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Nosson Tzvi Finkel (Mir)
Encyclopedia
Nosson Tzvi Finkel was an American-born Haredi
Litvish
rabbi
and rosh yeshiva
(dean) of the Mir Yeshiva
in Jerusalem, Israel
. During his tenure from 1990 until his death in 2011, he built the Mir into the largest yeshiva
in Israel with nearly 6,000 undergraduate students and over 1,600 avreichim (married students). Although he suffered from Parkinson's disease
for over 20 years, experiencing involuntary spasms and slurred speech, he did not let his illness stop him from learning Torah
for long hours, delivering regular shiurim (lectures), and fund-raising for his yeshiva around the world. He raised an estimated USD
$500 million for the Mir over the last two decades. He was a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
of Degel HaTorah
and was known for his Torah erudition and his great concern for his students.
, Illinois
to Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Finkel and his wife, Sara Schwartz, who ran a kosher
catering business. He was a great-grandson of the Alter of Slabodka, after whom he was named. He had one brother, Gedaliah
, who now teaches at the Mir yeshiva. After his parents moved to Israel in the 1980s, his mother published a best-selling kosher cookbook.
Nosson Tzvi grew up as a "typical American Jewish boy" known as Natty who enjoyed playing baseball. He took his secondary education at the co-ed, Modern Orthodox
Ida Crown Jewish Academy
, where he was a starting centerfielder for the baseball team and president of the student council
. During a visit to Israel at the age of 15, his cousin, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel ("Reb Leizer Yudel"), the Mir rosh yeshiva, recognized his ability to think clearly and have patience for studying, and invited him to stay in Jerusalem to pursue advanced Talmud
ic studies at the Mir. But Nosson Tzvi's mother wanted him to return to Chicago to finish high school. At the age of 18, Finkel returned to Jerusalem to learn at the Mir and Reb Leizer Yudel provided him with top-notch chavruta
s (study partners) to develop his skills. He learned diligently for the next six years. With one of his chavrutas, Rabbi Zundel Kroizer, he completed the entire Talmud each year.
Finkel married Reb Leizer Yudel's granddaughter, Rachel Leah, the eldest daughter of Rabbi Binyomin Beinush Finkel
, who was his second cousin. He and his wife had 11 children. He continued to learn with chavrutas at all hours, stopping at 2 a.m.; his wife would bring their children to visit him at the yeshiva so he wouldn't have to take the time to walk home. Upon the death of his father-in-law in 1990, Finkel was named rosh yeshiva of the Mir together with Rabbi Refoel Shmuelevitz (son of former Mir rosh yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz). Finkel took on the financial responsibility for the yeshiva.
, Ashkenazi
, Sephardi
and baalei teshuva
students from Israel, the United States and Europe.
Finkel was known for his great love and care for his students. Nothwithstanding the Mir's huge enrollment, he tried to remember the name of each student. He made himself available to learn with anyone who asked and went out of his way to help students with their material needs. He also remembered personal details about each of his alumni and donors abroad. His brother-in-law, Rabbi Aharon Lopiansky, rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, said that at Mir dinners, 1,000 people could be waiting to speak with the rosh yeshiva, "and almost every single one on the line was someone he had had a personal connection with".
In the late 1990s, Finkel began fund-raising for additional buildings, resulting in the opening of four new sites. He assigned separate battei medrash
(study halls) for each group of students, making one for Israeli students, one for Americans, one for those who wished to study without a daily shiur, and so on. As enrollment continued to climb, several students of the main maggidei shiur (lecturers) began delivering shiurim in English, and Finkel raised the funds to open a new beis medrash in 2006 for these shiurim too. Yet another beis medrash was built in recent years. The Mir also opened a branch in the Brachfeld neighborhood of Modi'in Illit
for Israeli students, where Finkel gave shiurim and occasional shmuessen (musar talks), and a yeshiva ketana in the Ramat Shlomo
neighborhood of Jerusalem.
In an unusual move for a Litvish yeshiva, Finkel accepted 800 Hasidic
students and allowed them to learn in their own chabura and follow their own customs, including a fartug (pre-dawn study session) before morning prayers. This group, known as Chaburas Ameilim BaTorah (the "Toiling in Torah" Study Group), was housed in a different neighborhood, but the week before his death, Finkel moved them onto Mir yeshiva premises. He participated in their Thursday-night study sessions as well as their seudot mitzvah (festival meals) marking a siyum
, and Hanukkah
parties.
