Rabbi Aryeh Levin, known as the "Father of Prisoners," was born in Orla near Bialystok (now in Poland) in the 1880s to his father Binyamin Beinush and his mother Etil. He studied Torah in the Yeshivot of Slutsk, Slonim, Brisk, Pinsk, and Halusk, and finally in the Volozhin Yeshivah. He made aliyah to the Land of Israel in 5665 (1905) and after a brief period in Jaffa, settled in Jerusalem. He studied at the Torat Chaim Yeshivah and was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Rabbi Shmuel Salant, and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. He married Tziporah Chanah, daughter of Rabbi David Shapira. During the famine years of World War I, the couple lost two of their daughters.
From 5677 (1917), he served as the spiritual supervisor of the Etz Chaim Talmud Torah. He became renowned for his humility, love, and acts of kindness, particularly for his regular visits to prisoners.
