RABINOVITZ, JOSHUA BEN ELIJAH:
Russian rabbi; born at Shat, near Kaidan, in 1818; died at Nesvizh, government of Minsk, March 18, 1887. Rabinovitz was instructed in Talmud and rabbinics by his father, who was known as Elijah Ragoler. At the age of eighteen he married the daughter of a wealthy resident of Kletzk, where he afterward became head of the yeshibah and, in 1847, rabbi. Twenty years later he was invited to the rabbinate of Nesvizh, where he officiated until his death. Rabinovitz's fame was such that even Christians accepted him as an arbitrator in their disputes, and he was held in great esteem by Prince Radziwill, the proprietor of Nesvizh (comp. Leon Gordon in "Ha-Asif," 1889).
Bibliography:
- Toledot Eliyahu Frumkin, p. 27, Wilna, 1900;
- Keneset Yisrael, 1888, p. 260;
- Steinschneider, 'Ir Wilna, p. 278;
- Naḥalat Abot, p. 24, Wilna, 1894.
