Daily AncestorRabbi
A rabbi was a Jewish religious teacher and leader, ordained to decide questions of Jewish law and often to lead a congregation.
A rabbi is ordained by another rabbi after study of Jewish texts and law, a process called semikhah. The title has been used since the first century. In the 1800s in Germany and the United States, preaching sermons, pastoral counseling and speaking for the community to outsiders grew in importance in a rabbi's work.
Wiktionary defines a rabbi both as a scholar and teacher of Jewish law able to make legal decisions, and as the leader, or one qualified to lead, a Jewish congregation.
As seen in a recordOccupation and industry columns of the 1910 to 1940 census
Solomon Lefkovits, 48, Rabbi, Synagogue
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Daily Ancestor. "Rabbi." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/rabbi. Last checked 2026-10-12.