Born in Motal, near Pinsk, Russian Empire (now Belarus), he studied at the Orthodox yeshivot of Malch, Slobodka, and Novardok, where he was ordained at age 18.[1] While studying at the Slobodka yeshiva, he befriended Rabbis Yitzchak Ruderman and Yitzchak Hutner, both of whom would become leaders of great Rabbinical seminaries in America.