Even HaEzel

Isser Zalman Meltzer (1870 – November 17, 1953), was a famous Belarusian Orthodox rabbi, rosh yeshiva and posek. He is also known as the "Even HaEzel"—the title of his commentary on Rambam's Mishne Torah.

Rabbi Meltzer was born in the city of Mir, in the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Republic of Belarus). His father, Baruch Peretz, was also a rabbi. From the age of 10, he studied with Rabbi Yom-tov Lipman, the rabbi of the city, and at the Mir Yeshiva. At the age of 14, he began studying at the Volozhin yeshiva under the Netziv and Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, where he remained for seven years.

While at the yeshiva, he became involved in the secret [Orthodox] Ness Ziona Society, part of the Hovevei Zion movement. Together with his brother-in-law, Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein, he contributed to the founding of the city of Hadera by buying land for an etrog orchard.

In 1894, Rabbi Melzer became a maggid shiur at the Slabodka yeshiva, together with his brother in law, Rabbi Epstein. In 1897, Rabbi Meltzer left Slabodka to lead another yeshiva which had been established by the Ridvaz in Slutsk.

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