Yitshak Ayzik Sher

Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Sher (Hebrew: יצחק אייזיק שר) was the rosh yeshiva of the Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania and Bnei Brak. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka.

Early life

Sher was born in Halusk, Belarus c. 1875. After completing cheder, he and other students began attending a class given by Baruch Ber Leibowitz, who was the city's rabbi at that time. He then studied in the Volozhin Yeshiva under Refael Shapiro. After hearing a lecture from the Alter of Slabodka in Halusk, Sher joined his yeshiva in Slabodka, Yeshiva Knesses Yisrael, where he studied with Avraham Grodzinski (later a mashgiach ruchani (dean of students) in the yeshiva).

In 1903 Sher married Maryasha Gittel Finkel, a daughter of the Alter of Slabodka. The couple moved to Kelmė where he developed a close relationship with Simcha Zissel Ziv (the Alter of Kelm). He studied for a short time in the Mir Yeshiva, which was led by his wife's brother, Eliezer Yehudah Finkel. He stayed with the yeshiva throughout their travels during World War I, to Minsk and Kremenchug. (commonly referred to as the "Slabodka Kollel"), and Sher became the rosh kollel (head of the kollel). The top students from the Slabodka Yeshiva were chosen to join the kollel, including Dovid Leibowitz and Yaakov Kamenetsky. Rabbis David Rappoport and Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman were among the members who joined the kollel later. As rosh yeshiva, the financial burden of the institution fell on him, and Rabbi Sher therefore traveled to America several times to raise funds for the yeshiva. He was also part of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah in Israel and wrote the sefer Avraham Avinu. after a heart attack. At his funeral, which was attended by thousands of people, eulogies were given by rabbis Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman and Elya Lopian.