Berebi

Title of learning in the period of the Tannaim, conferred especially upon scholars who were the sons of scholars, or upon members of the family of the patriarch. The explanation of the word as a compound of  ("house") and  ("rabbi"), meaning "belonging to the school of an eminent teacher" (see Jastrow, "Dict." s.v.), is not obvious; for one could not think of the patriarch Rabban Gamaliel as being addressed by the title "student," which is what "Berebi" would thus really signify (Ḳid. 32b). It may be assumed that "Berebi" is a compound of  ("son") in Palestinian Aramaic, and  ("rabbi "), a formation analogous to "ben ḥorin" (son of a free man) for "a free man." In the same way "son of a scholar" is here used instead of "scholar." One must distinguish from this word "Berebi," as a title, the phrase occasionally used "Ḥad Berebi" (a student), which actually does mean "one of the school." It is found only in the time of the Amoraim; while Berebi as a title is tannaitic.

Among the scholars who bore the title "Berebi," Bar Ḳappara must be specially named. He is given the designation "Berebi" whenever mentioned by his first name, Eleazar, in order to distinguish him from his father, who bore the same name (Ḥul. 28b, 56b, 84b, etc.). Yalḳuṭ Deut. 923 quotes from Ḥul. 11b and Mak. 5b once "Eleazar ha-Ḳappar," and once  (so it must be read instead of , or , as ed. Salonica has it); whereas in the two Talmudic passages referred to the name of the tanna has dropped out, and only  or  remains, which has misled some scholars to assume the existence of a tanna by the name of Berebi.

Bibliography:

  * Chajes, in Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Theologie, xliii. 280, 281;
  * Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ed. Wilna, ii. 86;
  * Jastrow, Dictionary, p. 189 (the Talmud passage quoted here—B. M. 85a—does not speak of the bestowal of the title "Berebi," but of the common ordination of a rabbi; the letter ב in  is dependent on the preceding verb ;
  * Kohut, in 'Aruch Completum, ii. 183;
  * Levy, Neuhebr. Wörterbuch;
  * idem, Chaldäisches Wörterbuch, i. 260;
  * Euting, in Sitzungsberichte, l.c., p. 680;
  * J. Mendelssohn, in Ha-Eshkol, i. 158-160.



J. Sr. L. G.