born in vishneva in the russian empire (today in belarus), rabinovitz attended high school in vilnius, and went on to train as a teacher in the same city. he worked as a teacher and headmaster, and was a member of the hehalutz movement. he made aliyah to the mandate palestine in 1934 and studied in the economics and law school of tel aviv university. prior to independence, he worked for mashbir hazarhan, and was involved in the haganah.