- published: 15 Feb 2015
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Rebbe (רבי) /ˈrɛbə/, which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. In accordance with Yiddish pronunciation norms, the stress is on the first syllable and the final vowel is sometimes reduced to a schwa, but is other times pronounced "ee."
Whilst Rebbe is a term that refers to many leaders of Jewry, 'Rebbe' or 'Rebbi' when mentioned in the Talmud is a reference to the redactor of the Mishna, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. In common parlance of modern times, the term 'The Rebbe' is often used by Hasidim to refer to the leader of a Hasidic movement, for example, by Lubavitcher Hasidim referring to their Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Today Rebbe has three meanings:
In the American Yeshivish world, when not referring to a Chasidic Rebbe, the word may be pronounced "Rebbee".
Rebbe come from the Hebrew word rav, meaning great, and might mean the equivalent of "my master." It was an honorific originally given to those who had Smicha at the beginning of the first millennium, though because vowels were not written at the time, it is impossible to know if it was pronounced rah-bee or r-bee. The English word rabbi directly comes from this form. In Yiddish, the word became reb-eh (now commonly spelled rebbe) or just reb.