The Responsa of Dayan Jacob Reinowitz, 1818—1893

My lecture* is based on the Responsa, Halachic and Aggadic works, and letters of Jacob Reinowitz (1818-1893).

Jacob Reinowitz was born in 1818 in Valkovisk, in Russia. He descended from a long line of Rabbis and scholars.1 He had a phenomenal memory, an analytical mind, and a wide and deep knowledge of the Talmud and the Codes and their commentaries. At the age of 26, he was appointed Moreh Horaah, Dayan cum Maggid, of his home town, which was a tribute to his Talmudic and Halachic know? ledge as well as his qualities of heart, among which were sincerity, humility, and compas? sion. He occupied this position for thirty years.

He married Esther Liba Binion,2 who bore him three daughters, Bertha, Leah, and Rebecca. Bertha married Susman Cohen, who became a Rabbi in Manchester in 1875 and succeeded Jacob Reinowitz as Dayan of the London Beth Din in 1893. Leah

Written by

Eugene Newman

Published in

Volume 23

1969

Other articles within the volume

• Anglo-Jewry in Caricature 1780—1850
• DR. CECIL ROTH
• Medieval Southampton and its Jews
• New light on the Selection of Jewish Children’s Names
• Emanuel Deutsch of “The Talmud” Fame
• Lord George Bentinck and the Jews
• The Changed Face of English Jewry at the end of the Eighteenth Century
• The Responsa of Dayan Jacob Reinowitz, 1818—1893
• The Amazing Clan of Buzaglo
• Frederic David Mocatta, 1828—1905
• Preface