Finkel shouldered the responsibility for raising funds for this giant Torah enterprise. Despite his disease and its side effects, he traveled twice a year to England and the United States. In the past two years, the economic recession saw the yeshiva's debts mounting quicker than they were being met, with salaries and kollel
stipend
s running months behind. Finkel was said to be very upset by this state of affairs.
5772), Finkel suddenly lost consciousness. EMS personnel attempted to revive him for 50 minutes while students of the Mir stood outside in the street praying for him. His personal doctor summoned to the home determined that he had died of cardiac arrest
.
An estimated 100,000 people attended his funeral, which began at the Mir yeshiva in Beit Yisrael
and continued on foot to Har HaMenuchot
, where he was buried next to Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, a former rosh yeshiva of the Mir. The Edah HaChareidis ordered all Haredi
businesses to close during the funeral, and Litvishe
Torah leaders Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv and Aharon Leib Shteinman instructed teachers and students of Talmud Torah
s, yeshivas, and kollels to join the funeral procession. The procession blocked the entrance to the city and halted operations of the Jerusalem Light Rail
, as tens of thousands of mourners blocked the tracks on the Jerusalem Chords Bridge en route to the cemetery.
Rav Finkel's death was a double blow for the Jerusalem Litvish yeshiva world, coming one day after the death of Rabbi Dov Schwartzman, another respected Litvish rosh yeshiva in Jerusalem. Rabbi Finkel participated in Rabbi Schwartzman's funeral on 7 November.
At the funeral it was announced that Finkel's eldest son, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel
, would succeed his father as rosh yeshiva.
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
Litvish
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks are Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania:...
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
(dean) of the Mir Yeshiva
Mir yeshiva (Jerusalem)
The Mir yeshiva , known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, is an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel. With 6,000 students, it is the largest yeshiva in Israel. Many of the students are from the United States and Canada. It is also believed to be the largest yeshiva in the world...
in Jerusalem, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. During his tenure from 1990 until his death in 2011, he built the Mir into the largest yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
in Israel with nearly 6,000 undergraduate students and over 1,600 avreichim (married students). Although he suffered from Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
for over 20 years, experiencing involuntary spasms and slurred speech, he did not let his illness stop him from learning Torah
Torah study
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...
for long hours, delivering regular shiurim (lectures), and fund-raising for his yeshiva around the world. He raised an estimated USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$500 million for the Mir over the last two decades. He was a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah refers to the supreme rabbinical policy-making council of any of several related Haredi Jewish organizations....
of Degel HaTorah
Degel HaTorah
Degel HaTorah is an Ashkenazi Haredi political party in Israel. For much of its existence it has been allied to Agudat Yisrael under the name United Torah Judaism.-Ideology:...
and was known for his Torah erudition and his great concern for his students.
Early life
Nosson Tzvi Finkel was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
to Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Finkel and his wife, Sara Schwartz, who ran a kosher
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
catering business. He was a great-grandson of the Alter of Slabodka, after whom he was named. He had one brother, Gedaliah
Gedaliah Finkel
Rabbi Gedaliah Finkel is a lecturer in Yeshivas Mir in Jerusalem, Israel.Rabbi Finkel, the younger brother of Mirrer Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, was born and raised in Chicago and as a youngster learned in Skokie yeshiva...
, who now teaches at the Mir yeshiva. After his parents moved to Israel in the 1980s, his mother published a best-selling kosher cookbook.
Nosson Tzvi grew up as a "typical American Jewish boy" known as Natty who enjoyed playing baseball. He took his secondary education at the co-ed, Modern Orthodox
Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....
Ida Crown Jewish Academy
Ida Crown Jewish Academy
Ida Crown Jewish Academy is a Modern Orthodox Jewish high school in West Ridge, Chicago, Illinois,Ida Crown Jewish Academy is a Modern Orthodox Jewish high school in West Ridge, Chicago, Illinois,...
, where he was a starting centerfielder for the baseball team and president of the student council
Student council
Student council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...
