Gabbai (synagogue)
A gabbai ( Hebrew גבאי, from gbh , to raise ; Yiddish: Gabbe , plural גַּבָּאִים Gabbaim) is the lay head of a synagogue. It is the name of a Jewish person whose office it is to support the synagogue. This includes, in particular, support for the course of Jewish services in the synagogue . In addition, the personal assistant of a rabbi is also referred to as gabbai , in particular the secretary or personal assistant of a Hasidic Rebbe . A gabbai's responsibilities include organizing Jewish funerals.
In many synagogues, the office of Gabbai is not a permanent obligation, but a temporary one during the Torah reading ( Hebrew קריאת התורה, K'riat HaTorah, "reading of the Torah"). The Gabbai stands next to the Torah reader and holds a version of the read Torah section with Teamim ( Hebrew טעמי המקרא ta'amei ha-mikra or טעמים te'amim for short ; Yiddish : articulation marks , accents), which is in the text of the sacred Torah scroll , from the im Divine service is always read aloud. The Gabbai corrects simultaneously and vocally, if necessary, if the Torah reader should read something incorrectly or incorrectly or even omit something. The Gabbai is also responsible for the Alijah laTorah , the call to suitable worshipers to read the Torah , and the blessings required before and after the respective readings during the worship service.
Historically, the Gabbai is the alms or tax collector of the Jewish community, occasionally also the name of the synagogue director or community charity events.
Likewise, the Gabbai is not always conceptually clearly separated from the Schammes , sometimes the terms are used identically.
literature
- Kenneth Goldrich, Yad LaTorah: Laws and Customs of the Torah Service, United Synagogue of Conservative Judais Mbly, ISBN 0-8381-0216-6 .