Rav Yitzchok Hutner was Rosh Yeshiva of Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, and mechaber of Pachad Yitzchok. His uncle, Rav Benzion Ostrover, had been a talmid of Rav Mendel of Kotzk, and was instrumental in providing his young nephew with a direct link to the world of Chassidus. At the age of fifteen, he went to Slobodka and was directed by the Alter, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. In 1925, he entered the new Slabodka branch in Chevron, where he also met and learned from Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Kook. He remained until 1929, after which he returned to his parents in Warsaw. He became a personal tutor for Rav Moshe Solevetchik’s son, Aharon. In 1932, he published his Toras HaNozir, a commentary on the Rambam’s Hilchos Nozir. In 1933, he married Masha Lipshitz and moved to Eretz Yisrael. Despite his great attachment to the Land, they left for America one year later, not to return for thirty years. He built Yeshiva Chaim Berlin to his specifications with his famous blend of Torah philosophies. One of his talmidim was Rav Yitzchok Shurin, grandson of Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky. Among his colleagues at Slobodka were Rav Yitzchok HaLevi Ruderman, Rav Reuven Grozovsky, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, and Rav Aharon Kotler. In 1949 he began publishing his discourses on morals and ethics which he subtitled Divrei Torah B’inyonei Hilchos Dei’os V’Chovos HaLevovos. As a young man he wrote Toras HaNozir on the Rambam’s Hilchos Nezirus. He wrote a profound commentary (Kovetz He’oros) on Rabbeinu Hillel on the Safra. His discourses on Yomim Tovim and Shabbos (Pachad Yitzchok) are collected in seven volumes.
