[[Chevron Yeshiva]]"},"yeshivaposition":{"wt":"Founder"},"organisation":{"wt":""},"organisationposition":{"wt":""},"began":{"wt":"1882"},"ended":{"wt":"1927"},"main_work":{"wt":""},"predecessor":{"wt":""},"successor":{"wt":""},"rabbi":{"wt":""},"rebbe":{"wt":""},"kohan":{"wt":""},"hazzan":{"wt":""},"rank":{"wt":""},"other_post":{"wt":""},"birth_name":{"wt":""},"birth_date":{"wt":"1849"},"birth_place":{"wt":"[[Raseiniai]]"},"death_date":{"wt":"February 1,1927"},"death_place":{"wt":"Jerusalem"},"yahrtzeit":{"wt":"29 Shevat 5687"},"buried":{"wt":""},"burial_place":{"wt":"[[Har Hazeisim]]"},"nationality":{"wt":""},"denomination":{"wt":"[[Orthodox Judaism]]"},"residence":{"wt":""},"dynasty":{"wt":""},"parents":{"wt":""},"father":{"wt":"Moshe"},"mother":{"wt":"Miriam"},"spouse":{"wt":"Gittel"},"children":{"wt":""},"occupation":{"wt":""},"profession":{"wt":""},"alma_mater":{"wt":"[[Kelm Talmud Torah]]"},"semicha":{"wt":""},"signature":{"wt":""}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwBg">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme)>div:not(.notheme)[style]{background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme) div:not(.notheme){background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media(min-width:640px){body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table{display:table!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>caption{display:table-caption!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>tbody{display:table-row-group}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table tr{display:table-row!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table th,body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table td{padding-left:inherit;padding-right:inherit}}
Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel | |
---|---|
Personal | |
Born | 1849 |
Died | February 1, 1927 Jerusalem |
Religion | Judaism |
Spouse | Gittel |
Parents |
|
Denomination | Orthodox Judaism |
Alma mater | Kelm Talmud Torah |
Position | Founder |
Yeshiva | Slabodka Yeshiva Chevron Yeshiva |
Began | 1882 |
Ended | 1927 |
Yahrtzeit | 29 Shevat 5687 |
Nosson Tzvi Finkel (Hebrew : נתן צבי פינקל, Sephardic/Israeli: Natan Tzvi; Yiddish : נָטע הערש, romanized: Nota Hirsch; 1849–1927) was an influential Lithuanian Jewish leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe and founder of the Slabodka yeshiva, in the town of Sloboda Vilyampolskaya (now Vilijampolė, a suburb of Kaunas). He is also known by the Yiddish appellation der Alter ("the Elder") and as the Alter of Slabodka. Many of his pupils were to become major leaders of Orthodox Judaism in the USA and Israel.
Rabbi Finkel was born in 1849 to Reb Moshe Finkel [1] and was orphaned at an early age, not much is known about his formative years. At a young age, he went to study at the Kelm Talmud Torah under Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, "the Alter of Kelm."
Despite his influence, he was an intensely private person. Yet, he personally oversaw the complete student body of the yeshiva.
His motto was summed up in the words Gadlus HaAdam ("Greatness of Man"). He stressed the need for mussar (ethics), using works such as those of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, polishing the character traits of his students so that they would aspire to become gedolim - "great ones" in all areas of both scholarship, and personal ethics.
He spent ten out of every twelve months with his students full-time, only returning to his wife for the Jewish holidays. He had special agents who would keep an eye out all over Europe for teenagers with an aptitude for both scholarship and leadership, recruiting them and bringing them back to Slobodka. He attained unusual success, and his students subsequently reflected that he was a master of the human psyche and knew just which psychological buttons to press to give direction to his students' lives.
He would monitor the extracurricular behavior of students, judging their character faults and strengths. He was responsible for deciding which boys would share rooms together, weighing the strengths of one against the other. Some were chosen to be his personal assistants. He stressed the importance of outer appearance and the need for neatness and cleanliness. He did not want the image of the poor, tattered, down-trodden yeshiva bochur (yeshiva student) to be associated with the alumni of his institution. The rabbinical and Talmudical graduates of the Slobodka Yeshiva tried to live up to a higher code of dress and deportment, to the point of being accused of being dandies.
He would send teams of his trained prized pupils to places that needed a boost in religious observance and learning of Torah. His own son, Eliezer Yehudah (Leizer Yudel) Finkel eventually became the head of the far older Mir yeshiva, eventually leading it all the way to Jerusalem where it is today the largest post-high school yeshiva in the world with thousands of students.
His main opponents in the "yeshiva world" were first and foremost Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and as a result the Brisk yeshivas, who were adamantly opposed to any changes in what they believed to be the time-tested ways of yeshiva education. To this day, the Brisk yeshivos, based mainly in Jerusalem today, do not teach mussar (ethics) as a separate curriculum, but focus on pure Talmud study.
Finkel's opponents argued that the pure focus on the Talmud would automatically create greatness in both scholarship and ethics. But Finkel believed that, while this might have been true in previous generations, the modern age was different. In his view, too many new enticing secular ideologies, such as Socialism and Zionism and the very real lure of atheism in universities, were becoming a replacement for traditional Judaism for many young Jews. He was determined to prove that what he had to offer was more appealing than anything the outside world could offer.
Finkel staged one of the most dramatic moves in the history of yeshivos. In the 1920s he decided to create a branch of his yeshiva in the Land of Israel, together with the dean Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein, setting it up in Hebron and sending waves of hand-picked students there, culminating with his own permanent aliyah, "going up", to the Holy Land two years before his passing.
