Rabbi Shalom Menashe Rabinovitch, the father of the diarist, was born in 27.6.1820 to father Rabbi Moshe Aharon, Av-Beit-Din, in Milietzitz, Poland and mother Pesha.
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| Rabbi Shalom Menashe Rabinovitz |
According to a family record,
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| A list of Rabbi Shalom Menashe's children |
Summarizing the family tree (here), Rabbi Rabinovitch and his wife Lieba Sarah had four sons:
• Shmuel Eliezer Rabinovitz
• R’ Moshe Aharon Spektor
• R’ Tzvi Yehuda (Hirsh Leib) Leibzon
• R’ Baruch Meir Rozenblum
and two daughters,
• Hannah Pesha
• Bracha Malka
(The reasons for differing surnames of the sons may include 1. generating multiple apparent only sons, who were exempt from military conscription, and 2. very early marriage, too young for acceptance by civil authorities, in which case
children received the mother's family name.)
In 1856 Rabbi Shalom Menashe Rabinovitch moved with his family to Brisk D’Lita [Brest] and served there as Rabbi and head of Yeshiva “Beit HaMidrash HaYarok” [the Green Beit-Midrash]. (See here for more about the site of the Beit-Midrash and Shalom Menashe's home.)
This description of Rabbi Shalom Menashe
A short and thin man ... but seven times great in spirit. In his youth he taught Gemarah to the youth of Brisk. He used to pray in the Green Shul on Kshiwa Street. He was great and hassid in deeds.
...
even though he did not serve in an official position in the Rabbinate he gave at least seven lessons every day in the same Bet-Midrash that was close to his house.
appears in The Rabbi from Brisk, by Shimon Miller, part A, Biography of Our Teacher the Rabbi HaLevi, pages 358, article The Righteous Gaon Rabbi Shalom Menashe Rabinovitz, in Hebrew. (WorldCat Catalog page, here.) (View page 358).
He died in 1904 and was buried in the Old Cemetery of Brest.
| Notes: In some cases, Rabbi Shalom Menashe is referenced with the surname Rozenblum. The details match, so it is clear that Rabbi Shalom Menashe Rozenblum is the same person as Rabbi Shalom Menashe Rabinovitch. A family record: a cousin of Rabbi Baruch Meir Rozenblum also kept a diary, but it was composed of mostly mundane information -- which fortunately includes such information as the names of Rabbi Baruch Meir's siblings, and his ancestors Rabbi Shlomo Galdes and Rabbi Shalom Menashe. Av-Beit-Din (common acronym: AB"D) Head of Rabbinical Court |
