Rimnitz (Hasidic dynasty)

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The Rimnitzer (or Ribnitzer) Rebbe zt"l, Grand Rabbi Chaim Zanvil Abramowitz (1902, Botoşani - 18 October 1995) was a great Hassidic Jewish tzaddik and miracle worker from Rybnitsa.

He lived a long life and died on Isru Chag Succos, 1995 in Monsey, NY, where he is buried. He lived in Soviet USSR under Stalin's rule, yet lived a fully religious life. He served as mohel and shochet, and performed many ritual circumcisions and shechitah with tremendous self sacrifice.

He fasted very often, 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.

The Russian gentiles feared and revered him. The KGB brought their wives and children for blessings and experienced miracles.

He left Russia 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, Boro Park, Sea Gate, and finally settled in Monsey, NY, where he is buried in the Viznitzer Cemetery.

There is a new Ribnitzer synagogue being built on the corner of 21st Avenue and 60th Street in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, NY.