In the region of Palestine he founded his own institution in the town of Hebron called Knesses Yisroel - "Gathering of Israel", which moved to Jerusalem following the massacre of Jews during the 1929 Palestine riots in which many of the yeshiva students were murdered. This yeshiva today, Yeshivas Chevron in Jerusalem, has about a thousand students and is one of the most prestigious Lithuanian yeshivos in Israel.
During his lifetime, he molded many who would eventually become the heads ( roshei yeshiva ) of most of the so-called Lithuanian-style yeshivas that were established in the United States and Israel during the 20th century, and which continue to grow dramatically in the 21st century. Some of the more famous students are:
The Alter did not author any books or essays personally, but some of his ethical discourses were published under the name Ohr HaTzafun - "The Hidden Light" (also meaning "The Light of the Hidden (One)"). The word Ha-Tz[a]-F[u]-N also being the four initials of his name, but not in order ("Hirsh-Tzvi-Finkel-Nota"). The title alludes to the hidden and mysterious nature of its subject, as he used to sign his name as Hatzafun.
Moshe Mordechai Epstein was rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Knesseth Yisrael in Slabodka, Lithuania and is recognized as having been one of the leading Talmudists of the twentieth century. He is also one of the founders of the city of Hadera.
Hebron Yeshiva, also known as Yeshivas Hevron, or Knesses Yisroel, is a yeshiva. It originated in 1924 when the roshei yeshiva (deans) and 150 students of the Slabodka Yeshiva, known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas", relocated to Hebron.
Ner Israel Rabbinical College, also known as NIRC and Ner Yisroel, is a Haredi yeshiva in Pikesville, Maryland. It was founded in 1933 by Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, a disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, dean of the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania. Rabbi Aharon Feldman, a disciple of Rabbi Ruderman and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of America, became its head in 2001.
Rosh yeshiva is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and the Torah, and halakha.
Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim is an Orthodox yeshiva based in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York, United States. It is primarily an American, non-chasidic Haredi Talmudic yeshiva. The yeshiva is legally titled Rabbinical Seminary of America (RSA) but is often referred to as just Chofetz Chaim as that was the nickname of its namesake, Yisroel Meir Kagan. It has affiliate branches in Israel and North America.
The Hebrew Theological College, known colloquially as "Skokie Yeshiva" or HTC, is a yeshiva in Skokie, Illinois. Although the school's primary focus is the teaching of Torah and Jewish tradition, it is also a private university that is part of the Touro University System which hosts separate programs for men and women. Founded as a Modern Orthodox institution, it has evolved to include students from Haredi and Hasidic backgrounds.
A mashgiach ruchani, sometimes mashgiach for short, is a spiritual supervisor or guide. They are usually a rabbi who has an official position within a yeshiva and is responsible for the non-academic areas of yeshiva students' lives.
Yechezkel Sarna (1890–1969) was a disciple of Nosson Tzvi Finkel, spiritual mentor of the Slabodka yeshiva. He was sent by Finkel to move the yeshiva from Europe to Hebron in 1925, and following the 1929 Hebron massacre, to Jerusalem. In 1934, he became rosh yeshiva (dean).
Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman was a Russian-born American Talmudic scholar and rabbi who founded and served as rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore.
The Kelm Talmud Torah was a famous yeshiva in pre-holocaust Kelmė, Lithuania. Unlike other yeshivas, the Talmud Torah focused primarily on the study of Musar and self-improvement.
Rabbi Naftoli Trop was a renowned Talmudist and Talmid Chacham. He served as rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Radun, Poland.
Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg (1884–1966) was an Ashkenazi Orthodox rabbi, posek and rosh yeshiva. He is best known as the author of the work of responsa Seridei Eish.
Avrohom Eliyahu (Elya) Kaplan was a prominent Ashkenazi Orthodox rabbi. He was born in Kėdainiai, a town in the Kaunas County in Lithuania. He was born an orphan, and named Avrohom Elya for his deceased father, who had died suddenly at the age of 33 several months before his son's birth. At about this time, Reb Avraham Elya's mother remarried a man from Telshe.
Avraham Grodzinski was a rabbi who served as the mashgiach ruchani of the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania. He is best known for being the primary disciple of Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka", and for his book of mussar (ethics) lectures called Toras Avraham.
Eliezer Manoach Palchinsky, also spelled Paltzinsky, Platchinsky and Platinsky, was a rosh yeshiva in Jerusalem for nearly 60 years.
Eliyahu Boruch Finkel was an influential maggid shiur (lecturer) at the Mir yeshiva in Jerusalem.
Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael was a yeshiva located in the town of Vilijampolės Slabada in the Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire. It operated from the late 19th century until World War II.
The Lomza Yeshiva was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Łomża, Poland, founded by Rabbi Eliezer Bentzion Shulevitz in 1883. Rabbi Yechiel Mordechai Gordon served as the yeshiva's rosh yeshiva for many years, and Rabbi Moshe Rosenstain served as the mashgiach. A branch of the yeshiva was established in Petach Tikvah, Palestine in 1926, where Rabbi Reuven Katz served as co-rosh yeshiva alongside Rabbi Gordon.
Yeshivas Knesses Beis Yitzchak was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva, founded in Slabodka on the outskirts of Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1897. The yeshiva later moved to Kamyenyets, then part of Poland, and currently in Belarus, and is therefore often referred to as the Kaminetz Yeshiva or simply Kaminetz. The yeshiva was famously led by Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz.
Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Sher was the rosh yeshiva of the Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania and Bnei Brak. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka.