be assembled into new combinations, creating novel halachic possibilities which perhaps a person should be strict to follow or avoid. This, however, does not explain all of his stringencies. He is reputed to have observed Yom tov sheni shel galuyot (a second day of Yom Tov) in Jerusalem. The practice is normally reserved only for areas outside the Holy Land as a memory for ancient times, when people far from Jerusalem would not hear about the declaration of the new month, and by extension would not know on which day to celebrate the holidays. Soloveitchik's concern revolved around the possibility that the messengers who announced the new month may not have passed by the exact place where he lived in Jerusalem on their way to the Jewish diaspora. Taking this possibility into account, he observed a second day, just to be safe. In one case, Soloveitchik surprised observers by not following a well-known stringency. Halakha states that on Sukkot, one is required to eat certain foods in a sukkah. It is praiseworthy, but not required, that all eating and drinking take place in the sukkah. Soloveitchik was willing to eat and drink certain foods outside the sukkah, explaining that he is only stringent in areas where there is a chance that the stringency might be required by the halakha, whereas in this case, the halakhic permissiveness is unquestionable. Soloveitchik was very careful when speaking to not recite from memory rather he would read all his sources from their original works. Even though he knew them by heart, this comes from the Brisker commitment to truth. Brisker rabbinic dynasty See also Yehoshua Leib Diskin, another Jewish leader known as the "rabbi from Brisk" Naftali Rothenberg, Yair Halevi, ‘’’The Rabbi of Brisk: Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik’’’, in: Benjamin Brown, Nissim Leon, eds. The Gdoilim – Leaders Who Shaped the Israeli Haredi Jewry, Magnes Hebrew University Press, 2017, (Hebrew) References 1886 births 1959 deaths People from Valozhyn People from Oshmyansky Uyezd Belarusian Haredi rabbis Haredi rabbis in Israel Anti-Zionist Haredi rabbis 20th-century Russian rabbis Haredi rabbis in Mandatory Palestine 20th-century rabbis in Jerusalem Rosh yeshivas Soloveitchik rabbinic dynasty Burials at Har HaMenuchot