R. Joseph Zevi ben Israel Duschinsky, (1868–1948), was born in Paks, Hungary, where his father was the sofer. R. Duschinsky studied first under R. Moses Pollak, rabbi of Paks, and later under R. Simhah Bunim Sofer (Schreiber, the Shevet Sofer) in Pressburg. In 1895 he was elected rabbi to a congregation in Galanta established in opposition to the existing one; and in 1921 went to Khust (Carpatho-Ruthenia). In 1932 R. Duschinsky visited Palestine and on the death of R. Joseph Hayyim Sonnenfeld was elected in 1933 to succeed him as rabbi of the Edah Haredit of Jerusalem. He founded a yeshivah, Bet Yosef, which had hundreds of pupils. R. Duschinsky, an active supporter of Agudat Israel, appeared before various commissions of inquiry of the British mandatory government, and although he did not normally cooperate with the official rabbinate, during the siege of Jerusalem in 1948 he endorsed their permission to undertake defense and fortification work on the Sabbath.

R. Duschinsky was a bibliophile of refined taste and amassed a fine library of rare books. None of his own works was published in his lifetime, but two volumes of responsa: She'elot u-Teshuvot Mahariz (pt. 1, 1956; pt. 2, 1966), and three volumes of his homiletic commentary to the Bible (pt. 1, 1956; pt. 2, 1961; and pt. 3, 1965) have been published posthumously. His responsa in particular reflect his immense and wide learning (e.g., vol. 2, no. 51 adduces proof for a halakhic point of view from Emden's anti-Shabbatean tract Mitpahat Soferim, Altona, 1768). R. Duschinsky died during the siege of Jerusalem. His yeshivah continued to function under the direction of his only son, R. Moses Israel.