Hakham is a term from Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, meaning a wise or skillful man; it often refers to someone who is a great Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

 scholar. The word is generally used to designate a cultured and learned person: "He who says a wise thing is called a wise man ["hakham"], even if he be not a Jew" (Meg.16a). Hence in Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

ic-Midrash

Midrash

The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....

ic literature wise and learned non-Jews are commonly called "hakme ummot ha-'olam" (the wise men of the nations).

In ancient times

"Hakham" as an official title is found as early as the first Sanhedrin

Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...

, after the reconstruction of that body, when the Hadrianic religious persecutions had ceased; in addition to the nasi

Nasi

Nāśī’ is a Hebrew title meaning prince in Biblical Hebrew, Prince in Mishnaic Hebrew, or president in Modern Hebrew.-Genesis and Ancient Israel:...

 Simon ben Gamaliel, two other scholars stood at the head of the Sanhedrin, namely, R. Nathan as Ab Bet Din, and Meïr as hakham. Another hakham mentioned by name was Simon, the son of Judah ha-Nasi I

Judah haNasi

Judah the Prince, or Judah I, also known as Rebbi or Rabbeinu HaKadosh , was a 2nd-century CE rabbi and chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah. He was a key leader of the Jewish community during the Roman occupation of Judea . He was of the Davidic line, the royal line of King David, hence the...

, who after the death of his father officiated as hakham with his elder brother, the nasi. Just what the functions of the hakham were is not clear. Rapoport's suggestion that he was the arbiter in matters of ritual prohibition and permission is highly improbable. Zecharias Frankel

Zecharias Frankel

Zecharias Frankel was a Bohemian-German rabbi and a historian who studied the historical development of Judaism. He was born in Prague and died in Breslau...

 looks upon the hakham as a presiding officer whose duty it was to examine a case in question from all points of view, and, having summed up the results, to present the matter for discussion. It is more probable, however, that the office of hakham was created in order to secure a majority in cases of difference of opinion between the nasi and the ab bet din

Av Beit Din

Av Beit Din, Av Beis Din, or Abh Beyth Diyn . was the second-highest ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Commonwealth period. He presided over the Sanhedrin in the absence of the Nasi, and was the chief of the Sanhedrin when it sat as a criminal court...

 in the affairs of the Sanhedrin; one of the most eminent scholars was always chosen for the post. A baraita

Baraita

Baraita designates a tradition in the Jewish oral law not incorporated in the Mishnah. "Baraita" thus refers to teachings "outside" of the six orders of the Mishnah...

 leads to the inference that the hakham was always the director of a school ("bet ha-midrash"), for in addition to the Great Sanhedrin, which later came to take the place of an academy, there were also private academies under the direction of eminent scholars. The origin of the office of hakham is as doubtful as its duration.

Frankel thinks that Joshua ben Hananiah

Joshua ben Hananiah

Joshua ben Hananiah was a leading tanna of the first half-century following the destruction of the Temple. He was of Levitical descent , and served in the sanctuary as a member of the class of singers . His mother intended him for a life of study, and, as an older contemporary, Dosa b. Harkinas,...

, who lived in the beginning of the second century C.E., was the first hakham, but he does not sufficiently support this assertion. The office seems to have existed in Palestine as long as the academy of the nasi. An amora

Amora

Amoraim , were renowned Jewish scholars who "said" or "told over" the teachings of the Oral law, from about 200 to 500 CE in Babylonia and the Land of Israel. Their legal discussions and debates were eventually codified in the Gemara...

 of the fourth century recounts the following rule of etiquette, still observed in his time: "When the hakham appears in the academy everyone present must rise as soon as he comes within four ells of him, and must remain standing until he has gone four ells beyond". It is hardly possible that the office of hakham existed in Babylonia, where the relation of the resh galuta

Exilarch

Exilarch refers to the leaders of the Diaspora Jewish community in Babylon following the deportation of King Jeconiah and his court into Babylonian exile after the first fall of Jerusalem in 597 BCE and augmented after the further deportations following the destruction...

 to the heads of the academy was entirely different from that existing in Palestine between the latter and the nasi. Here "hakham" was merely the term for a Jewish scholar who studied chiefly oral traditions, while the terms "sofer

Sofer (scribe)

A Sofer, Sopher Sofer SeTaM, or Sofer ST"M is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Torah scrolls and other religious writings such as those used in Tefillin and Mezuzot.By simple definition, a sofer is a copyist, but in their religious role in Judaism they...

" and "qara" were applied to Bible scholars. In the Seder 'Olam Zutza every resh galuta is accompanied by a hakham, who probably had charge of the religious affairs of the exilarchate; but as this work originated in Palestine, the author probably applied Palestinian conditions to Babylon. The Syrian Aphraates, who had met only Babylonian Jews, mentions a man "who is called the 'hakkima' of the Jews" (Homilies, xxiv), but this too may mean "the wise man" of the Jews.

Among the Sephardim

Among the Sephardim

Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...

 (Spanish-Portuguese Jews) "hakham" is the official title of the local rabbi, but it is not known how old the title is. Shelomo ben Aderet addresses some of his responsa to people with "le-hakham Rabbi . . ." (Responsa, Nos. 79, 395), others again with "la-rab Rabbi . . ." (Nos. 219, 346), but it is possible that "le-hakham" simply means "to the wise." The plural, "hakhamim," is generally used in the Talmud, and also by the Tannaim

Tannaim

The Tannaim were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 70-200 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 130 years...

, to designate the majority of scholars as against a single authority. The Aramean equivalent is "rabbanan."

The surname Hacham represents both Sepharadic and Ashkenazic Jews in its variations: Hacham, Hachamovich, Hachamson.

In Muslim countries

In Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 countries, a rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 was often called a hakham because al-Rab in Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 was one of the names of God and may have caused offense due to misunderstanding. Thus the chief rabbi

Chief Rabbi

Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...

 of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 was called the Hakham Bashi

Hakham Bashi

Hakham Bashi is the Turkish name for the Chief Rabbi of the nation's Jewish community.-History:The institution of the Hakham Bashi was established by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, as part of the millet system for governing exceedingly diverse subjects according to their own laws and authorities...

  (Hahambaşı حاخامباشی).

Although the word hakham is derived from the common Semitic root Ḥ

Heth

-People:* Children of Heth, a Canaanite nation in the Hebrew Bible, purportedly named after Heth, son of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah* figures in the Book of Mormon:** Heth , an early Jaredite** Heth a later Jaredite...

-K

Kaph

Kaph is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Kaf , Arabic alphabet , Persian alphabet...

-M

Mem

Mem is the thirteenth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic...

, the second consonant is generally spelled with a ḫāʾ in Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 and in languages that use Arabic script

Arabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...

, to reflect the Hebrew pronunciation: حاخام. The term is cognate

Cognate

In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...

 to the Arabic words ḥākim (a ruler or lord) and ḥakīm (a wise man or physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

).

Karaite Judaism

In Karaite Judaism

Karaite Judaism

Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a Jewish movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme legal authority in Halakhah, as well as in theology...

, spiritual leaders are called hakham to distinguish them from their Rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

nic (i.e. non-Karaite) counterparts. Since Karaite theology is based on the use of reason by individuals to determine the applications of the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

's laws for themselves, the role of a hakham is more "advisory" than that of a rabbi in standard Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

.