. During a visit to Israel at the age of 15, his cousin, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel ("Reb Leizer Yudel"), the Mir rosh yeshiva, recognized his ability to think clearly and have patience for studying, and invited him to stay in Jerusalem to pursue advanced Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ic studies at the Mir. But Nosson Tzvi's mother wanted him to return to Chicago to finish high school. At the age of 18, Finkel returned to Jerusalem to learn at the Mir and Reb Leizer Yudel provided him with top-notch chavruta
Chavruta
Chavruta, also spelled chavrusa , is a traditional Rabbinic approach to Talmudic study in which a pair of students independently learn, discuss, and debate a shared text. It is a primary learning method in yeshivas and kollels, where students often engage regular study partners of similar knowledge...
s (study partners) to develop his skills. He learned diligently for the next six years. With one of his chavrutas, Rabbi Zundel Kroizer, he completed the entire Talmud each year.
Finkel married Reb Leizer Yudel's granddaughter, Rachel Leah, the eldest daughter of Rabbi Binyomin Beinush Finkel
Binyomin Beinush Finkel
Rabbi Binyomin Beinush Finkel, , was the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Mir in Jerusalem.He was born in Mir, Belarus, where his father Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel was the rosh yeshiva of the Mir yeshiva. Rabbi Finkel acquired most of his Torah knowledge during his studies at the yeshiva...
, who was his second cousin. He and his wife had 11 children. He continued to learn with chavrutas at all hours, stopping at 2 a.m.; his wife would bring their children to visit him at the yeshiva so he wouldn't have to take the time to walk home. Upon the death of his father-in-law in 1990, Finkel was named rosh yeshiva of the Mir together with Rabbi Refoel Shmuelevitz (son of former Mir rosh yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz). Finkel took on the financial responsibility for the yeshiva.
Illness
Finkel was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in the late 1980s. Though he experienced much difficulty in walking and talking, and suffered from involuntary tremors and spasms and slurred speech, he continued to learn for hours every day and gave regular shiurim in the yeshiva, as well as embarked on regular fund-raising trips abroad. He steeled himself to control his spasms during his learning sedarim (study sessions). In later years, when he felt too weak to sit in a chair during the chaburas (small-group learning sessions) that he organized for students in his home, he would lie down on a couch and encourage the students to begin the session. He refused to take medication for his condition, since the drugs could make his mind foggy or cause memory loss and he didn't want to risk forgetting his Torah studies.Growth of the Mir
When Finkel became rosh yeshiva, the Mir had less than 1,000 students. Under his stewardship, the yeshiva grew by leaps and bounds, enrolling nearly 6,000 undergraduate students and over 1,600 married students by the time of his death. This growth is credited to Finkel's open-door policy: whoever wished to learn at the Mir was welcome. Enrollment now includes Litvish, HasidicHasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
, Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
, Sephardi
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
and baalei teshuva
Baal teshuva
Baal teshuva or ba'al teshuvah , sometimes abbreviated to BT, is a term referring to a Jew who turns to embrace Orthodox Judaism. Baal teshuva literally means, "repentant", i.e., one who has repented or "returned" to God...
students from Israel, the United States and Europe.
Finkel was known for his great love and care for his students. Nothwithstanding the Mir's huge enrollment, he tried to remember the name of each student. He made himself available to learn with anyone who asked and went out of his way to help students with their material needs. He also remembered personal details about each of his alumni and donors abroad. His brother-in-law, Rabbi Aharon Lopiansky, rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, said that at Mir dinners, 1,000 people could be waiting to speak with the rosh yeshiva, "and almost every single one on the line was someone he had had a personal connection with".
In the late 1990s, Finkel began fund-raising for additional buildings, resulting in the opening of four new sites. He assigned separate battei medrash
Beth midrash
Beth Midrash refers to a study hall, whether in a synagogue, yeshiva, kollel, or other building. It is distinct from a synagogue, although many synagogues are also used as batei midrash and vice versa....
(study halls) for each group of students, making one for Israeli students, one for Americans, one for those who wished to study without a daily shiur, and so on. As enrollment continued to climb, several students of the main maggidei shiur (lecturers) began delivering shiurim in English, and Finkel raised the funds to open a new beis medrash in 2006 for these shiurim too. Yet another beis medrash was built in recent years. The Mir also opened a branch in the Brachfeld neighborhood of Modi'in Illit
Modi'in Illit
Modi'in Illit is a Haredi Israeli settlement and a city in the West Bank, situated midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Modi'in Illit was granted city status by the Israeli government in 2008. It is located six kilometres northeast of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut and is often referred to as Kiryat...
for Israeli students, where Finkel gave shiurim and occasional shmuessen (musar talks), and a yeshiva ketana in the Ramat Shlomo
Ramat Shlomo
Ramat Shlomo Heights) is a large Jewish housing development in northern East Jerusalem. The population, mostly ultra-Orthodox, is 18,000-20,000....
neighborhood of Jerusalem.
