martillo@mit-athena.UUCP (Joaquim Martillo) (04/03/85)
I in fact normally do refer to Ashkenazi rabbis by the title Hakam.
This is common N. African usage for politeness. The Ashkenazi title
rabbi since it basically refers to scholarly, legal and juridical
qualifications is not exactly equivalent to Hakam which refers to
sagacity and to saintliness. The more correct equivalent for the
Ashkenazi title rabbi is don {personal name} {family name} which simply
refers to scholarly, legal and juridical qualifications. It was
perfectly possible for a person to be learned enough to merit the
don-form but never achieve the status of Hakam. I think there may be
some confusion between don from dominus and 'don from 'adon.
Usage varies of course. I have the vague impression that Yemenite
hakamim of the previous generation generally preferred out of humility
not to be addressed as hakam.
don {personal name} was used by Sefardim almost like the modern
Spanish/Portugese usage.