The first chassidic rebbe buried in the US
Known as the first chassidic rebbe buried in the US, Rav Eliyahu Yosef Rabinowitz’s kever has become a
popular destination in recent years. Scion of the Linitz-Slavita dynasty, his ancestors included two close students of the Baal Shem Tov, Rav Pinchas of Koritz and Rav Gedaliah of Linitz. The latter is a primary source for the anecdotal compendium Shivchei HaBesht, which is one of the earliest documents about the life of his great teacher.
Rav Rabinowitz emigrated from Kishinev, Ukraine, at the peak of the mass exodus of Russian Jewry at the turn of the 20th century. Following a stint on the Lower East Side, in 1908 he accepted an invitation to assume the rabbinate of the Jefferson Street Shul in Buffalo. During the course of his short-lived rabbinic career there, he made a valiant attempt to strengthen traditional Jewish life in the community and beyond.
Heartbroken by the many agunos created by the chaotic situation in the immigrant community in the United States, Rav Rabinowitz proposed a novel solution to alleviate their plight. Claiming to have previously corresponded with and garnered the support of senior Torah luminaries, this great talmid chacham established criteria where marriages could be halachically terminated in extenuating circumstances, and implored his fellow rabbanim to join him in this endeavor.
Prior to leaving the Ukraine, the future Buffalo Rebbe was the chavrusa of his brother-in-law — the Hornosteipler Rebbe, Rav Mordechai Dov Ber Twerski. As fate would have it, the descendants of the Hornosteipel dynasty — in Denver, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and other cities — would also be among the original rebbes to settle in America.
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