High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky (February 7 [1845 - 1913), known by the acronym Ridvaz or Ridbaz, was a renowned rabbi, Talmudic commentator and educator. Born in Kobrin, Russia, Wilovsky held Rabbinic posts in Izvolin (1874), Bobruisk (1876), Vilna (1881). Finding that the Vilna position distracted him from his studies, he resigned, and chose to serve as rabbi in a smaller community such as Polotsk (1883), Vilkomir (1887). In 1890 he became chief rabbi of Slutsk, where he established a noted yeshiva in 1896. He took general supervision, appointing Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer as principal. Wilovsky freely used a copy of the Talmud Yerushalmi which the Vilna Gaon had annotated. After studying the Yerushalmi for thirty years and working steadily on his commentaries for seventeen years, Wilovsky began the publication of an edition of the Yerushalmi which included, besides his own, all the commentaries incorporated in former editions.