Baruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel Rabinowicz

Infobox Rebbe
title = Munkaczer Rebbe


caption = Grand Rabbi Baruch Rabinovich (right) in Mukacevo, 1939
term =1937 – 1946
full name = Baruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel Rabinovich
main work =
predecessor =Chaim Elazar Spira
successor =Moshe Leib Rabinovich, Yizchok Yakov Rabinovich
spouse1 =Chaya Frima Rivka daughter of Chaim Elazar Spira
issue1 = Tzvi Rabinovich
Chaim Elazar Rabinovich
Moshe Leib Rabinovich
Yitzchok Yakov Rabinovich
Yita Willamowsky
spouse2 = Yehudis Wallhaus
issue2 = L'via Grossman Yair Rabinovich
dynasty = Munkacz
father =Noson Dovid Rabinovich of Parczew
mother =Yitta Spira of Stryzow
date of birth = 1913
place of birth =
date of death =1999
place of death =Israel
date of burial =
place of burial = Petah Tikva, Israel|

Grand Rabbi Baruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel Rabinovich, (1913-1999), was born into a distinguished chasidic dynasty, and succeeded to the title Munkaczer Rebbe.

Early years

Boruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel was born in Poland in 1913 to his parents, Rabbi Noson Dovid Rabinovich (1868-1930), the Partzever Rebbe, and Yitta Spira. His father was the eldest son of Reb Yaakov Yitzchak of Biala (1847-1905). His mother was the daughter of Reb Moshe Leib Spira of Stryzow (1850-1916), of the Munkatch dynasty.

Marriage

In 1933 Reb Boruch married Frima Chaya Rivka, the only daughter of his mother's first cousin Reb Chaim Elazar Spira (1872-1937), Munkacser Rebbe and Chief Rabbi of Munkacs. This union set him on course to succeed his father-in-law as rabbi and 'Admor' of Munkacs. His wedding – attended by some 30,000 guests - was one of the grandest and most celebrated chasidic weddings of the era that immediately preceded World War II, and film footage of the wedding, shot by news teams who were there to record the event, was seen widely across the world.

Rabbi of Munkacs

Reb Boruch's elevation to the position as rov and rebbe of Munkacs in 1937 following the death of his father-in-law was rudely disrupted by the beginning of the war, when he was unceremoniously deported to Poland. He was miraculously released soon afterwards and he promptly moved with his family from Munkacs to Budapest, where he managed to obtain visas and escape to Palestine. There he endeavoured to rebuild his shattered life but, as well as having to deal with the tragedy of the Holocaust and the deaths and disruption it had caused, his wife - always of frail health - died in April 1945.

Post-war

In 1946 Reb Boruch tried and failed to become the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, and shortly thereafter he moved to São Paulo, Brazil, together with his second wife, in this way totally cutting himself off from his surviving chasidim and from his position as head of one of pre-war Hungary's pre-eminent chasidic dynasties. In addition, as a result of a change of theological direction, Reb Boruch had become sympathetic to Zionism and the State of Israel, concepts that had been anathema to his father-in-law and most of pre-War Hungarian orthodoxy. The Munkatcher chasidim who had survived the war were devastated by his refusal to lead them and many of them never forgave him for turning his back on them and for diverging so dramatically from the philosophy espoused by his esteemed father-in-law.

Reb Boruch returned to Israel in 1963 to become Chief Rabbi of Holon. He later moved to Petah Tikva where he headed a small Beis Hamedrash until his death in 1999. His sons, Reb Moshe Leib Rabinovich is the Rebbe of Munkacs and resides in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn, NY, and Reb Yizchok Yakov Rabinovich is the Rebbe of Dinov and resides in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY.

Reb Boruch was a great scholar of Talmud and halacha and his encyclopedic knowledge of traditional Jewish sources was widely reputed. In addition to this he was also a gifted orator, although his relative obscurity and personal desire to remain out of the limelight meant that he rarely spoke outside of his own immediate vicinity. In 1997, he published his works entitled "Divrei Nevonim" and "Binat Nevonim".

ee also

*Munkacz (Hasidic dynasty)

External links

[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1622609518319953327&q=munkatch Wedding in Munkacs]