Gabbai

[ Sephardic Hebrew gah-bahy; Ashkenazic Hebrew gah-bahy; English guh-bahy ]

noun

, (sometimes lowercase)

, plural Gab·ba·im [gah-bah-, eem, gah-, bahy, -im], English Gab·bais.

1. a minor official of a synagogue, having limited ceremonial or administrative functions.
2. (in the early Middle Ages) a government official charged with collecting taxes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Gabbai¹

Literally, “treasurer”

Example Sentences

Mikulincer was known as the gabbai of the synagogue, leading its day-to-day operations.

From Seattle Times

Mikulincer was known as the gabbai of the synagogue, leading its day-to-day operations.

From Seattle Times

Inmates periodically hold an informal vote to elect a “gabbai” to run the shul, which is currently led by a Hasidic man from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who is locked up for arson and corporate fraud.

From New York Times

“It might be that the gabbai was during the week working against you on a campaign but now is calling you up for an aliyah,” he said, describing people of different political persuasions taking on roles in a worship service together. “It’s an oasis of friendship and understanding in an increasingly partisan town.”

From Washington Post

That brings me back to the remarkable photo taken this year by David Strick of Edith Umugiraneza, Dario Gabbai, Yevnigue Salibian, Sara Pol-Lim and Aracely Garrido.

From Time