i '. i- i he equivalent of ''Z~;. Rabbani, my mas- ter, giving the Syriac pronunciation to the Kamets un- der i hey;. .-/,. As such ii is interpreted by the evangel- ists i Su anKaXoc, John i. 39; xx. 16; Man. xxiii. 8).
H. Origin and Dati of these Titles. Nathan ben-Je- chiel (q. v.) tells ns. in his celebrated lexicon denomi- nated Aruch (s.v. -"X. which was finished A.D. 1101, that Mar Rab Ja 31 rira Gaon, and his son
llai. the co-Gaon i \.l». 999), for an explanation of the origin and import ofthese different titles, and thai these spiritual head- ol the Jewish community in Babylon re-
plied as follows: --The title Rab pi) is Babylonian, and the title Rabbi (*G1 I is Palestinian.' I I
dent from the fact that some of the Tanaim and A -
raim are simply called by their names without any title —e.g. Simon the Just, Antigonus of Soho, Jose ben- Jochanan, Rab, Samuel, Abaje, and Rabba; some of them hear the title Rabbi ("Ol) e. g. rabbi Akiba, rabbi Jose, rabbi Simon, etc.; some oi them have the title Mar "i e.g. m.'ir I'kha. mar Januka, etc.; some the title oi Rab pi) — e.g. rah Hana, rab Jehudah, etc. ; while some of them have the tide Rabbon <""> e.g.rabbon Gamaliel, rabbon Jochanan ben-Zakkai, etc. The title J'nbbi ("~ i i- thai of the Palestinian sages, who re- ceived there of the Sanhedrim the laying-on of the hands, in accordance with the laying-on of the hands as transmitted in unbroken succession by the elders
(-"P'i. and were den inated Rabbi, and received
authority to judge penal cases; while Ral pi) i- the title of the Babylonian sa jes, v bo receivi <1 the laying- on of hand- in their colli ■ . The more ancii • •rations, however, who were far superior, had no such titlesas Rabbon (pi i, Rabbi pallor RaJp1),< ither lor the Babylonian or Palestinian sages, a- i- evident from the fact that Ilillcl I. who came from Babylon, had not the title l:,il,l,,,n ( "~ > alia. led to hi- name: and thai ofthe prophet-, who were very eminent, ii is simply said 'Haggai the prophet,' etc. ; 'Ezra did not come up from Babylon,' etc., without the title Rabbon being af- fixed to their names. Indeed, we do not find thai this title is of an earlier date than the patriarchate. Ii be- gan with rabbon Gamaliel the elder (A.D. 30), rabbon Simon, his son (who perished in the destruction of the second Temple), and rabbon Jochanan ben-Zakkai, all of whom were patriarch- or presidents ofthe Sanhedrim {Z-H.--: ). The title A',//./.; ( ---■ |, too, comes into vogue among those who received the laying-on of hands at this period — as. for instance, ral. hi Zaddok, ral. hi Eliezer ben-Jacob, etc.. and dates from the disci| 1. - oi rabbon Jochanan ben-Zakkai downwards. Now the or- der of these title.- is as follow-: /,',//./.; i- greater than Rab; Rabbon, again, is greater than A'.//././.- while the simple name i- greater than Rabbon. No ..p.. i- called Rabbon except the presidents." From this declaration ofSherira Gaon and llai. that the title Rabbi obtained among the disciples of Jochanan ben-Zakkai, the eru- dite i.r.H/ concludes that "we must regard the title Rabbi, which in the Gospels, with the exception of that by I, uke. is given to John the Baptist and to Jesus, as an anachronism. We must also regard as an anachro- nism the disapprobation put into the mouth of Jesus against the ambition ofthe Jewish doctor-, who love to he called by thi- title, and the admonition to in- dis- ciples not to Miller themselves to he styled Rabbi
Kfiti (>>l\orm i oi VpaflftaTtic.') .'. . i;ti\ii-:.n ,
avSpiairwv perjSpi pa/3/3t. V/uir Si pi) KXi^dqrE dafifli, Matt, xxiii, 7, 8). This, moreover, show- that whin the Gospels were written down the title Rabbi stood in so high a repute that the fathers could nol hut transfer ii to Christ" (Geschichtt <!< r Juden Berl. 1853 | iv, 500). Bul e\en supposing that the title Rabbi came into vogue in the days ol Jochanan ben-Zakkai, this would by no means warrant Gratz's conclusion, inasmuch as Jochanan lived upwa a hundred years, and survived four presidents \ i/. Ilillcl 1 (B.C. 30 L0), Simon 1 I \.1>. 10 30), Gamaliel I (A.D.30 50), and Simon II (A.D. 50 70), and it might
therefore ohtain in the early day- of this luminary,
which would he shortly after the birth of Christ. The Tosaphotb at the end of Eduyolh, however, quoted in the Aruch in the same article, gives a different account of tin. origin of this title, which is as follows: "He who ha- disciples, and whose disciples again have disciples, is called Rabbi; when hi- disciples are forgotten i.e. if
RABBIM
si;;
Modern Jewish Rabb
1 for Prayer.
he is so old that his immediate disciples already belong- to the past age), he is called Rabbon ; and when the dis- ciples of his disciples are also forgotten, he is simply called by his own name." This makes the titles coeval with the origin of the different schools, and at the same time accounts for the absence of them among the earliest doctors of the law.
Some account of the rabbins and the Mishnical and Talmudical writings may be found in Prideaux (Connec- tion, pt. i, bk. 5, under the year B.C. 446 ; pt. ii, bk. 8, under the year B.C. 37) ; and a sketch of the history of the school of Rabbinical learning at Tiberias, founded by rabbi Judah Hak-kodesh, the compiler of the Mishna, in the 2d century after Christ, is given by Robinson (Biblical Researches, ii, 391). See also Note 14 to Bur- ton, Bampton Lectures, and the authorities there quoted — for instance, Briiker (ii, 8:20) and Basnage (Hist, des Jui/s, iii, G, p. 138). Compare Hill, De Rabbinis (Jen. 1741); Bonn, ibid. (Erf. 1750) ; Miiller, De Doctoribus (Vitemb. 1740). See Master.