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Willowski, Jacob David Ben Zeev (known by the acronym of Ridbaz) (1845-1913), Lithuanian Talmudist, rosh yeshivah in Eretz Israel. Born in Kobrin (then in the Russian Empire, now in Belarus). In 1868 he was appointed rabbi at Izballin, in 1876 of Bobruisk; and in 1881 "moreh zedek and maggid meisharim" (teacher and preacher) of Vilna, the title accorded to the spiritual leader of that community, since it had no official rabbi. He later successively served as rabbi of Polotsk, Vilkomir, and Slutsk. At Slutsk he founded a yeshivah which soon became famous throughout Russia. In 1903 he moved to the United States where he was appointed chief rabbi of a group of Orthodox congregations in Chicago. He was designated the zekan ha-rabbanim ("elder rabbi") of America by the then newly organized Union of Orthodox Rabbis. However, due to what he considered to be the neglect of religious life there, he left the United States in 1905 and emigrated to Eretz Israel. He settled in Tzfat (Safed) where he founded Torat Erez Israel yeshiva, popularly known as "Yeshivat ha-Ridbaz." He took issue with R. Abraham Isaac Kook, then rabbi of Jaffa, for his lenient ruling permitting farmers to work the land during the Sabbatical Year. When the Sabbatical Year came in 1910, Willowski urged them not to work the land, and established an international charity fund to sustain those who followed his decision. He died in Tzfat.

The Ridbaz published Talmudic works and responsa earned for him a worldwide reputation. Particularly esteemed were his two commentaries to the Jerusalem Talmud, one of which followed the method of Rashi in explaining the meaning of the text, while the other, in the manner of the tosafot, was a deeper and more critical exposition. These commentaries, together with the text of the Jerusalem Talmud, were published in 1898-1900. He also wrote Migdal David (Vilna, 1874) and Hanah David (1876), both containing novellae and comments on the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, Nimmukei Ridbaz, a commentary to the Pentateuch (Chicago, 1904); and Responsa Beit Ridbaz (Jerusalem, 1908).

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