Rav Chaim Aryeh Rabinovitch

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Mar 15 2017, 16:07:18 UTC

It is to be noted that the Rav's family name was Spektor. It was common at that time to change one's name in Russia, having to do with military draft exemptions and regulatiions. The name Rabinovitch/Rabinowitz, which the sons adopted, means "son of the Rabbi" (see Shimoff, biography of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spektor).

Source (in Yiddish): Biography of Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan, "Lebens Geschichte fun Velt-Gaon, Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan ZTL" by Netta Lifschitz, son of Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan's personal secretary and right-hand man for over 30 years, Rabbi Yaacov Ha-Levi Lifschitz.

According to this biography, R'Chaim, born in Izabelin, Volkovysk, who had married the daughter of the gaon R' Yosele Boemer of Slutzk, died at the age of 40. His son, R' Yosele Rabinovitch grew up in Rav Yitzchak Elchanan's home.

Source: Shimoff biography of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spektor: R' Chaim didn't practice the rabbinate in his early years, even though he had studied with his father and father-in-law. He had a store in Kovno that eventually proved unsuccessful. Subsequently he agreed to take a rabbinical post in Kovno and became a Moreh Horaha (assistant rabbi in charge of ritual questions). He fell ill and died on May 2, 1874, at the age of 40. The Rav then took Chaim's son, Joseph Rabinovitch, into his home and raised him along with his granddaughter, Zlata, who was orphaned when her mother Rachel died in 1876.

                                                   ---Shirley Portnoy