Chaim Rabinowitz

He was born in the town of Luokė, Lithuania,{{cite book |url=https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=7339&pgnum=58 |page=58 |language=Hebrew |title=HaGaon Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, zt"l |last=Rabiner |first=Rabbi Zev Aryeh |year=1968 |publisher=Biegeleisen Hebrew Book Store}} and studied under rabbis Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, Yisroel Salanter, and Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor.{{cite web |url=http://www.aishdas.org/rygb/telshe.htm |title=Telshe: 120 years since the founding of the yeshiva |last=Bechhofer|first=Rabbi Yosef Gavriel|accessdate=14 February 2011 |publisher=aishdas.org}} He married Osnat Geffen (1880–1942) with whom he had two sons, Yosef and Azriel.{{cite web |url=http://www.ourfamilystory.net/GeffenofVilkomir/FAMILYTR/GEFFEN/202.HTM |title=Osnat Geffen |publisher=ourfamilystory.net |accessdate=16 February 2011 |date=15 October 2007}}

Following the death of Spektor in 1896, his son, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Spektor, renamed the yeshiva in Kovno that his father had founded Knesses Beis Yitzchok and chose Rabinowitz as the first rosh yeshiva.{{cite book|last=Sherman|first=Moshe D.|title=Orthodox Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgMCSrDxKGAC&q=%22Chaim+rabinowitz%22|year=1996|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-24316-5|page=48}}{{cite news|url=http://www.yucommentator.com/2.2843/the-torah-and-rabbinics-of-the-early-yc-years-1.298922?pagereq=2|title=The Torah and Rabbinics of the Early YC Years|last=Rakeffet-Rothkoff|first=Aaron|authorlink=Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff|date=18 May 2005|work=The Commentator|access-date=10 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718150145/http://www.yucommentator.com/2.2843/the-torah-and-rabbinics-of-the-early-yc-years-1.298922?pagereq=2|archive-date=18 July 2011|url-status=dead}} After this, Rabinowitz served as rabbi to the town of Meishad, Lithuania.

Rabinowitz next moved to the Telshe yeshiva as a rosh mesivta under Rabbi Eliezer Gordon. In 1904 Rabbi Shimon Shkop, who had replaced Gordon as rosh yeshiva, left the Telshe yeshiva and Rabinowitz replaced him as rosh yeshiva.{{cite web |url=http://matzav.com/rav-eliezer-gordon-ztl-rosh-yeshivas-telshe-on-his-100th-yahrtzeit-today-4-adar |title=Rav Eliezer Gordon zt"l, Rosh Yeshivas Telshe, On His 100th Yahrtzeit, Today, 4 Adar |last=Sofer |first=D. |date=18 February 2010 |accessdate=14 February 2011 |publisher=matzav.com}} Rabinowitz taught in the Telshe yeshiva for twenty-six years. He was known for his shiurim (lectures) in Halakha (Jewish law) and his chakira (intensive investigation) into each subject he taught. In each chakira, he would present to his students the two opposing viewpoints and teach them how to dissect each argument point-by-point, developing their acuity and analytical skills.{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualjudaica.com/Item/17608/47_lecture_stenciled_booklets |title=Description Information |publisher=Virtual Judaica |accessdate=15 February 2011 |year=2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717211713/http://www.virtualjudaica.com/Item/17608/47_lecture_stenciled_booklets |archivedate=17 July 2011 }}

Among his students was Rabbi Shimon Schwab.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYURAQAAIAAJ&q=chaim+rabinowitz+telzer |title=Rav Schwab on Prayer |last1=Schwab |first1=Shimon |last2=Schwab |first2=Moshe|authorlink1=Shimon Schwab |year=2001 |publisher=Mesorah Publications |isbn=1-57819-512-8 |page=ix}}

Rabinowitz died on 21 October 1931 (10 Cheshvan 5692) and was buried in the Kovno Jewish cemetery.{{cite web |url=http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives/RYKfeatures.htm |title=To Rededicate Koenigsburg – He Established Elul (The Alter of Kelm about Rav Yisroel Salanter) |last=Sher |first=Chaim |date=12 September 2001 |accessdate=15 February 2011 |publisher=Dei'ah VeDibur |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061028011608/http://www.chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives/RYKfeatures.htm |archivedate=28 October 2006 }} His son, Rabbi Azriel Rabinowitz (1905–1941), assumed his father's position as rosh yeshiva of the Telshe yeshiva.

Rabinowitz has no surviving descendants, as his wife, sons and their families were all murdered by the Nazis in Telshe in 1941 and 1942 in the Holocaust.{{cite web |url=http://www.ourfamilystory.net/GeffenofVilkomir/FAMILYTR/GEFFEN/204.HTM |title=Rabbi Azriel Rabinovitz |publisher=ourfamilystory.net |accessdate=16 February 2011 |date=15 October 2007}}

Rabinowitz's Talmudic lectures were recorded by a special yeshiva editorial committee and made available to students. The unpublished shiurim of Rabinowitz and Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch are now in the Telshe yeshiva of Cleveland.

Three volumes of Rabinowitz's Talmudic lectures have been published by the Telshe yeshiva in Cleveland, under the title Chiddushei Rabbi Chaim MiTelz.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.aishdas.org/rygb/telshe.htm An explanation and synopsis of the Telzer Derech]
• [http://www.aishdas.org/rygb/derachim.htm "An Analysis of Darchei HaLimud (Methodologies of Talmud Study) Centering on a Cup of Tea"]

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Category:Rosh yeshivas

Category:1856 births

Category:1931 deaths

Category:Date of birth missing

Category:Lithuanian Jews

Category:Rabbis from Telšiai