Nosson Zvi (Nota Hirsh) Finkel (1849-1927), was born in Lithuania and died in the British Mandate of Palestine. He was an influential leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe. He is better known by his Yiddish name as the Alter ("elder") and founder of the Slabodka Yeshiva, in the town of Slabodka (a suburb of Kaunas). Many of his pupils were to become major leaders of Orthodox Judaism in the USA and Israel. 1849 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Map of the territory under the British Mandate of Palestine. ... Orthodox Judaism is the stream of Judaism which adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmud (The Oral Law) and later codified in the Shulkhan Arukh (Code of Jewish Law). It is governed by these works and the Rabbinical commentary... Current division of Europe into five (or more) regions: one definition of Eastern Europe is marked in orange Eastern Europe as a region has several alternative definitions, whereby it can denote: the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Central Europe and Russia. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... Slabodka yeshiva (Knesset Yisrael), was known colloquially as the mother of yeshivas (rabbinical seminaries). ... Slabodka yeshiva (Knesset Yisrael), was known colloquially as the mother of yeshivas (rabbinical seminaries). ... Location Ethnographic region AukÅ¡taitija County Kaunas County Municipality Kaunas city municipality Elderate Number of elderates 11 Coordinates 54°54′N 23°56′E General information Capital of Kaunas County Kaunas district municipality Kaunas city municipality Population (rank) 361,274 in 2005 (2nd) First mentioned 1361 Granted city rights 1408...

The Alter of Slabodka

Old public photo-etching of the Alter (or Sabba) of Slabodka, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Old public photo-etching of the Alter (or Sabba) of Slabodka, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...

Early years

Nota Hutch was orphaned at an early age, and not much is known about his formative years. What is known is that he was an early disciple of the nascent Mussar movement, founded and led by Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin Salanter. The Hebrew term mussar, while literally derived from a word meaning tradition, usually refers to Jewish ethics in general, or (and more commonly) refers to the Jewish ethics education movement that developed in the 19th century Orthodox Jewish European community, particularly in Lithuania. ... Rabbi Yisrael ben Zev Wolf Lipkin (1810-1883) was the father of the Mussar movement in Orthodox Judaism. ...

Philosophical approach

Despite his influence, he was an intensely private person. Yet, he personally oversaw the complete student body of the yeshiva. Yeshiva or yeshivah (Hebrew: ישיבה pl. ...

His motto was summed up in the words Gadlut 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 . Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (also Moses Chaim, Moses Hayyim, also Luzzato) (1707-1746), also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RAMCHAL (also RAMHAL), was a prominent Italian Jewish rabbi, mystic, and philosopher best remembered today for his ethical treatise Mesillat Yesharim (Path of the Just). ... Ethics (from Greek ἦθος meaning custom) is the branch of axiology, one of the four major branches of philosophy, which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to distinguish that which is right from that which is wrong. ...

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 that 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 extra-curricular 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. The Talmud (תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories, which Jewish tradition considers authoritative. ...

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 (Lazer 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. Torah () is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or law. ...

Opposition

His main opponents in the "yeshiva world" were the members and alumni of the Brisk yeshiva of Lithuania headed by the Soloveitchik family, who, unlike their kin Joseph Soloveitchik who eventually moved to the United Sates, were adamantly opposed to any changes in what they believed to be the time-tested ways of yeshiva education. To this day, their yeshivot, based mainly in Jerusalem today, do not teach mussar ethics as some sort of special curriculum, but focus on pure Talmud study. Brisk yeshivas commonly known as Brisk (a name used by many Yiddish-speaking Jews to refer to the town of Brest-Litovsk, located in what is now Belarus). ... Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik of Yeshiva University. ... Yeshiva or yeshivah (Hebrew: ישיבה pl. ... The Talmud (תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories, which Jewish tradition considers authoritative. ...

Rabbi Finkel's opponents argued that the pure focus on the Talmud would automatically create greatness in both scholarship and ethics. But Rabbi 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. Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... Poster promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s: Toward a New Life (in Romanian),The Promised Land (in Hungarian), in small (down) text is written First Palestinian sound movie 1844 Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews by Mordecai Noah, page one. ... Atheism, in its broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of gods. ... A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees at all levels (bachelor, master, and doctor) in a variety of subjects. ... Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people with around 14 million followers (as of 2005 [1]). It is one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. ...

Land of Israel

Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel staged one of the most dramatic moves in the history of yeshivot. In the 1920s he decided to create a branch of his yeshiva in the British Mandate of Palestine, 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. The 1920s were a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Map of the territory under the British Mandate of Palestine. ... Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein is a Talmudist and the Rosh Yeshiva of the Slabodka Yeshiva. ... Hebron (Arabic (help· info) al-Ḫalīl; Hebrew (help· info), Standard Hebrew Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew Ḥeḇrôn: derived from the word friend) is a town in the Southern Judea region of the West Bank of around 130,000 Palestinians and 500 Israeli settlers. ...

