08 Aug CAN YOU CALL A RABBI BY HIS NAME?

I. Respecting Your
Torah Teacher
Calling a Torah
scholar by his title is
a matter of showing
honor to the Torah.
You must show respect
to your mentor, your rebbe, by, for
example, rising when he enters a room
(Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 242:16).
Among the other obligations to your
mentor is refraining from calling him
by his name (ibid., 15). The Rema adds
that you may call him by his name if you
preface his name with the title “rabbi”
(or another title of respect).
You must also respect someone who
taught you a little Torah – even just one
word. However, the respect you must
show him is less than what you must
show your mentor (Shulchan Aruch,
Yoreh De’ah 242:30). The Sedei Chemed
encyclopedia (Ma’areches chaf, no. 104)
quotes the Tzapichis Bi-Dvash who
argues that you may call such a teacher
by name, without a title, while Rav
Yechezkel Landau (18th cen., Czech;

Tzelach, Berachos 4a sv. va-ani) holds
you must use a title although you need
not call him just “rebbe.” Rav Yisrael
Lipschitz (19th cen., Germany; Tiferes
Yisrael, Avos 6:3 no. 50) also contends
that you are obligated to call him by a
title.
II. Respecting a Rabbi
The Sifra (Lev. 19:32, quoted by Rashi,
ad loc.) says that all the obligations
to honor the elderly also applies to all
Torah scholars, even if they never taught
you anything. Quite surprisingly, no
subsequent Medieval or early Modern
source repeats that obligation. Shulchan
Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 243:6, 244:1)
follows the unanimous precedent and
states that your only obligation to respect
Torah scholars consists of rising when
they enter your vicinity and refraining
from insulting them. Rav Chaim Yosef
David Azulai (Chida, 18th cen., Israel;
Birkei Yosef, Yoreh De’ah 244:6)
notes that the Sifra’s extensive list of
mandatory respectful practices was
disputed and concludes that the law
requires nothing more than rising and

refraining from insulting. However, Rav
Yisrael Meir Kagan (20th cen., Russia;
Chafetz Chaim, Asin, n. 8 in asterisk)
assumes that the law follows the Sifra
and leaves as an open question why the
codes neglect to mention it.
Everyone agrees that you have to call
your mentor by a title. If the rabbi only
taught you a little, there is a debate
whether you may call him by his name.
Regarding a rabbi who is not your
teacher, according to Chida, you do
not have to call by a title. According to
Chafetz Chaim, you must use a title and
may not call him by his name alone. I
would like to suggest a proof for Chafetz
Chaim’s view.
III. A Rabbi’s Inheritance
The Gemara (Kesubos 85b) tells the
story of a man who bequeathed his estate
to Tuviah, without identifying the man
beyond saying the first name. To whom
should the court give all his belongings?
”A certain man said (to those present at
his deathbed): ‘My property (should go)
to Tuviah. He passed away, and Tuviah
came (to claim his possessions).
Rabbi Yochanan said: Tuviah has
come. (If the deceased had) said: My
property should go to Tuviah, and Rav
Tuviah came forward, (it is assumed
that this is not the person the deceased
had in mind, for he) said: To Tuviah.
He did not say: To Rav Tuviah. But
if (Rav Tuviah) is a person who is
friendly (with the deceased), then he
was friendly with him.” (translation
adapted from Koren Steinsaltz)
If someone named Tuviah comes
forward, the court accepts that he was
the intended recipient. If someone
named Rav Tuviah comes forward,
then we reject him because the
deceased named Tuviah as his heir.
He would have called the rabbi by
his title as Rav Tuviah. The exception
is if they were friends. If a rabbi is
your good friend, you call him by
his first name and don’t necessarily
use his title. Then Rav Tuviah would
have been just plain Tuviah to the
deceased, his friend, and could have
been the intended heir.
IV. The Rabbi’s Buddy
We see from here two things. First,
you normally call a rabbi by his title.
Even if he isn’t your teacher, you still

call him by the title and not by his first
name. However, if you are good friends,
the title isn’t necessary. In fact, we expect
you to call him by his first name without
any title. Rav Yosef Chaviva (15th cen.,
Spain; Chiddushei Nimukei Yosef, ad
loc.) says this explicitly: “Friendly with
him: Was with him regularly. Since they
were friendly, he called him by his name
as if he was not ordained.” (Note that the
Gemara uses the title Rav Tuviah and not
Rabbi Tuviah, implying that he was in
Babylonia where they could not continue
the formal chain of rabbinic ordination.)
According to Chida, that you do not
have to call a rabbi by his title unless he
is your teacher, why does the Gemara
need the condition that the rabbi was
friendly with the deceased? A man,
particularly an old man, established in
the community, would call a rabbi by his
first name, just plain Tuviah, even if they
aren’t friends. Unless Rav Tuviah is his
teacher, he would just be plain Tuviah.
However, according to Chafetz Chaim,
you have to call him Rav Tuviah because
he is a rabbi, even if you don’t know him
well. It’s a matter of kevod ha-Torah,
respecting the Torah. Only if he is your
friend, you can set aside the formalities
and call him just Tuviah. Therefore, this
passage seems to support the Chafetz
Chaim’s view against the Chida’s.