Grajewski, Eliezer Zalman
GRAJEWSKI, ELIEZER ZALMAN
GRAJEWSKI, ELIEZER ZALMAN (1843–1899), rabbinic scholar, traveler, and journalist. Grajewski was born in Malyaty (Maletai), near Vilna. He served first as the rabbi of Kletsk and later of Orsha. In 1873, he visited Ereẓ Israel, where he became a strong supporter of the new settlers. Upon his return, he published reminiscences of his journey in Ha-Ivri. When the Mazkeret Moshe organization was founded to honor Sir Moses Montefiore, leading Russian rabbis advocated the appointment of Grajewski as its director in Ereẓ Israel, and for this purpose he went to England in 1876. He did not, however, obtain the appointment but instead was appointed rabbi in Liverpool in 1877. He also traveled extensively throughout the United States, where he lectured on the necessity of encouraging the upbuilding of Ereẓ Israel. In 1890 Grajewski settled in Jerusalem, where he lived for the remainder of his life, although he died in Rigrod, near the Prussian border, after having gone to Vienna for medical treatment. His published works include Ginnat Egoz (1887), consisting of sermons and talmudic novellae: Ginzei Keneset Yisrael (1877), and Gevul Yam (1889), two commentaries to the Haggadah; and Si'aḥ Eli'ezer (1896), explanations of piyyutim recited on special occasions.
bibliography:
Tidhar, 2 (1947), 618f.
[Aaron Rothkoff]