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Shlomo Chanoch Rabinowicz

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Not to be confused withShlomo Rabinowicz,the first Radomsker Rebbe.
Shlomo Chanoch Rabinowicz
TitleFourth Radomsker Rebbe
Personal
Born
Shlomo Chanoch Hakohen Rabinowicz

1882
Radomsko,Poland
Died1 August 1942 (18Av5702) (age 60)
Warsaw Ghetto,Poland
ReligionJudaism
ChildrenReizel[1][2]
Parent
  • Yechezek Hakohen Rabinowicz (father)
Jewish leader
PredecessorYechezkel Hakohen Rabinowicz
Began1910
Ended1942
Main workShivchei Kohen
DynastyRadomsk

Shlomo Chanoch Hakohen Rabinowicz(also spelledRabinowitz,Rabinowich,Rabinovitch) (1882 – 1 August 1942) was the fourth and lastrebbeof theRadomskhasidicdynasty. He was the eldest son of the third Radomsker rebbe,Yechezkel Rabinowiczand great-grandson of the founder of the dynasty,Shlomo Rabinowicz,known as theTiferes Shlomo.Under his leadership, Radomsk became the third largesthasidic dynastyin Poland, afterGerandAlexander.Rabinowicz built a network of 36 yeshivas across Poland and Galicia that enrolled over 4,000 students by 1939. He was murdered in theWarsaw Ghettotogether with his entire family.

Biography

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Rabinowicz was born inRadomsko,Poland, the eldest of two sons of the third Radomsker rebbe, Yechezkel Hakohen Rabinowicz.[3]His wife was the daughter of a rabbi[4]and they had one daughter, Reizel,[1]who married her father's first cousin,David Moshe Rabinowicz,[5]in 1929.[2]

Rabinowicz succeeded as rebbe on his father's death in 1910.[1]On the eve of World War II, Radomsk was the third largesthasidic dynastyin Poland, afterGerandAlexander.[1]

He was wealthy[4][6]and owned a glass factory and homes inBerlin,Warsaw,[7]andSosnowiec,where he lived after World War I.[1]He also amassed a large personal library of old manuscripts and prints.[4]

Although he suffered fromdiabeteslike his father and grandfather, who both died of complications from diabetes when they were 48, his life was extended by the discovery ofinsulinin 1921.[8]

Keser Torah yeshiva network

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Main article:Keser Torah Radomsk

World War I uprooted hundreds of thousands of Jews and decimated established communities. Traditionally, Hasidic youth had learned Torah from their elders and picked up the customs and lore of their Hasidic groups in theshtiebelachof Poland and Galicia. Now the Radomsker Rebbe proposed a new method of Hasidic education. OnLag B'Omer1926, he announced his plan to establish a network of yeshivas calledKeser Torah(Crown of Torah). Soon after, eight yeshivas were opened inBędzin,Podgórze,Chrzanów,Wolbrom,Oświęcim,Częstochowa,Łódźand Kraków.[1]Though Hasidic in nature, the yeshivas did not promote Radomsker Hasidut, nor did they staff only Radomsker Hasidim.[2]Each yeshiva had its ownrosh yeshivaand initially studied its ownTalmudictractate; later, all the yeshivas studied the same tractate at the same time. The Rebbe paid for the entire operation, including staff salaries, food, and student lodging, out of his own pocket.[1][2]

At the same time, the Rebbe established Kibbutz Govoha in the city of Sosnowiece exclusively for high-level students andavreichim(married students) and appointed his son-in-law, Rabbi David Moshe Hakohen Rabinowicz (1906–1942), a brilliant Torah scholar, to head it. Rabbi David Moshe also served as rosh yeshiva of the entire Keser Torah network, monitoring students' progress, deliveringshiurim,and administering the end of the semester tests.[2]By 1930, nine yeshivas and the kibbutz were functioning. Over the following decade, more yeshivas were added.[1]On the eve of World War II, there were 36 Keser Torah yeshivas enrolling over 4,000 students in Poland. The yeshivas were disbanded after the Germaninvasion of Polandin 1939, and most of their students were murdered in the Holocaust.[1]

World War II

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When war broke out, the Rebbe was in Lódź. His Hasidim completed arrangements to fly him to Italy by mid-1940, but he refused, saying, "I want to be with all the Jews".[9][10]The Rebbe eventually escaped toAlexander,but from there was most likely sent by the Nazis into the Warsaw Ghetto.[4]

The Radomsker Rebbe was one of the prominent Hasidic Rebbes incarcerated in the Warsaw Ghetto; others included thePiaseczner Rebbe;the Alexander Rebbe, theSochatchover Rebbe,the Krimilover Rebbe, and the Strickover Rebbe.[11]Rabinowicz was registered as a worker in the Shultz factory. Notwithstanding the danger, he refused to shave off his beard.[12]

The Rebbe's son-in-law, Rabbi David Moshe Rabinowicz, gave regularshiurim(lectures) in the Warsaw Ghetto, and also composed manychiddushim(novelTorahthoughts) which his students recorded. All of thesechiddushimas well as thesefarimhe had written previously were lost in the war.[2][13]

Death and legacy

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Memorial to Rabinowicz in theWarsaw Jewish cemetery.

