ר׳ יצחק יעקב וייס

ר׳ יצחק יעקב וייס (15 February 1902–14 June 1989), known from his responsa as the מנחת יצחק, was a Galician-born halakhic decisor and rabbinical judge. Born in Dolyna, he moved with his family during the First World War to Munkács, where he studied under his father ר׳ יוסף יהודה וייס and received ordination from ר׳ חיים אלעזר שפירא; ר׳ מאיר אריק and ר׳ שמעון גרינפלד further shaped his practical-halakhic method. After marrying the daughter of ר׳ פנחס צימטבוים, he became a dayan in Grosswardein (Oradea) in 1929. He survived the Holocaust through hiding and a perilous escape into Romania, but his first wife died in Bucharest. Returning to Oradea, he helped rebuild communal life and adjudicated difficult agunah cases. Manchester appointed him senior dayan in December 1948; for two decades he led its beth din, strengthened kashrut supervision and helped establish a rabbinic kollel. In 1970 he joined the Edah HaChareidis court in Jerusalem, became presiding raavad in 1972 and gaavad in 1979. His ten-volume שו״ת מנחת יצחק applied classical halakhah to postwar, medical, technological, commercial and ritual questions. He died in Jerusalem and was buried on the Mount of Olives.