Gabbai

A gabbai (Hebrew: גבאי‎), also known as shamash שמש (sometimes spelled shamas) or warden (UK, similar to churchwarden) is a beadle or sexton, a person who assists in the running of synagogue services in some way. The role may be undertaken on a voluntary or paid basis. A shamash (literally "servant") can also mean an assistant to a rabbi (particularly the secretary or personal assistant to a Hassidic Rebbe).

Etymology

The word gabbai, is Aramaic and, in Talmudic times, meant collector of taxes or charity, or treasurer.

The term shamash is sometimes used for the gabbai, the caretaker or "man of all work," in a synagogue. An example from literature is "Moshe the Beadle", a character in Night by Elie Wiesel.

Duties

There is no set formulation of duties, but they will typically include ensuring that the services run smoothly. The gabbai is responsible for calling congregants up to the Torah; in some synagogues, the gabbai stands next to the Torah reader, holding a version of the text with vowels and trop markings (which are not present in the actual Torah scroll), following along in order to correct the reader if he makes an error (e.g., mispronounces a word, or skips a word). In others, this is separated out into the specific duties of a sgan (סגן).