In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born in russia in the hrodna voblast”. Today it says “russian rabbi”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor (or Isaac Elchonon Spector ) ( 1817 - 1896 ) was born in Russia in the Hrodna voblast . He was the chief rabbi of Kovno , and one of the most prominent rabbis of Lithuanian Judaism in the 19th century . He was also a rosh yeshiva ("Dean of rabbinical college") and famous Talmudic sage. His achievements include participation in the Kovno kollel , membership of the Hovevei Zion movement, lobbying with the Russian government for lifting restrictions of the Jewish population, and the collection of responsa titled Be'er Yizhak ("Well [of] Isaac"). He collaborated with many of his contemporaries, including Rabbis Yisrael Lipkin Salanter and Samson Raphael Hirsch , on issues affecting Russian Jewry. Various institutions were named after him, including Yeshivas Knesses Beis Yitzchak , and the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), part of Yeshiva University .1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17010981.
The opening as it stood in 2020 6 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor or Isaac Elhanan Spector ( ; 1817 - March 6, 1896) was a Russian rabbi, posek and Talmudic sage of the 19th century.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964137333.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Russian rabbi and Talmudical scholar (1817-1896) Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor or Isaac Elhanan Spector ( ; 1817 - March 6, 1896) was a Russian rabbi , posek and Talmudist of the 19th century.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1161273805.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Russian rabbi and Talmudist (1817–1896) Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor or Isaac Elhanan Spector ( Hebrew : יצחק אלחנן ספקטור ; 1817 – March 6, 1896) was a Russian rabbi , posek and Talmudist of the 19th century.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1295023689. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born in russia in the hrodna voblast”. Today it says “russian rabbi”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
born in russia in the hrodna voblast
Now
russian rabbi
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
