Chaim Shalom Tuvia Rabinowitz, also known as Reb Chaim Telzer, (1856 – 21 October 1931) was an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

and

rosh yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and th ...

of the

Telshe yeshiva Telshe Yeshiva (; ; also spelled ''Telz'') is a yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, formerly located in Telšiai, Lithuania. During World War II the yeshiva relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in the United States and is now known as the Rabbinical College of ...

. He developed a unique method of

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic analysis which became renowned throughout the

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

world as the ''Telzer Derech''.

Biography

He was born in the town of

Luokė Luokė (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Loukė'') is a town in Telšiai County, Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 629 people. The Church of All Saints, Luokė, Church of All Saints is located in the town. Luo ...

, Lithuania, and studied under rabbis

Meir Simcha of Dvinsk Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (also known as Meir Simcha Ha-Kohen, 1843 – 14 August 1926) was an Orthodox rabbi in the Russian Empire and Latvia. A leader of the Jewish community in Daugavpils, he is known for his writings on Maimonides' Mishneh Tora ...

Yisroel Salanter Yisrael ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin, also known as "Israel Salanter" or "Yisroel Salanter" (November 3, 1809 – February 2, 1883), was the father of the Musar movement in Orthodox Judaism and a famed Rosh yeshiva and Talmudist. The epithet ''Salanter ...

, and

Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor or Isaac Elhanan Spector (; 1817 – March 6, 1896) was a Russian rabbi, ''posek'' and Talmudist of the 19th century. Early life Spektor was born in Ros', Belarus (Yiddish: Rosh), then part of the Grodno Governorate ...

. He married Osnat Geffen (1880–1942) with whom he had two sons, Yosef and Azriel. Following the death of Spektor in 1896, his son, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Spektor, renamed the yeshiva in

Kovno Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

that his father had founded Knesses Beis Yitzchok and chose Rabinowitz as the first rosh yeshiva. After this, Rabinowitz served as rabbi to the town of Meishad, Lithuania.

Telshe

Rabinowitz next moved to the Telshe yeshiva as a ''

rosh mesivta The title ''rosh mesivta'' (alt. ''rosh metivta''; ; from Jewish Babylonian Aramaic ''rêsh mṯivtā'' ), abbreviated as Ram (), is a term in Jewish education for the person in charge of a Jewish all-boys high school, as "Rosh" in Hebrew means "H ...

'' under Rabbi

Eliezer Gordon Rabbi Eliezer Gordon (; 1841–1910) also known as Reb Laizer Telzer (), served as the rabbi and ''rosh yeshiva'' of Telz, Lithuania. Early years Eliezer Gordon was born in 1841 in the village of Chernyaty (or Chernian in Yiddish), Belarus, ...

. In 1904 Rabbi

Shimon Shkop Shimon Yehuda Shkop (; 1860 – October 22, 1939) was Rosh Yeshiva (dean) of the Yeshiva of Telshe, and later of Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah of Grodno. Having innovated a style of Torah study, applying both to Halacha and to Talmud, he was widely r ...

, who had replaced Gordon as rosh yeshiva, left the Telshe yeshiva and Rabinowitz replaced him as rosh yeshiva. Rabinowitz taught in the Telshe yeshiva for twenty-six years. He was known for his '' shiurim'' (lectures) in

Halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

(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. Among his students was Rabbi Shimon Schwab.

Death and legacy

Rabinowitz died on 21 October 1931 (10

Cheshvan Marcheshvan (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard , Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ; from Akkadian language, Akkadian , literally, 'eighth month'), generally shortened to Cheshvan (, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, S ...

5692) and was buried in the Kovno Jewish cemetery. 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 Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in Telshe in 1941 and 1942 in the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. 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 Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, under the title ''Chiddushei Rabbi Chaim MiTelz''.

References

External links

An explanation and synopsis of the ''Telzer Derech''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabinowitz, Chaim Rosh yeshivas 1856 births 1931 deaths Date of birth missing Lithuanian Jews Rabbis from Telšiai