Rabinovich was born as the third child to his parents Rabbi Baruch and Frima Rabinovich in Munkács,
Carpathian Ruthenia, the country itself having at the time just been created with a sizable piece of Hungary, which in turn received Munkacs from Czechoslovakia with the help of Nazi Germany in 1938. His father, Rabbi
Baruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel Rabinowicz served as
Chief Rabbi of Munkacs following the death of his father-in-law Chief Rabbi
Chaim Elazar Spira in 1937 until the Nazis occupied Munkacs in 1944. During World War Two, Rabinovich's father escaped the Nazis and fled with his entire family to the land of
Israel (then
Mandatory Palestine). Shortly after they arrived in Mandatory Palestine, Rabinovich and his siblings were orphaned with the death of their mother, Chaya Frima Rivka Rabinovich. Rabinovich studied in Israel, undertook secular studies in public schools in
São Paulo,
Brazil, and later studied in the United States at the
Telshe yeshiva in
Cleveland, Ohio, refusing to attend college, to his father’s disappointment. At Telshe, he became especially close to Rabbi
Mordechai Gifter with whom he had a study partnership of several consecutive hours on a daily basis and from Rav Gifter he acquired his derech halimud. Following five years at Telshe, Rabinovich moved to
Beis Medrash Elyon, a yeshiva for advanced learning in
Spring Valley, New York. He also maintained a close relationship with the
Satmar Rebbe Rabbi
Joel Teitelbaum until his death in 1979. While Rabinovich was in Beis Medrosh Elyon, the elders of Munkacs met in Brooklyn. Led by Rabbi Chaim Ber Greenfeld and Rabbi Shlomo Goldstein, both
gabbai's (secretaries) of the Munkacser Rebbe, Rabbi Chaim Elazar Spira, the participants agreed unanimously that the time had come for Munkacs Hasidism to be born again, in America, and that Rabinovich should be their Rebbe. == As Rebbe ==