SPEKTOR, YITSḤAQ ELḤANAN (1817–1896) was an Orthodox rabbi and foremost traditional Jewish legal authority during the last half of the nineteenth century. Born in Rosh, in the Grodno district of Russia, Spektor was raised in a highly traditional milieu and as a young boy mastered the study of Talmud under the tutelage of his father, Yisraʾel Isser. After his arranged marriage at the age of thirteen, Spektor went to live with his in-laws in Volkovysk, where Binyamin Diskin instructed him in rabbinics and ordained him as a rabbi. Spektor occupied his first rabbinical post at the age of twenty and served as rabbi in several Russian towns, including Nishvez and Novogrudok, centers of traditional Talmudic scholarship. In 1864 Spektor became rabbi of Kovno, where he also headed the kolel (advanced rabbinic...