Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu eulogized Rabbi Nahum Rabinovitch Wednesday afternoon, after it was announced that the rabbi had passed away.
"I lament the passing of the head of Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Maale Adumim, Rabbi Prof. Nachum Eliezer Rabinovitch,” said Netanyahu in a statement.
“On behalf of myself and the citizens of Israel, I would like to send sincere condolences to his family and to his many students.
“Rabbi Rabinovitch was an erudite person – a great and learned rabbi, a prominent arbiter of Jewish law, with an education in the sciences. Maimonides served as his example of a Jewish sage who combined Torah and wisdom.”
“Love of the Land of Israel led Rabbi Rabinovitch to the Birkat Moshe hesder yeshiva in Maaleh Adumim, where he cultivated students of Torah who serve in the IDF.”
“His spiritual leadership was characterized by loyalty to Jewish law combined with cultural sensitivity. The issue of conversion was close to his heart and he sought to bring close those who were distant. May his memory be blessed."
Rabbi Rabinovitch, the dean of Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Maale Adumim, passed away Wednesday, at the age of 92.
Born in Montreal, Canada in 1928, Rabbi Rabinovitch was ordained by Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhak Ruderman at the Ner Yisroel yeshiva in Baltimore, Maryland.
Beginning in 1952, he served as a congregational rabbi, first in South Carolina and later in Toronto, before moving to London, where he served as the dean of Jews’ College.
In 1983, Rabbi Rabinovitch immigrated to Israel, becoming dean of the hesder yeshiva, Yeshivat Birkat Moshe, in Maale Adumim.
Rabbi Rabinovitch is survived by five of his six children, and was proceeded in death by his wife, Rachel Malka Rabinovitch (nee Shuchatowitz), and his daughter, British journalist Dina Rabinovitch.