Nosson Tzvi Finkel (Slabodka)

{{Short description|Lithuanian rabbi, founder of the Slabodka yeshiva (1849–1927)}} {{distinguish|Nosson Tzvi Finkel (Mir)}} {{Infobox Jewish leader | honorific-prefix = Rabbi | name = Nosson Tzvi Finkel | honorific-suffix = | title = | image = Alter of Slabodka.jpg | caption = | synagogue = | synagogueposition = | yeshiva = [[Yeshiva Knesses Yisrael (Slabodka)|Slabodka Yeshiva]]<br/>[[Chevron Yeshiva]] | yeshivaposition = Founder | organisation = | organisationposition = | began = 1882 | ended = 1927 | main_work = | predecessor = | successor = | rabbi = | rebbe = | kohan = | hazzan = | rank = | other_post =  | birth_name = | birth_date = 1849 | birth_place = [[Raseiniai]], [[Raseiniai County]], [[Kovno Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]] (present-day [[Lithuania]]) | death_date = February 1, 1927 | death_place = Jerusalem | yahrtzeit = 29 Shevat 5687 | buried = | burial_place = [[Har Hazeisim]] | nationality = | denomination = [[Orthodox Judaism]] | residence = | dynasty = | parents = | father = Moshe | mother = Miriam | spouse = Gittel | children = | occupation = | profession = | alma_mater = [[Kelm Talmud Torah]] | semicha = | signature = }}

'''Nosson Tzvi Finkel''' ({{langx|he|נתן צבי פינקל}}, [[Sephardic Hebrew|Sephardic]]/[[Modern Hebrew|Israeli]]: ''Natan Tzvi''; {{langx|yi|נָטע הערש|Nota Hirsch}}; 1849–1927) was an influential [[Lithuanian Jews|Lithuanian Jewish]] leader of [[Orthodox Judaism]] in [[Eastern Europe]] and founder of the [[Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael (Slabodka)|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 [[United States|USA]] and [[Israel]].

==Early years== Rabbi Finkel was born in 1849 to Reb Moshe Finkel<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hoffman|first=Yair|date=2021-02-11|title=94th Yahrtzeit of the Alter of Slabodka - Architect of Today's Torah World|url=https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/1947198/94th-yahrtzeit-of-the-alter-of-slabodka-architect-of-todays-torah-world.html|access-date=2021-02-14|website=The Yeshiva World|language=en-US}}</ref> 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."

==Philosophical approach== {{Unreferenced section|date=November 2022}} 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 [[Talmud]]ical 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 Yehuda Finkel (Mir rosh yeshiva, Poland and Jerusalem)|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.

==Opposition== {{Unreferenced section|date=November 2022}} 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 [[yeshiva|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 [[university|universities]], were becoming a replacement for traditional [[Judaism]] for many young [[Jew]]s. He was determined to prove that what he had to offer was more appealing than anything the outside world could offer.

==Land of Israel== {{Unreferenced section|date=November 2022}} [[Image:Nosson_Zvi_Finkel.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, tended by his yeshiva students, in the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]] in his last years.]]

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 (region)|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.

==Influence== {{Unreferenced section|date=November 2022}} During his lifetime, he molded many who would eventually become the heads (''[[Rosh yeshiva|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:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-31 |title=95th Yartzeit of the Alter of Slabodka |url=https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/2056467/95th-yartzeit-of-the-alter-of-slabodka.html |access-date=2026-01-25 |language=en-US}}</ref> * Rabbi [[Eliezer Yehuda Finkel (Mir rosh yeshiva, Poland and Jerusalem)|Eliezer Yehuda Finkel]] (son of the ''Alter'') of the Mirrer Yeshiva in [[Mir Yeshiva (Belarus)|Mir]] and [[Mir Yeshiva (Jerusalem)|Jerusalem]], [[Israel]] * Rabbi [[Yitzchok Hutner]] of [[Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin]] of [[Brooklyn, New York]] * Rabbi [[Yaakov Kamenetsky]] of [[Yeshiva Torah Vodaas]] in [[Brooklyn, New York]] * Rabbi [[Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan]] of [[Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary]] in [[Berlin, Germany]] * Rabbi [[Aharon Kotler]], of [[Beth Medrash Govoha]] in [[Lakewood, New Jersey]] * Rabbi [[Dovid Leibowitz]] of [[Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim: Rabbinical Seminary of America]] in [[Queens County, New York|Queens]] * Rabbi [[Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman]] of [[Yeshivas Ner Yisroel]] in [[Baltimore, Maryland]] * Rabbi [[Yechezkel Sarna]], head of [[Hebron Yeshiva|Chevron Yeshiva]], Jerusalem, Israel * Rabbi [[Isaac Sher]], head of the [[Slabodka yeshiva (Bnei Brak)|Slabodka Yeshiva of Bnei Brak]], Israel * Rabbi [[Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg]] of [[Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary]] in [[Berlin, Germany]] * Professor [[Harry Austryn Wolfson]] of [[Harvard University]]

''The Alter'' did not author any books or essays personally, but some of his ethical discourses were published under the name ''[[:he:s:אור הצפון|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''.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Nosson Tzvi Finkel}} *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030426164111/http://www.tzemachdovid.org/Musar/slobodka.html Spending time in Slabodka]}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20030119172822/http://www.torah.org/learning/mussar-psych/mussar1.html Learning from the ''Alter''] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20030218161621/http://www.hebron.org.il/pics/tarpat/martyrs.htm 1929 Palestine riots Slabodka victims] *JTA news item March 1, 1927 - [https://www.jta.org/1927/03/01/archive/rabbi-finkel-former-head-of-slobodka-yeshiva-dies Rabbi Finkel, Former Head of Slobodka Yeshiva, Dies.] *Article from Hebron.com - [http://en.hebron.org.il/history/234 The Slabodka Yeshiva and the Renaissance of Hebron.]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finkel, Nosson Tzvi}} [[Category:1849 births]] [[Category:1927 deaths]] [[Category:Musar movement]] [[Category:Haredi rabbis in Europe]] [[Category:Haredi rabbis in Mandatory Palestine]] [[Category:Mashgiach ruchani]] [[Category:Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives]] [[Category:Lithuanian Haredi rabbis]] [[Category:People from Raseiniai]] [[Category:Academic staff of Slabodka yeshiva]] [[Category:Rabbis from Kaunas]]