In an unusual move for a Litvish yeshiva, Finkel accepted 800 Hasidic
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
students and allowed them to learn in their own chabura and follow their own customs, including a fartug (pre-dawn study session) before morning prayers. This group, known as Chaburas Ameilim BaTorah (the "Toiling in Torah" Study Group), was housed in a different neighborhood, but the week before his death, Finkel moved them onto Mir yeshiva premises. He participated in their Thursday-night study sessions as well as their seudot mitzvah (festival meals) marking a siyum
Siyum
A siyum means the completion of any unit of Torah study, or book of the Mishnah or Talmud in Judaism. A siyum is usually followed by a celebratory meal, or seudat mitzvah, a meal in honor of a mitzvah, or commandment...
, and Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
parties.
Finkel shouldered the responsibility for raising funds for this giant Torah enterprise. Despite his disease and its side effects, he traveled twice a year to England and the United States. In the past two years, the economic recession saw the yeshiva's debts mounting quicker than they were being met, with salaries and kollel
Kollel
A kollel is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim and learning sedarim ; unlike a yeshiva, the student body of a kollel are all married men...
stipend
Stipend
A stipend is a form of salary, such as for an internship or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from a wage or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work performed, instead it represents a payment that enables somebody to be exempt partly or wholly from waged or salaried...
s running months behind. Finkel was said to be very upset by this state of affairs.
Death
At 6 a.m. in his home on November 8, 2011 (11 CheshvanCheshvan
Marcheshvan , sometimes shortened to Cheshvan , is the second month of the civil year and the eighth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew...
5772), Finkel suddenly lost consciousness. EMS personnel attempted to revive him for 50 minutes while students of the Mir stood outside in the street praying for him. His personal doctor summoned to the home determined that he had died of cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
.
An estimated 100,000 people attended his funeral, which began at the Mir yeshiva in Beit Yisrael
Beit Yisrael
Beit Yisrael is a predominantly Haredi neighborhood in central Jerusalem, Israel. It is located just north of Mea Shearim.The name Beit Yisrael is taken from the verse in Ezekiel , in which Ezekiel prophesies to the hills and mountains of Israel, "I shall make numerous on you the people, the...
and continued on foot to Har HaMenuchot
Har HaMenuchot
Har HaMenuchot is the largest cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel. It is located at the western edge of the city adjacent to the neighborhood of Givat Shaul, with commanding views of Mevaseret Zion to the north, Motza to the west, and Har Nof to the south.-History:...
, where he was buried next to Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, a former rosh yeshiva of the Mir. The Edah HaChareidis ordered all Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
businesses to close during the funeral, and Litvishe
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks are Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania:...
Torah leaders Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv and Aharon Leib Shteinman instructed teachers and students of Talmud Torah
Talmud Torah
Talmud Torah schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of public primary school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew, the Scriptures , and the Talmud...
s, yeshivas, and kollels to join the funeral procession. The procession blocked the entrance to the city and halted operations of the Jerusalem Light Rail
Jerusalem Light Rail
The Jerusalem Light Rail is a light rail line, the first of several rapid transit lines planned by Israel for Jerusalem, Israel's capital city. Construction began in 2002 and ended in 2010, when the testing phase began. It was built by the CityPass consortium, which has a 30-year concession to...
, as tens of thousands of mourners blocked the tracks on the Jerusalem Chords Bridge en route to the cemetery.
Rav Finkel's death was a double blow for the Jerusalem Litvish yeshiva world, coming one day after the death of Rabbi Dov Schwartzman, another respected Litvish rosh yeshiva in Jerusalem. Rabbi Finkel participated in Rabbi Schwartzman's funeral on 7 November.
At the funeral it was announced that Finkel's eldest son, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel
Eliezer Yehuda Finkel (II)
Eliezer Yehuda Finkel is a Haredi Jewish rabbi and rosh yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, which is considered to be the largest yeshiva in Israel with a student body of 6,000 students...
, would succeed his father as rosh yeshiva.