rebbe

plural rebbes

1. JudaismThe spiritual leader of a Hasidic Jewish community.

   It was to be the first Pesach, after years devoid of light When the Rebbe of Skulene stood with his son And they announced, There will Matzos! for the Seder Night But enough to only give each person one

   2022, Abie Rotenberg, “Al Hatzadikim”, in Journeys, Vol. 5

   2 more examples

   Born in Riga in 1909 into a vast cousinage that included the Lubavitcher rebbes, Isaiah Mendelevich Berlin was taken to Petrograd as a small boy, and then to London in 1921 when the Bolsheviks allowed his prosperous (and fortunate) parents to leave.

   2004 June 27, Geoffrey Wheatcroft, “The Book of Isaiah”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2022

   But two men who said they spoke with some of those who broke through the synagogue wall said the motive was to hasten an expansion of 770 — a move that they say the Lubavitcher movement’s leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the rebbe, called for more than three decades ago.

   2024 January 9, Eliza Shapiro and Katherine Rosman, “Secret Synagogue Tunnel Sets Off Altercation That Leads to 9 Arrests”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 19 Jan 2024

   Synonyms: admor

2. JudaismA teacher of Torah, especially in a primary school.

   The first-grade teacher […] has to be able to project a motherly warmth while at the same time maintain the image of a rebbe.

   2006, Doniel Frank, editor, Rav Yaakov Weinberg talks about chinuch, page 100

   2 more examples

   Since their was no kollel that Shlomo could enter immediately, he would stay in the house and learn all day. When I came home at night, he would be my own private rebbe-chavrusa.

   1993, Meir Birnbaum with Yonasan Rosenblum, Lieutenant Birnbaum: A Soldier’s Story, page 230

   Now we were no angels, but rebbi stayed on; he saw something we couldn’t see. Year after year at the front of the class, building the world that would be.

   2021, “Thank You Rebbi”, Miriam Israeli (lyrics)