Rabbi Aryeh Leib Levine, the "Tzaddik of Jerusalem", was born on 6 Nisan 5645 (1885) in Orla near Białystok, the son of Binyamin Beinish, a forester, and Ethel. He studied in the yeshivot of Slutsk, Slonim, Brisk and Pinsk; at first refused by Volozhin because of his age, he was admitted a year later and studied under Rabbi Raphael Shapiro. In 1905 he went up to the Land of Israel, lived for a time in Jaffa and then settled in Jerusalem, studying at the Torat Chaim yeshiva. He was ordained by Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Rabbi Raphael Shapiro, Rabbi Shmuel Salant and Rav Kook, and married Tzipora Chana, daughter of Rabbi David Shapiro.

Mashgiach of the Etz Chaim school, he is known worldwide for his boundless kindness. During the British Mandate he was for years the only rabbi to visit the Jewish prisoners in the Russian Compound central prison every Shabbat, becoming a true father to them: he was called "the father of the prisoners". He also visited the sick, the poor and the grieving, and everyone felt loved by him.

He passed away on the eve of Shabbat HaGadol, 9 Nisan 5729 (1969). Thousands, including rabbis, roshei yeshiva and the President of the State of Israel, followed his coffin. His life is told in the book A Tzaddik in Our Time.