year in the study hall), and the head of the yeshiva, the great genius Rabbi Amnon Shugarman, may he live long and well, always makes a point of asking each person whether he has a rabbi (the answer itself doesn’t matter to him, only that he have one), and if not he says that it’s impossible to build Torah that way, or in other words that it is very problematic.
I would appreciate the Rabbi’s response on this matter,
N"V M.N.P.H.
Answer
Hello.
I do not have a primary rabbi. A non-primary rabbi I of course have, since a rabbi is anyone you have learned from.
In my opinion, Rabbi Shugarman’s statements have no basis. First of all, there are quite a few interpretations of the Mishnah, and there is certainly no necessity to say that it is speaking about a primary rabbi. Beyond that, even if that were the intention, the Rema writes that nowadays there is no law of a primary rabbi at all (because there are books). And finally, even if there is an obligation to appoint a primary rabbi, if I do not find someone to whose hands I am willing to entrust myself, then there is no logic in assigning myself a primary rabbi just because the Mishnah said so.
All the best,
The whole idea of a primary rabbi is an invention that came from the Hasidim, then spread to the Lithuanians and the broader public.
An idea promoted by Hasidic rabbis in order to attain certain levels or feelings.
The idea, whose basis may perhaps be positive, was taken out of context and turned into a real disease.
“Make for yourself a rabbi” was said only about matters of Jewish law, and even that as a recommendation, as an important value like “acquire for yourself a friend” and “judge every person favorably.”
The questioner fell into a fallacy—if his desire is to fulfill “make for yourself a rabbi,” why abandon “judge every person favorably”…