A rabbi? Not quite

Perusing Rabbi Irving Greenberg's popular commentary on Avot, Sage Advice, my eye was drawn to a footnote (there aren't that many in this readable tome) that referred to the source of a quote. This quote came from "Rabbi Travers Herford, Pirkei Aboth: Ethics of the Talmud: Sayings of the Fathers". 

I know this book because I possess a copy of it, am very fond of it and have literally read it to pieces. However, the reason why I am mentioning it is because it illustrates a point that has frequently troubled me: the dangers that lurk behind initials.

The book itself describes the author as "R. Travers Herford". Many people use R. or R' as an informal abbreviation of "Rabbi", and it is not unreasonable to assume that the "R." here means exactly that. The real story, as you may by now have guessed, is different. In this context, "R." stands for "Robert", a fairly common forename and not as memorable as "Travers". The man himself does have semichah -- of a sort. He was not a rabbi, but an ordained minister of the Unitarian Church. His book on Avot is unusual, in that part of his aim was to persuade fellow Christians that they should read and appreciate Jewish texts from the perspective of the Pharisees (i.e. guardians of Judaism based on both the Tanach and rabbinical law), rather than read and condemn it because it is not in accord with Christian doctrine.