Louis Isaac Rabinowitz

Louis Isaac Rabinowitz (in Hebrew, Levi Yitzhak Rabinowitz) (1906-1984) was an Orthodox rabbi, historian and philologist of the twentieth century.

Rabbi Rabinowitz was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and served as rabbi in several London synagogues, including those in Shepherd's Bush, South Hackney, and Cricklewood. During World War II he was appointed Senior Jewish chaplain of the British Army; he served with Allied forces in the Middle East and during the Normandy invasion.

In 1945 Rabinowitz accepted a position as chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation of Johannesburg and the Federation of Synagogues of Transvaal and the Orange Free State in South Africa. He became a professor of Hebrew at the University of Witwatersrand and headed the Johannesburg beth din.Rabbi Rabinowitz was an ardent follower of Zeev Jabotinsky and his brand of Revisionist Zionism. Rabinowitz gained fame by publicly discarding his British war decorations in 1947 in protest of British policies in Palestine, which he viewed as a violation of the Palestine Mandate. Always outspoken in his political opinions, he was a harsh critic of the South African government's apartheid policies.

Rabinowitz retired in 1961 and emigrated to Israel; there he became deputy editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia Judaica. He became involved in municipal politics in Jerusalem, serving as a city council representative and (1976-1978) Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem. He was named a Yakir Yerushalayim ("Worthy Jerusalemite") by the municipal government in 1980.

Rabinowitz died in 1984, at the age of seventy-eight.

Bibliography

*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "Sparks from the anvil: sermons for Sabbaths, holy days, and festivals". Pp. xxvi, 347. New York: Bloch Publishing Co., 1955.
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "Soldiers from Judaea; Palestinian Jewish units in the Middle East, 1941-1943". With an introduction by James Parkes. Pp. 79. London: V. Gollancz Ltd., 1944.
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "Jewish merchant adventurers, a study of the Radanites". Pp. 212. maps. London: E. Goldston, 1948.
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "Far East mission". Pp. 223. illus. [Johannesburg? 1952]
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "A guide through Jewish life". [3rd ed.] . Pp. vii, 212. [Johannesburg, South Africa?] : Federation of Synagogues Women's Guild of South Africa, c. 1990.
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "The greatness of Solomon". Pp. 51, illus. [Tel-Aviv] : World Wizo Dept. of Organisation & Education, [197-]
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "The land and the people: a brief history of the Jewish people". Pp. 53. Jerusalem: Israel Digest, 1968.
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "Ma`a´se Rav." Pp. 110. Tel-Aviv: "Mi´srad ha-bitahon", [1981]
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "Light and salvation; sermons for the high holy days". Pp. 349. New York: Bloch Pub. Co. 1965
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "The social life of the Jews of northern France in the XII-XIV centuries, as reflected in the rabbinical literature of the period". 2d ed. Pp. 268. New York, Hermon Press [1972 or 3]
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "Soldiers from Judaea, Palestinian Jewish units in the Middle East, 1941-1943". Pp. 84. New York: American Zionist Emergency Council, by arrangement with V. Gollancz, London, 1945.
*Rabinowitz, Louis I. "The Herem hayyishub; a contribution to the medieval economic history of the Jews." Pp. 184. London: E. Goldston, 1945