Rabbi Yitzchak Ben Walid, known as Maharivo or "HaNer HaMaaravi", was born in Tetouan in 5537 (1777) to Rabbi Shem Tov, into a family of rabbis, and was named after his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak. Orphaned of his father at a young age, he grew up in great poverty: his mother had to sell her late husband's set of Talmud to feed the children, and young Yitzchak saved coin by coin until he could buy it back.

By seventeen he already displayed broad knowledge of Torah and halacha. After his first wife died, leaving him an eldest son, he married Simcha, daughter of Rabbi Vidal Bibas, who bore him ten children. He earned a meager living writing legal deeds, yet owned a fine library of rare books.

At first he declined the positions offered to him and left for Gibraltar, but the Tetouan community sent emissaries to bring him back. He then accepted the post of rabbi and av beit din, which he held for some forty years, caring especially for the poor, orphans and widows. He established several of the city's customs, approved the opening in 1860 of the first Alliance Israelite Universelle school in Tetouan on condition of serious religious studies, and in 1868 wrote with Rabbi Yitzchak Nahon to Moses Montefiore about violence against Jews. In 5622 (1862) he settled in Haifa with his family, returning to Tetouan a short time later.

Works: the responsa Vayomer Yitzchak (two volumes, Livorno, 1876), relied upon by halachic authorities and a rich source on the life of Tetouan's community. His students included Rabbi Yechia (Yeshaya) Ben Naim, father of Rabbi Raphael Chaim Moshe Ben Naim; his son, Rabbi Yosef Ben Walid, wrote Shemo Yosef.

He passed away on 9 Adar 5630 (1870), aged 93, after three weeks of illness, as Shabbat began, while murmuring "Mizmor shir leyom haShabbat". He had asked that no titles be used at his funeral and that nothing be inscribed on his tombstone. He is buried in Tetouan, where his tomb is a place of pilgrimage and his hillula is celebrated.