Isaac ben Mordechai Rabinowitz (Yiddish: יצחק בן מרדכי ראַבּינאָוויטש; 13 October 1846 – 9 March 1900), also known by the pen name Ish Kovno (Yiddish: איש קאָוונא) was a Russian-born Jewish poet and translator.[1]

Isaac Rabinowitz
Native name
Yitzḥak ben Mordekhai Rabinovitz
Born(1846-10-13)13 October 1846
Kovno, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire
Died9 March 1900(1900-03-09) (aged 53)
New York City, United States of America
Pen nameIsh Kovno
GenrePoetry

Biography

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Born in Kovno to Rabbi Mordechai ben Yosef, Isaac Rabinowitz began to compose Hebrew poetry at an early age.[2] He took instruction in Hebrew grammar from Abraham Mapu when fourteen, and entered the Vilna Rabbinical School at the age of eighteen. Rabinowitz settled in Telshi after marrying in 1867, where he befriended Mordecai Nathansohn and Judah Leib Gordon and wrote occasionally for Hebrew periodicals. He moved to Vilkomir in 1889, and joined his children in New York in 1891.

Rabinowitz published most of his Hebrew poetry in Vilna in 1891 in a book called Zemirot Yisrael.[3] He died in New York at the age of 54 in 1900.[4] Poet Israel Fine published a poem in memory of Rabinowitz in 1907, entitled "Shir Berakhah".[5]

References

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  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainRosenthal, Herman; Wiernik, Peter (1905). "Rabinowitz, Isaac (Ish Kovno)". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 303.

  1. ^ Marcus, Jacob Rader; Daniels, Judith M., eds. (1994). "Rabinowitz, Isaac (Ish Kovno)" (PDF). The Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing. p. 502.
  2. ^ Eisenstadt, Benzion (1903). Rabinovitz, Yitzḥak (in Hebrew). New York. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-9846180-0-2. OCLC 900224938. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Pearlstein, Peggy Kronsberg (2006). Bauman, Mark K. (ed.). "Israel Fine: Baltimore Businessman and Hebrew Poet" (PDF). Southern Jewish History. 9. Southern Jewish Historical Society: 103–139. ISSN 1521-4206.
  4. ^ Wierniks, Peter (1912). History of the Jews in America: From the Period of the Discovery of the New World to the Present Time. New York: The Jewish Press Publishing Company. p. 408. OCLC 1046496744. OL 24356333M.
  5. ^ Fine, Israel (1907). Shir Berakhah [Song of Blessing]. Baltimore. pp. 36–37. OCLC 903678049. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)