rebbe

Noun

rebbe (plural rebbes)

1. (Judaism) The spiritual leader of a Hasidic Jewish community.
   • 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
   • 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 one2022, Abie Rotenberg, “Al Hatzadikim”, in Journeys, Vol. 5

   Synonyms:

   admor

2. (Judaism) A teacher of Torah, especially in a primary school.
   • 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
   • 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