Theav beit din (Hebrew:אָב בֵּית דִּין,romanized: ʾāḇ bēṯ din,lit. 'chief of the court, chief justice'[1]),abbreviatedabd (אב״דavad), was the second-highest-ranking member of theSanhedrin during theSecond Temple period and served as an assistant to thenasi.[2] The av beit din was known as the "Master of the Court;" he was considered the most learned and important of these seventy members.[3]
Menahem the Essene served as av beit din in the1st century BCE before abdicating to "serve the King" in 20 BCE. TheHouse of Shammai attained complete ascendency over the Sanhedrin from 9 CE untilGamaliel became nasi in 30 CE. The post of av beit din was eventually filled since theBabylonian Talmud states thatJoshua ben Hananiah was the av beit din inBaba Kamma 74b andNathan the Babylonian was av beit din inHorayot 13b in theBabylonian Talmud. TheJerusalem Talmud tells the story of howGamaliel II was deposed andEleazar ben Azariah replaced him as Nasi. After Gamaliel was reinstated, Eleazar ben Azariah was made av beit din.[4] The parallel story in the Babylonian Talmud has Eleazar ben Azariah remaining as a co-nasi with Gamaliel.[5]
In modern times the title is often used as an honorific for the presidingrabbi of abeth din "rabbinical court", who is typically the salaried rabbi of the local Jewish community and usually aposek or "decisor" ofHalakha. It is also abbreviated asavad when it is after the name of theChief Rabbi of a national Jewish community. It can also refer to the most senior member of the court.[6]
Although the title av beit din historically is higher than that ofrosh beit din, the rankings are sometimes reversed.[7][8] TheLondon Beth Din specifically addresses this, saying: "The Chief Rabbi formally holds the title of Av Beth Din" but that "Due to his extensive workload as well as convention of his office" he's "not generally personally involved;" the rosh beth din runs the court.[9]
The holder of the titlerosh beth din (Hebrew:ראש בית דין,lit. 'Head of the Court', abbreviatedראב״דravad) is often the person to whom outsiders look for rulings. In 1934,Yehezkel Abramsky was given this title.Federation of Synagogues'Yisroel Yaakov Lichtenstein used this title when he published a major response in 2009, even though he wasABD.[10] In smaller communities, theavad also serves as theravad.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."BET DIN".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Retrieved2012-03-15.founded in 1960 by theRabbinical Council of America