Shlomo Polachek

Rabbi Shlomo Polachek (1877-1928) was born in Sinichinitz, near Meitchet, Grodna. He entered the yeshiva of Volozhin when he was only twelve years old, and remained there untill its close in the winter of 1892. He then went to learn with his mentor, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, in Brisk for the next four years. It was Rav Chaim that referred to him as the "Meitscheter Ilui". Rav Chaim commented that in all his life, he had never come upon a genius of the measure of the Meitscheter. Rabbi Polachek went on to become the Rosh Yeshiva in yeshivos in Lida and Bialystok. At the invitation of Rabbi Dov Revel, Rabbi Polachek arrived in America in 1922 to become a Rosh Yeshiva at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He taught there for six years untill his sudden passing in 1928.