Son of Rav Isaamar and Malka Rosenbaum of Nadvorna Rav Yitzchok Isaac was born on 21 Teves ''ותרס in Czernowitz Bukowina. Rav Isaamar was visitng his father Rav Meir in Kreshtnif a telegram arrived announcing the birth of a baby boy. As Rav Issamar packed up and turned to leave for home, his father accompanied him to to the train. On the way, they passed an entourage of Jews escorting a hachnasas Sefer Torah. Rav Meir turned to Rav Issamar and declared: “See that? You just had a living sefer Torah born unto you!” Rav Yitzchok Issac was just two years old when his grandfather Rav Meir Kretshnifer passed away. Nevertheless, he used to tell his family that the image of his holy grandfather's face was forever engraved in his mind. Despite his young age, he clearly remembered him. Rav Yitzchok Isaac was named after his holy ancestor, Rav Yitzchok Isaac of Komarno. Rav Yitzchok Isaac was not born with extraordinary talents or intellectual gifts. On the contrary, when it came to learning, Torah study came with difficulty and there were many hurdles to overcome in his effort to succeed. Nonetheless, nothing stands in the way of desire. Enlisting his iron clad will he constantly beseeched his Father-in-Heaven to grant him a strong memory. “I don’t need to remember mundane details about worldly matters-- but please grant me the ability to retain all that is in Your Torah!”
These words poured out from his pure heart accompanied by many tears. Eventually, his perseverance bore fruit and he experienced an opening of his heart and mind. When it came to avodas Hashem, it was abundantly clear that young Yitzchok Isaac was already a spiritual giant. When he learned alef-bais, he reviewed the letters over and over throughout the day until he was able to read and daven. He then reviewed the siddur until he knew all the davening by heart. He applied the same determination to his early childhood learning. Any paragraph of Chumash (and later any chapter of Mishnayos) that was introduced to him, was reviewed and worked on until he memorized them in their entirety. He would go from person to person in the bais medrash asking them if perhaps they could teach him just one Mishnah. Once he understood what he had learned, the reviews began in earnest until he knew the material by heart. He never played childish games; he just sat and reviewed and studied. Some adults tried to dissuade him, commenting that all his efforts would never amount to anything significant, yet this failed to change his mind.. While understanding anything new remained a difficult task, once he succeeded to grasp what he was learning, the impression it made was so strong that he never forget it again. He later described those younger years recalling that after Bar Mitzvah he accepted upon himself to complete no less than forty blatt Gemara each week! It became a common sight that after studying for hours on end with no interruption, when he eventually did get up , the chassidim or other visitors in his fathers bais medrash would take turns sitting in his chair, attempting to soak up the young masmid's kedusha. The space that he vacated was now certainly saturated with lingering kedusha resulting from his extraordinary hasmada.. Following one such long stretch of learning, he stepped out onto the porch to reinvigorate himself with some fresh air and sunlight. His mother saw him and declared: “Issac'il have you nothing better to do with your precious time?” Without mentioning the uninterrupted hours-long seder he just completed, he turned around and went back inside for another lengthy stretch of uninterrupted study! By the time he was a yungerman and ready to marry he had completed the entire Shas and all four volumes of the Shulchan Aruch. His rebbe, the Czernowitzer Rav Rav Ben Tzion Katz tested him and was delighted to confer upon him semichah. He married Chana, the daughter of Rav David HaKohen Hollander, zt”l, the Rav of Amsana, Galicia. After his marriage he served as Rav in Voshkovitz for two years before moving to Zutchka. He experienced many miracles during the Holocaust, often marvelling at how he was able to save all his children, some of whom had been captured by the Nazis. After World War II, in 5707/1947, he published his first sefer, Hameoros Hagedolim. Soon afterwards he settled in Boro Park, where he lived until 1973. The Zutchker Rebbe took it upon himself to fight Shabbos desecration in the neighborhood. Each Friday he would approach Jewish storeowners and beg them to close their stores on Shabbos. For 10 years he battled for kedushas Shabbos, until finally he succeeded in getting all the local shops to close. After the petirah of his father, who had settled in Tel Aviv after the war, Reb Yitzchak Isaac moved to Eretz Yisrael to take over his father’s beis medrash. In 5741/1981, he opened his own beis medrash in Bnei Brak and eventually launched a project called Shoneh Halachos to encourage the study of hilchos Shabbos. The Zutchker Rebbe’s door was always open. He refused to restrict his reception hours, saying he had to be available whenever a Jew needed him. Unless the Zutchker Rebbe was speaking to someone, he would be totally immersed in learning. On Sunday evening, 14 Tammuz, he felt ill and was taken to Laniado Hospital in Netanya, where he was niftar early Monday morning.
HIS SEGULOS:
Hot Drinks And Washing With Warm Water On Motzaei Shabbos
On motzai Shabbos the Zutshka Rebbe sat and drank the customary hot drink. As he sipped his hot tea, the tzadik recited the salient words of Chazal and Rashi: "chamin b’motzai Shabbos melugma,” and Rashi’s explanation that hot liquids are a remedy or cure. Then he added: "Refuas hanefesh verefuas haguf - they heal both the body and the soul." One of the Alter Zutshka Rebbe’s segulos that is, tried and tested as true, according to his grandson Rav Shlomo the Zutshka Rebbe of Yerushalayim was to prescribe that any sick person should drink a hot drink such as coffee or tea and wash in warm water. Taking a warm bath, he explained in the name of the Rebbe Reb Heschel gets the blood circulation going and the blood flows to the luz bone. The Tur and Beis Yosef cite the Shibolei Leket: "There is a limb found in man named the niskoy, which remains intact until the resurrection. Even after all the bones have decomposed, this limb remains. This limb derives its sole nourishment from the seudah of Melava Malka. Therefore, we eat on motzaei Shabbos to nourish this limb. Since this limb did not participate in the sin, it wasn't punished and doesn't decompose. (This is cited by the Pri Megadim.) The luz bone (or niskoy) did not benefit from the sin of etz hadaas, and so it was not included when Chava was cursed that she should bear children in pain. The luz bone is only nourished from the Seudas Melaveh Malka. The Alter Zutshka concluded, “if the luz can reconstruct the entire body and heal it for the resurrection of techiyas hameisim, surely it can heal just one limb or organ of that body as well!”
