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Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor

Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor

1817 CE1896 CE · Acharonim · Ros

R. Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor (1817-1896), Chief Rabbi of Kovno (Kaunas) from 1864 until his death, was the leading Lithuanian posek of his generation and the de facto head of Russian-Polish Jewry. His responsa series Be'er Yitzchak and Nachal Yitzchak are central Acharonim halachic resources; he ruled on questions ranging from agunah cases (where his lenient flexibility saved thousands) to early-modern technological developments. RIETS — the rabbinical school of Yeshiva University in New York — is named after him (Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary).

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Stop 1 of 91817Born

Ros

What they did here

Rabbi Israel Issar, the town rabbi of Ros in the Russian Empire's Grodno Governorate, was both his father and his earliest teacher; it was here that his son was born in 1817.

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