rebbe means the spiritual leader of a Hasidic Jewish community. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 81 out of 100.
rebbe is pronounced /ˈɹɛbi/.
Why “rebbe” is a great word
REBBE — [Noun] The spiritual leader of a Hasidic Jewish community, or a teacher of Torah, especially in a primary school. Borrowed from Yiddish רבי (rebe), from Hebrew rabbī ("my master, rabbi"). First attested in English in 1881. Unlike "rabbi"—a general scholar and legal authority—or "rov"—a communal halakhic decisor—the rebbe is a dynastic, charismatic guide, a vessel believed to channel divine grace. It is the weathered hand receiving a kvittel in the hushed glow of a study, the quiet cadence of a story that turns parable into a key for living, and the small, reverent hand of a child tracing its first Hebrew letter—a testament to law not as mere text, but as transmitted light made flesh.
noun
- 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.”
- 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.”