ר׳ יצחק אייזיק הלוי הרצוג

ר׳ יצחק אייזיק הלוי הרצוג (3 December 1888–25 July 1959) was a Polish-born scholar, Chief Rabbi of Ireland and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Mandatory Palestine and Israel. Born in Łomża, he moved with his rabbinic family to Leeds and Paris. Alongside rabbinic ordination, he studied mathematics and classical and Semitic languages; his doctorate investigated the ancient tekhelet dye. He served Belfast from 1916, Dublin from 1919, and became chief rabbi of the Irish Free State, maintaining warm relations with Irish nationalist leaders while defending shechitah and Jewish communal interests. Elected successor to ר׳ אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק in 1936, he settled in Jerusalem and led the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbinate through the Holocaust, statehood and the first decade of Israel. He travelled internationally seeking rescue for European Jews and in 1946 toured Europe to recover Jewish children placed in Christian institutions. After 1948 he advocated incorporating halakhic principles into Israeli law while recognizing the practical needs of state institutions, and served as president of the Great Rabbinical Court. His scholarship ranges from Jewish jurisprudence to tekhelet and responsa; היכל יצחק was published principally after his death. He received the Israel Prize in Rabbinical Literature in 1958 and was buried in Sanhedria Cemetery.