Chaim of Vałožyn

Chaim of Volozhin (also known as Chaim ben Yitzchok of Volozhin or Chaim Ickovits; January 21, 1749 – June 14, 1821) was a rabbi, Talmudist, and ethicist. Popularly known as "Reb Chaim Volozhiner" or simply as "Reb Chaim", he was born in Volozhin (a.k.a. Vałožyn or Valozhyn) when it was a part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He died there while it was under the control of the Russian Empire. The title of his major work is . Student of the Vilna Gaon Both Chaim and his elder brother Simcha (d. 1812) studied under Rabbi Aryeh Leib ben Asher Gunzberg, the author of the Shaagas Aryeh, who was then rabbi of Volozhin, and afterward under Rabbi Raphael ha-Kohen, (the author of the Toras Yekusiel), later of Hamburg. Aged 25, Chaim became a disciple of Vilna Gaon. Using his new teacher's method, he began his studies anew, returning to Torah, Mishnah, Talmud, and Hebrew grammar. His admiration for the gaon was boundless, and after his death Chaim virtually acknowledged no superior (see Heschel Levin's "Aliyyot Eliyahu", pp. 55–56, Vilna, 1889 ).