| Ribnitzer Rebbe | |
| Began: | 1930? |
| Ended: | 18 October 1995 |
| Birth Name: | Chaim Zanvl Abramowitz |
| Birth Date: | 1902 |
| Birth Place: | Botoşani, Romania |
| Date Of Death: | 18 October 1995 (92/93) |
| Place Of Death: | Monsey, New York, U.S. |
| Signature: | Rivnitza Rebbe's signature.svg |
Chaim Zanvl Abramowitz (Yiddish: {{Script/Hebrew|חיים זאנוויל אבראמאוויטש, Hebrew: חיים זנוויל אברהמוביץ, born 1902 – died 18 October 1995) was known as the Ribnitzer Rebbe,[1] and considered a great Hasidic tzadik from Rybnitsa (present-day Transnistria, Moldova). Others, including singer Mordechai Ben David, who was one of the rabbi's close disciples, maintain that he was born in 1893, making him 102 when he died.[2]
Abramowitz was a prominent follower of Rabbi Avrohom Matisyohu of Shtefanesht.[3]
He managed to live a fully Jewish religious life even under Stalin's rule. He served as mohel and shochet. He often fasted and immersed himself many times daily in water that was sometimes only accessible by chopping away very thick ice. His Tikkun Chatzos (midnight prayer service) in sackcloth and ashes regularly lasted 6–7 hours, sometimes stretching as long as 12. He cried so much during Tikkun Chatzos that when he was done, the tears and ashes mingled so that he was sitting in mud.[4]
Abramowitz left the Soviet Union in 1970 and moved to the Mattersdorf section of Jerusalem, where he lived for a few years before moving to the United States. He lived in Miami, Los Angeles, and Sea Gate, Brooklyn,[5] before he finally settled in Monsey, New York, where he died on Isru Chag (Succos). He was believed to be 92 or 93 years old. He is buried in the Vizhnitzer Cemetery. Whilst he did not leave offspring, he is succeeded by his student Rabbi Duvid Yitschok Schick, who leads a congregation named Zicrhon Chaim in Boro Park. Nearly 30,000 people visited his gravesite on his 23rd yahrtzeit.[6]
A school in Monsey, Yeshiva Nachlas Chaim, is named after Abramowitz;[7] thousands visit his gravesite on the anniversary of his death.[2] [6]