[8] Yet, he refused to render halachic decisions (except for one occasion when it was a matter of life and death)[9][10] and held the humble position of shammash (sexton) in the Synagogue Chevra Shas.

[17][18] At age 19, he decided to leave Vilnius in order to study at Ashmyany under Rabbi Avraham Kahana of Horodna (known today as Grodno).

Throughout the day, he studied Gemara, halacha, and works of hashkafah such as Chovot HaLevavot and Menoras HaMaor[21] until he committed them to memory.

[22] When he was in his early twenties, he decided to leave Nesvizh and traveled to Valozhyn, where he studied at the Volozhin Yeshiva under Rabbi Eliezer Yitzchak Freid.

[29][31] In the last years of his life, he suffered from a serious spinal disorder, a severe intestinal ailment, swelling of the feet, and other discomforts.