SOLOVEICHIK

SOLOVEICHIK , Lithuanian rabbinical family. (See Chart: Soloveichik Family). It is first heard of in Slobodka. (1) joseph ha-levi soloveichik was the parnas of the community and strove to have the 1758 prohibition forbidding Jews to live in Kovno rescinded. His son, (2) isaac, had two sons, (3) Moses and Abraham, who built the great synagogue of Williampol-Slobodka in 1772. moses was appointed rabbi of Williampol-Slobodka. Moses' son, (4) joseph, became the son-in-law of Ḥayyim of Volozhin and was rabbi of Kovno. Joseph's son, (5) isaac ze'ev, was appointed the official rabbi of Kovno. (6) Joseph Baer *Soloveichik was the son of Isaac Ze'ev, as was (7) Ḥayyim simḤah, whose only daughter married Feivel Holzberg, the father of Isaac Raphael Holzberg. (8) simḤah ha-levi soloveichik, son of Elijah Ẓevi, a son of (4), immigrated to Jerusalem, where he was known as Simḥah of London. (9) Ḥayyim *Soloveichik was the son of (6). (10) simḤah, also a son of (6), was appointed rabbi of Mogilev in 1911. (11) zalman, son of (8), was a well-known Jerusalem communal worker. (12) moses, son of (9), was rabbi in a number of Lithuanian towns and then rosh yeshivah at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (see *Yeshiva University) in New York. (13) joseph dov, son of (8), was appointed rabbi of Spring Valley in 1933. (14) moses, son of (8), was a rosh yeshivah and rabbi in Switzerland. (15) Isaac Ze'ev ha-Levi

*Soloveichik (1886–1959), son of (9), was a rosh yeshivah in Warsaw, succeeded his father at Brisk, and on immigrating to Jerusalem in 1941, founded a yeshivah for exceptional students. He was known as Velvele Brisker. He was regarded as the supreme halakhic authority by the extreme Orthodox section of the community. (16) Joseph Dov *Soloveitchik, (17) samuel soleveichik, a prominent chemist, and (18) aaron *soloveichik were sons of (12). The literary output of this distinguished family has been remarkably meager, the result of a family tradition against publishing writings except under special circumstances.

bibliography:

Yahadut Lita – Temunot ve-Ẓiyyunim (1959), index; Sefer Yahadut Lita, 1 (1959), index; 3 (1967), index.

[Mordechai Hacohen]