Rabinowicz and all the members of his family, including his only daughter, son-in-law, and their infant son, were murdered by the Nazis on 1 August 1942.[14]When the Nazis stormed his house to deport its residents to theChelmno extermination camp,Rabinowicz refused to leave, saying, "I know you've come to kill me. I prefer to die here in my house and not in a car filled with poison gas". He then recited theShema( "Hear, Jewish people, the Lord our God, the Lord is one" ) and was shot in the head when he reached the last word,Echad(One). His family members were shot together with him.[4][12]They were buried in a mass grave in Warsaw's main cemetery.[1][2][14]

With his death the father-to-son lineage of Radomsker rebbes came to an end. His brother, Rabbi Elimelech Aryeh Hakohen Rabinowicz, died in theMauthausen concentration camp.[15]

In 1965Menachem Shlomo BornsztainofSochatchov(whose grandfather, the second Sochatchover rebbe,Shmuel Bornsztain,married the granddaughter of the first Radomsker rebbe, Shlomo Rabinowicz)[16]) become the Radomsker rebbe as well and was known as the Sochatchover-Radomsker rebbe.

Rabinowicz's teachings and those of his son-in-law, David Moshe Rabinowicz, were compiled in the bookShivchei Kohen( "Praises of the Priest" ).[17]

Rebbes of Radomsk

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  1. Shlomo Hakohen Rabinowicz,theTiferes Shlomo(1801–1866)
  2. Avraham Yissachar Dov Hakohen Rabinowicz,theChesed LeAvraham(1843–1892)
  3. Yechezkel Hakohen Rabinowicz,theKenesses Yechezkel(1862–1910)
  4. Shlomo Chanoch Hakohen Rabinowicz,theShivchei Kohen(1882–1942)
  5. Menachem Shlomo Bornsztain,Sochatchover-RadomskerRebbe (1934–1969)

References

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  1. ^abcdefghijTannenbaum, Rabbi Gershon (7 April 2009)."Radomsker Rebbe's Yahrzeit".The Jewish Press.Archived fromthe originalon 15 June 2012.Retrieved12 July2011.
  2. ^abcdefg"Keser Torah Radomsk".radomsk.org. Archived fromthe originalon 18 February 2012.Retrieved20 July2011.
  3. ^Poznanski, Yehieil."Remembrances of the Past".Radomsko Memorial Book.Retrieved7 July2011.
  4. ^abcdeUnger, Manashe (19 April 1950)."Radomsker Rebbe Who Perished in Jewish Martyrdom in the Warsaw Ghetto".Day-Morning Journal.Retrieved12 July2011.
  5. ^Rabinowicz, Tzvi (1988).Hasidism: The movement and its masters.J. Aronson. p. 276.ISBN0-87668-998-5.
  6. ^Geltwert, Jack (2002).From Auschwitz to Ithaca: The transnational journey of Jack Geltwert.CDL Press. p. 45.ISBN1-883053-74-9.
  7. ^Rabinowicz, Tzvi (1970).The World of Hasidim.Hartmore House. p. 167.ISBN9780876770054.
  8. ^Besser, Rabbi Shlomo C. "The Chessed L'Avraham of Radomsk: In honor of his 120th yahrtzeit, 13 Elul".Hamodia,30 August 2012, pp. C2–C6.
  9. ^Farbstein, Esther(2007).Hidden In Thunder: Perspectives on faith, halachah and leadership during the Holocaust.Feldheim Publishers.p. 118.ISBN978-965-7265-05-5.
  10. ^Schindler, Pesach (1990).Hasidic Responses to the Holocaust in the Light of Hasidic Thought.Ktav Publishing House. p. 74.ISBN0-88125-310-3.
  11. ^Friedman, Jonathan C. (2011).The Routledge History of the Holocaust.Taylor & Francis e-library. pp. 339, 346.ISBN978-0-203-83744-3.
  12. ^abKaliv World Center (2002).Shema Yisrael: Testimonies of devotion, courage, and self-sacrifice, 1939-1945.Targum Press. p. 330.ISBN1-56871-271-5.
  13. ^Shema Yisrael,pp. 329–330.
  14. ^abTannenbaum, Rabbi Gershon (7 April 2009)."Radomsker Rebbe's Yahrzeit".The Jewish Press.Retrieved12 July2011.
  15. ^Rabinowicz, Tzvi (1970).The World of Hasidism.Hartmore House. p. 175.ISBN9780876770054.
  16. ^Belovski, Zvi (1998).Shem Mishmuel.Targum Press.p. xx.ISBN1-56871-141-7.
  17. ^Amsel, Meir (1986).Encyclopedia Hamaor: Perpetual memoirs and responsa in 4 divisions.Congregation and Yeshiva Hamaor. p. 182.
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