Talk:Rebbetzin

Untitled

Suppose we are talking about a married couple, in a situation where the husband is not addressed as "Rabbi" or "Mister", but as "Reb". I was under the impression that in such a situation, the proper way to address the wife is "Rebbetzin". Am I wrong? This article seems to say that "Rebbetzin" is valid only for the wife of a Rabbi or Rebbe or Rav, etc. --Keeves 05:38, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

• Keeves: You are correct, Rebbetzin can also be used as an informal title for Mrs. even if she is not the wife an ordained rabbi or scholar. Additionally, Rebbetzin can be applied to an unmarried woman (as a kind of "mock-compliment") if she is learned about Judaism, and unfortunately, it can also be misused as a degrading word when wanting to mock someone's "religiosity" or to criticize aspects of a woman's behaviour deemed to be "arrogant" or "beyond her status" in the opinion of the critic. Like all words, it can be applied and mis-applied in all kinds of ways, but this should not detract from its first and primary translation and meaning, which is basically that it is the customary official title given to, and used for, the wife of a rabbi. (I will put some of this text I have just written into the article, as added explanation.) IZAK 09:21, 5 December 2005 (UTC)
  • Thanks, Izak. I hope you don't mind my adding that one can mock a man with the epithet "Rabbi" in the very same way.--Keeves 18:55, 5 December 2005 (UTC)
• I don't think including that a particular word can be used as an insult should be part of the description of "Rebbetzin". Should we mention "Jew" is used by some as an insult on the Jew page? Does the Rabbi page mention it's a term used to insult someone who is an Am Haaretz? Just like I can mock my younger Sister by calling her a Rebbetzin when she is learning chumash, I can also mock her by calling her a professor when she is learning math. Such usage of Rebbetzin might be better used on a page such as "Mock", which Wikipedia seems to lack.
  • Excellent point. We all seem to be in agreement that just about any title can be used in this manner. For example, we could mock a layman who made an obviously silly medical comment by calling him "doctor"; even if someone made a serious and correct medical comment, we could tease him for dropping out of med school by calling him "doctor". Therefore, I'd like to suggest that this entire paragraph be deleted, and I will do so in a day or two if no one objects. --Keeves 15:13, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree it is a silly thing to say. Jon513 16:36, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

the See Also section

Prior to IZAK's revision as of 12:30, 5 March 2006, the See Also section contained only references to "Rabbi" and "Role of women in Judaism". Those seem very appropriate to me, but all the others which are currently there do not really relate to Rebbetzin at all. Put them on the "Role of women in Judaism" page, but not here. I will delete them soon if there are no objections. --Keeves 15:18, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Rabbis who are rebbetzins

In more liberal movements of Judaism, there are rabbis who are married to other rabbis - thus resulting in rabbis who are rebbetzins. Interesting phenomenon, no? 152.163.100.11 06:06, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

In the more liberal movements, the women don't like being "granted" titles based on their husbands achievements. Especially if they are of the mindset to pursue rabbinic ordination. Hence, there would probably be very few women who'd like to be referred to as rebbetzin, and even fewer of them who are Rabbi's in their own right. Omegarad (talk) 18:26, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Question about External Links Section for Rebbetzin Page

Hi Everybody, What do you think about adding an external links section on the Rebbetzin page? For example, providing a link to Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis's website would be helpful to those looking for more information on what a Rebbetzin "does". I have no affiliation with the Rebbetzin or her website I just thought it would be a helpful link. Thanks - --Itsabouttime (talk) 09:33, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

Rabbi is a male noun??

I've deleted a sentence that was confused on the issue of nouns and gender. In English most nouns do not have a gender (thus articles are not gendered) - so it doesn't make sense to say that "rabbi" is a male form. Sure, "rav" in Hebrew is male - but that has nothing to do with the use of the word rabbi in English, at least not in grammatical terms. Anyway, it's not clear to me what this issue has to do with "rebbetzin". Nomoskedasticity (talk) 18:35, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

etymology

Anyone know what the etymology of this is? I take in the -in in the German feminine suffix. What about the -tz-? Is that Hebrew, so that we have two feminine suffixes, or also German? — kwami (talk) 18:40, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Got an answer back elsewhere that the tz is Slavic, and the in German, and it is two fem. suffixes. kwami (talk) 05:27, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

claim

Any proof for this claim? It seems very POV and controversial to me.

The term "Rabbanit" has, in very recent times, been offered as the title for women "Rabbis" in the Orthodox community. Although most in the Orthodox community do not currently recognize the legitimacy of female Rabbis, recently some more liberal elements support the concept. Yehoishophot Oliver (talk) 13

30, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Male Rebbetzin

What would a "male rebbetzin" be called? Is there even a word for the male spouse of a female rabbi or gay male rabbi? Bohemian Baltimore (talk) 17:56, 8 June 2022 (UTC)