Throughout the Orthodox world, the Modern Orthodox world in particular, when people spoke of “the Rav,” the reference invariably was to Rabbi Soloveitchik, as in “I studied with the Rav,” or “The Rav teaches that . . .” Similarly, when people spoke of “the Rebbe,” they were most often—unless they were Chasidic followers of a different Rebbe—referring to Rabbi Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
