rabbi Salomon Henoch Rabinowicz (1882–01.08.1942)

Rabinowicz was born in Radomsko. When he became a Rebbe at twenty-nine, he was already a successful businessman doing business in Berlin, Łódź, Warsaw and Krakow. Instead of accepting donations as was customary, he helped his Hasidim financially on many occasions. In 1926, he announced his plan to create a network of yeshivas, known as the Keser Torah. Soon after, eight yeshivas were opened in Będzin, Podgórze, Chrzanów, Wolbrom, Oświęcim, Częstochowa, Łódź and Kraków.

After the outbreak of the war, the rabbi, who was resting in the Carpathians, returned to Łódź, where he was persuaded to flee Poland as long as it was still possible. He refused, arguing that he wanted to stay with his Jewish brothers. Around the time of Hanukkah in the first year of the war, he came to Warsaw, where he initially lived on Dzielna Street, and then moved to the apartment of one of his Hasidim, Rabbi Nosson Ehrlich, at 30 Nowolipki Street. His escape was planned several times, but the Rebbe refused to use the such a chance. In mid-1940, his Hasidim completed preparations for his escape to Italy, but he refused, saying: “I want to be with all the Jews.” During his stay in the ghetto, regular prayer services were held in his apartment. The rebbe and all members of his family, including their only daughter, son-in-law and their little son, were murdered during the ‘Great Liquidation Action’ in the ghetto, on August 1, 1942, in his apartment.

The ohel dedicated to Salomon Henoch Rabinowicz is located in the Jewish cemetery at ul. Okopowa in Warsaw. This ohel is a symbolic grave of his wife Ester and daughter Reizel.

translated by Adam Grossman