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Rabbi (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 officiating at worship services, delivering sermons, teaching children and adults, performing pastoral counseling and, overall, serving as the executive officer of a synagogue. The primary requirement of the classical rabbi was knowledge of Talmudic law. The modern rabbi’s interactions with secularly educated congregants as well as the role of representing Judaism to the non-Jewish world requires him and, in Reform and Conservative Judaism, her, to have a broad secular education and comprehension of general theology and philosophy in addition to a knowledge of Jewish history and practices.

Rabbinic Judaism The form of Judaism developed by Jewish sages, called rabbis, in the aftermath of the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 C.E. Articulated in the Mishnah, Midrashic literature, and in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, this form of Judaism is the basis for all later forms of Judaism, which are direct descendants of Rabbinic theology and practice and which grow out of contemporary interpretations of Rabbinic documents.