Kazyonny Ravvin

(Rus. "government rabbi"). Title given in the 19th century to Jewish officials whose task was to regulate communal life and secure compliance with czarist directives. The enforced assimilation of Russian Jewry became state policy under Nicholas I, an imperial decree of 1835 establishing the post of "government rabbi" and prescribing his duties. The major qualification for such an appointment was not rabbinical Ordination but a working knowledge of Russian. As opposed to the traditional kind of spiritual leader, whom the czarist authorities continued to recognize unofficially, the "government" or "crown" rabbi was no more than a low-grade civil servant. His tasks included registering Jewish births, marriages, and deaths; promoting military conscription; delivering patriotic sermons; and acting as the community's representative before czarist officialdom. When specifically religious duties had to be performed, he often sought the aid of a genuine rabbi. A nominal salary was paid to each kazyonny ravvin by the community which he supervised, but Jews tended to regard him as a "walking caricature" of a rabbi and as a government stooge; they dubbed him Rabbiner or (in Hebrew) rav mi-ta'am---"officially appointed rabbi." In practice, anyone with a few years of secular education (and little or no Jewish knowledge) could have himself elected to such a post. With czarism's downfall in 1917, the unpopular and discredited office of kazyonny ravvin ceased to exist.

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