Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik

Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik was born in 1886 in Valozhyn

Soloveitchik was born in Valozhyn in 1886 to Chaim Soloveitchik, head of the Volozhin yeshiva. His mother was a daughter of Refael Shapiro. The family moved to Brisk after the czarist government closed the Volozhin yeshiva.

During World War I he was in Warsaw, where he was chosen to head the Torat Chaim yeshiva. In 1918, after his father died, he became rabbi of Brisk. He followed his father's analytical method of studying Jewish law.

When World War II began he fled to Vilna, and in 1941 he moved to Jerusalem. His wife and 3 of his children were murdered in the Holocaust. From 1945 he taught his sons and selected students in his home, re-establishing the Brisk yeshiva.

He was known for strictness in Jewish law and opposed Zionism and participation in the Israeli political system. He led the Lithuanian Haredi public after 1954. He opposed women serving in the IDF and any agreement with David Ben-Gurion.

In his last years he suffered from lung disease. He died in 1959 and was buried on Har HaMenuchot. His son Berel succeeded him as head of the yeshiva.