Rabbi Joseph Baer Soloveitchik was born on February 27, 1903 (Judaic). He was born in Pruzhany, Poland. Poland was controlled by the Russian Empire during the time of Rav Soloveitchik (Wikipedia1). The rulers of Russia were the tsars. There was a lot of anti-Semitism in Russia at that time (Wikipedia1). From 1903 to 1906, there were numerous pogroms in Russia, 2,000 Jews were killed and many others were injured (Wikipedia1). There is evidence that the government did instigate these pogroms and that the police did nothing to stop them (Wikipedia1). Although it took place in some cities in Russia, these pogroms did not affect the Soloveitchik family. Soloveitchik was of rabbinic origin, dating back about 200 years (Judaic). His father, Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik, was a descendant of a rabbinical family dating back to Reb Chaim Volozhin, who was the chief disciple of the Vilna Gaon (Rothkoff). Reb Chaim Volozhin opened and established Yeshiva Ez Chaim in Volozhin in 1802 (Rothkoff). This school was the Talmudic academy of the 19th century, until it was forcibly closed by the Russian government in 1892 (Rothkoff). This yeshiva is still a model for Lithuanian-style yeshivas. Soloveitchik's grandfather, Reb Chaim Soloveitchik was known as Reb Chaim Brisker because he was the rabbi of Brisk (Brest-Litovsk) (Rothkoff). He changed Talmudic study with his introduction known as the "Brisker method" which emphasized the Mishneh Torah (Rothkoff) of Rambam. His great-grandfather was Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, otherwise known as Beis HaLevi (Wikipedia2). Rabbi Soloveitchik's mother, Pesia Feinstein, was the daughter of Rabbi Elijah Feinstein, who was Pruzhany's spiritual leader and wrote "Halikhot Eliyahu" (Rothkoff). He was... middle of paper...... May 2014. “The lonely man of faith.” Wikipedia3. Wikimedia Foundation, March 5, 2014. Web. May 20, 2014. .Encyclopedia Judaica. Jerusalem: Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1971. Print.RakeffectRothkoff, Aaron and Joseph Epstein. The Rav: the world of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Hoboken, NJ: KTAV Publ. House, 1999. Print. Golden and Sarna. “The American Jewish Experience in the Twentieth Century: Anti-Semitism and Assimilation, The Twentieth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center.” The American Jewish Experience in the Twentieth Century: Anti-Semitism and Assimilation, The Twentieth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center. Np, and Web. May 20 2014.