GRAND RABBI DAVID MATTISYAHU RABINOWITZ, ZY"A PREVIOUS BIALA REBBE OF BNEI BRAK

GRAND RABBI DAVID MATTISYAHU RABINOWITZ, ZT"L

BIALA REBBE OF BNEI BRAK

Grand Rabbi David Mattisyahu Rabinowitz was born in Shedlitz, Poland on the eve of Hanukkah, 5689, (December 7, 1928). He was named David after his great-grandfather, Rabbi Nathan David of Shidlovtza, and Mattisyahu after the hero of the Hanukkah story, since his bris was on the seventh day of Hannukkah. Already as a small child, he would wake up early to learn Torah and to pray with a fiery love of God, a way of prayer that he would follow his entire life. During the difficult years of the war, his father was exiled to Russia. Young David Mattisyahu, together with two of his brothers and his sister, escaped to Tehran, Iran (Persia). The children came to the Holy Land with the transport known as Yaldei Tehran (the Children of Tehran). When Rabbi Yoseph Kahaneman, the Ponevezher Rav, heard that the children of the Biala Rebbe had come to Eretz Yisrael, he made special effort to make sure that these children were taken to live a Torah life. Rabbi David Mattisyahu learned in Yeshivah in Ponevezh, with a devotion to learning Torah constantly, and was reknowned in Yeshivah for his warm prayers, and was often picked to lead special prayer services on holidays, especially the Hallel service. The entire Yeshivah was inspired by his fiery devotion to prayer. His father, Rabbi Yechiel Yehoshua, the Biala Rebbe, arrived in the Holy Land in 1947, and was reunited with his children. Rabbi David Mattisyahu got married then, and received his Rabbinical ordination from Grand Rabbi Yoseph Tzvi Kalish of Skernevitz, the Chief Rabbi of Bnei Brak, a scion of the Vorki dynasty.

Upon arriving in the Holy Land, the Biala Rebbe, Rabbi Yechiel Yehoshua, appointed his son, Rabbi David Mattisyahu, to help him rebuild the institutions of the Biala Dynasty after the Holocaust. In 1950, he began to build Biala yeshivos around the Holy Land. Rabbi David Mattisyahu was constantly at the right hand of his father, and was sent to America by his father to raise money for Biala insitutions. Before his passing, Rabbi Yechiel Yehoshua called his son, Rabbi David Mattisyahu, " nekudas libi" - "the focus of my heart", and was appointed to be his father's successor.

Dancing the traditional Hassidic "Mitzvah Tantz" at a wedding

Grand Rabbi David Mattisyahu set up his Hassidic court in Bnei Brak, where he spread Torah and Chassidus with a passionate fire. All who saw his passion in prayer were deeply inspired. He would spend one Sabbath every year, during the three weeks, in the Old City of Jerusalem, near the Western Wall. He would also visit America every year to spread the fire of Biala Chassidus and awe of heaven. He authored a commentary on the Torah called Lehavas David.

While visiting America he began to build a Biala synagogue in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, NY, and told his son, Rabbi Aaron Shlomo, to be his successor there in the synagogue in America. Rabbi David Mattisyahu did not live to see the completion of the Borough Park synagogue.

His devotion to the holiday services were famous, particularly the taking of the Lulav and Esrog, as well as the Hakafos on Simchas Torah. He passed away on 25 Tishrei, 5758, (October 26, 1997), after Simchas Torah. He was survived by his wife, two daughters, and five sons. Four sons and one son-in-law became Rebbes. Rabbi Aaron Shlomo became the Biala Rebbe in America.

May the memory of Grand Rabbi David Mattisyahu ben Yechiel Yehoshua Rabinowitz of Biala be a blessing for the entire Jewish people. Zechuso Yagein Aleinu V'Al Kol Yisrael, Amen.

Grand Rabbi David Mattisyahu of Biala

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