R. Yaakov Meir Grodzinski was a Rabbi and a Hebrew scribe. He lived in Minsk and was well-known and was sought after for halakhic rulings as well as for blessings. He was particularly strict about a few things. He forbade the wearing of clothes with certain flaps with the form of a square, which were in style at the time. It seems this would create a garment with four corners, which would then necessitate the wearing of tzitzith. He himself wore rounded flaps, to avoid this problem. But this decision was not widely accepted. He was also very careful to always walk with his gaze downwards so that he would not look at women. Women treated him as if he were a "holy man".

Every Friday before the Sabbath, he would go to where the wagons were parked and hurry the wagon drivers home so that they would be in time for the Sabbath.In terms of the return to Zion, he felt that the final redemption would not come until the Jews were careful about the Mitzva of Tzitzith... He was in the Warsaw Ghetto and died in 1942.