Rabbi Kahaneman was born 13 May 1886 in Kuliai, Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania), a small town of about 300, of which about a third were Jews.

[1] As a young boy he attended the Yeshivah in Plungė led by Rabbi Chaim Yitzchak Hacohen Bloch, who is credited with cultivating Kahaneman's potential.

After unsuccessful attempts to save European Jews, Kahaneman focused on developing communities in Palestine, building Kiryat Ha-Yeshiva ("Town of the Yeshiva") in Bnei Brak and Batei Avot orphanages.

With the help of longtime friend Rav Moshe Okun, Kahaneman succeeded in turning the re-established Ponevezh yeshiva into one of the largest in the world- a leading one among the Litvishe.

[6] Kahaneman wrote Talmudic commentaries and an exegesis on the Passover Haggadah, though these - together with transcripts of his lessons - were published only after his death.

[8][9] Kahaneman was also approached - among a few others - by David Ben-Gurion, the Israeli Prime Minister - to help answer the question on the definition of "Jew" for the State of Israel.

Kahaneman opposed the idolization of the 'tough' Israeli warrior in contrast to enfeebled Holocaust victims that went 'as sheep to the slaughter'.