The world is my Rabbi

The term Rabbi is misused and misunderstood more than most other terms. Ask five people to define rabbi and you will likely get five different replies. To me, it just means someone who has a tax-exemption.

What I don’t understand is why someone would need a Rabbi, if he or she can think for himself. I’m not talking about halacha. I’m talking about hashkafa, life-stuff. If it would be a requirement, why don’t Rabbis have Rabbis?

When I was a young kid in elementary school, kids would cheat off me by tests. I didn’t know what to do because I felt it might be wrong but I didn’t want to make any enemies and I definitely didn’t want to tattle (I still look down at tattletales, snitches, canaries and whatever else you want to call them- for the most part). So I asked my parents what’s wrong if I help kids cheat off me, and they answered that later in life they will be used to not having to work/struggle for anything, and they’ll stay with nothing. No hard job, too lazy to solve problems in real-life, etc.

Which brings to mind the universal truth: No pain, no gain. Now how is giving up one’s autonomy to a Rabbi different from cheating on a test? You aren’t going to grow by deferring to another person all your life. You need to think for yourself, to make mistakes, to be independent.

I mean, you can always get perspective and wisdom from anyone and everyone, but to give up your autonomy and decision-making to one person is just stupid to me.






A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.-Helen Keller