Yitzhak was born in 1780 in
Volozhin,
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to
rabbi Chaim Ickovits of Volozhin. As
Rosh Yeshiva, his father taught him in the
Volozhin Yeshiva, making him one of his closest disciples in
Torah. Yitzhak would later become a teacher there during his father's lifetime and inherit the position of Rosh Yeshiva after his father's death. He would also name the yeshivah Eitz Chaim in honor of his father. He would continue to operate the yeshiva after it was officially closed by government authorities in 1824, making a name for himself as a
misnaged figure. In 1843 Yitzhak would attend a government convened conference on reforming
Jewish education. The government, under the leadership of
Tsar Nicholas I and Minister of Education
Count Sergey Semionovich Uvarov, sought to push
russification on the Jewish population through their agent
Max Lilienthal. In the face of this, Yitzchak defended the
Orthodox position, alongside leaders such as the
Third Lubavitcher Rebbe, and would make a positive impression on Count Uvarov. Where the Lubavitcher Rebbe was putting up a desperate defense, claiming that the Jewish people's spiritual concerns supersede the Czar's government, Yitzhak presented the misnagdim as fearful of being brushed aside by the government and made attempts to achieve concessions from the Russian government without surrendering Jewish identity and values. Yitzchak argued that public school would be a danger to
Jewish upbringing and that the
Jewish people needed more
political rights. Rabbi
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, a second son in law of Yitzhak, would succeed Rabbi Fried. == References ==