it as "Ribbi" . The Lubavitcher hasidim have a tradition that the Hebrew letters that make up the word rebbe are also an acronym for "'Rosh Bnei Yisroel", meaning "a spiritual head of the Children of Israel".

An ordinary communal rabbi, or rebbe in Yiddish, is sometimes distinct from a rav (, also pronounced rov by Jews of Eastern European or Russian origin), who is a more authoritative halakhic