Chaim Zanvl Abramowitz

Chaim Zanvl Abramowitz
Title	Ribnitzer Rebbe
Personal
Born	Chaim Zanvl Abramowitz 1902 Botoşani, Romania
Religion	Judaism
Signature
Began	1930?
Ended	18 October 1995

Chaim Zanvl Abramowitz (Yiddish: חיים זאנוויל אבראמאוויטש‎, Hebrew: חיים זנוויל אברהמוביץ, born 1902 – died 18 October 1995) was known as the Ribnitzer Rebbe (ריבניצער רבי‎), and considered a great Hasidic tzadik from Rybnitsa (present-day Transnistria, Moldova). Others, including singer Mordechai Ben David, who was one of the rabbi's close disciples, maintain that he was born in 1893, making him 102 when he died.^[1]

Abramowitz was a prominent follower of Rabbi Avrohom Matisyohu of Shtefanesht.^[2]

He managed to live a fully Jewish religious life even under Stalin's rule. He served as mohel and shochet. He often fasted and immersed himself many times daily in water that was sometimes only accessible by chopping away very thick ice. His Tikkun Chatzos (midnight prayer service) in sackcloth and ashes regularly lasted 6–7 hours, sometimes stretching as long as 12. He cried so much during Tikkun Chatzos that when he was done, the tears and ashes mingled so that he was sitting in mud.^[3]

Abramowitz left the Soviet Union in 1970 and moved to the Mattersdorf section of Jerusalem, where he lived for a few years before moving to the United States. He lived in Miami, Los Angeles, and Sea Gate, Brooklyn, before he finally settled in Monsey, New York, where he died on Isru Chag (Succos). He was believed to be 92 or 93 years old. He is buried in the Vizhnitzer Cemetery. Whilst he did not leave offspring, he is succeeded by his student Rabbi Duvid Yitschok Schick, who leads a congregation named Zicrhon Chaim in Boro Park. Nearly 30,000 people visited his gravesite on his 23rd yahrtzeit.^[4]

References

External links

• Profile,; accessed 22 June 2017.
• Video of The Ribnitzer saying sheva brachos, mahnishmah.com; accessed 22 June 2017.
• Jungreis, Esther. "There Are No Accidents ... "A story is told about the Ribnitzer Rebbe...", hineni.org; accessed 22 June 2017.
• A message from MBD, the3ms.co.uk; accessed 22 June 2017.