“R’ Reines”
Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines was a rosh yeshiva in Lithuania who was a pioneer in two things: First, he added secular studies to his yeshiva almost a half century before Yeshiva College was founded in America as an adjunct to the RIETS yeshiva, and he was the first leader of the “Mizrachi” religious Zionist movement.
“Rav Yoshe Ber was not someone whom the Gedolim distanced themselves from”
Correct. In particular, he was very close to Rav Hutner (with whom he had attended the University of Berlin), the Lubavicher Rebbe, Rav Kotler, and his cousin Rav Moshe Feinstein, even though they disagreed with him on a lot of things. And The Rav was so respected by the charedi community that they made him a member of the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah of Aguath Israel of America while still in his 30s.