In 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 Hebron massacre in which many of the yeshiva students perished. Map of the British Mandate of Palestine. ... Hebron (Arabic (help· info) al-Ḫalīl; Hebrew (help· info), Standard Hebrew Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew Ḥeḇrôn: derived from the word friend) is a town in the Southern Judea region of the West Bank of around 130,000 Palestinians and 500 Israeli settlers. ... Jerusalem (31°46′N 35°14′E; Hebrew: (help· info) Yerushalayim; Arabic: (help· info) al-Quds, Greek Ιεροσόλυμα), is an ancient Middle Eastern city on the watershed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea at an elevation of 650-840 meters. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Hebron (Arabic (help· info) al-Ḫalīl; Hebrew (help· info), Standard Hebrew Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew Ḥeḇrôn: derived from the word friend) is a town in the Southern Judea region of the West Bank of around 130,000 Palestinians and 500 Israeli settlers. ...

Influence

During his lifetime, he molded many who would eventually become the heads (Roshei Yeshiva) of most of the so-called Lithuanian-style Yeshivot 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 ones are: A Rosh yeshiva (Hebrew: ראש ישיבה) (plural in Hebrew: Roshei yeshiva, but also referred to in the English form as Rosh yeshivas) is a rabbi who is the academic head, or rosh (ראש), of a yeshiva (ישיבה), a college of higher Talmudic study. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... The 21st century is the century that began on 1 January 2001 and will last to 31 December 2100. ...

• Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel (son of the Alter) of Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel
• Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner of Yeshivas Chaim Berlin of Brooklyn, New York
• Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky of Torah Vodaath inBrooklyn, New York
• Rabbi Aaron Kotler, of Beth Midrash Gevoha in Lakewood, New Jersey
• Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz of Rabbinical Seminary of America in Queens
• Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman of Ner Israel in Baltimore, Maryland
• Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, head of Chevron Yeshiva, Jerusalem, Israel
• Rabbi Isaac Sherr, head of the Slabodka yeshiva of Bnei Brak, Israel
• Rabbi Elazar Shach of Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Israel

The Alter did not personally author any books or essays, 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. The Mir Yeshiva (or Mirrer Yeshiva) is a Haredi Judaism yeshiva mainly devoted to teaching Talmud. ... Jerusalem (31°46′N 35°14′E; Hebrew: (help· info) Yerushalayim; Arabic: (help· info) al-Quds, Greek Ιεροσόλυμα), is an ancient Middle Eastern city on the watershed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea at an elevation of 650-840 meters. ... Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner the Rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin at a special Purim celebration in his yeshiva. ... Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin (also known as Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin) (MYRCB) or as Chaim Berlin, is a major Orthodox Judaism yeshiva located in Brooklyn, New York. ... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ... Yeshiva Torah Vodaas (or Mesivta Torah Vodaas) is a Haredi yeshiva located in Brooklyn, New York, founded by Binyamin Wilhelm, author of Nidchei Yisroel, a guide for new Jewish immigrants. ... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ... Aharon (or Ahron, Aaron, Aron) Kotler (1890s - 1962) was a prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Lithuania, and later the United States of America. ... Lakewood is a census-designated place located in Ocean County, New Jersey. ... Dovid Leibowitz (1889-1941) was a leading rabbi and disciple of prewar Europes Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania who went on to found the Rabbinical Seminary of America as its first Rosh yeshiva (dean) in Brooklyn, New York. ... Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim: Rabbinical Seminary of America (RSA) or Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir Ha-Kohen, or Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva and often referred to as just Chofetz Chaim (חָפֵץ חַיִּים) is a major Orthodox Judaism yeshiva in the United States based in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York with many branches... Queens is geographically the largest of the five boroughs of New York City in the United States, and the most ethnically diverse county in the U.S. It is coterminous with Queens County in the State of New York and is located on western Long Island. ... Yeshiva Ner Yisrael: Ner Israel Rabbinical College also known as NIRC and known colloquially as Ner, is a yeshiva in Baltimore, Maryland founded in 1933 by Rabbi Yakov Yitzchok Ruderman who was a key disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel of the famous Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania, Europe. ... A view of the Baltimore skyline from the water taxi. ... R Yechezkel Sarna Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna (1890 - 1969) was the successor to Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka, as the spiritual mentor of the Yeshiva. ... Elazar Menachem Man Shach (אלעזר מנחם מן שך) (or Rav Leizer Shach, at times his name is written as Eliezer Schach in English publications) (January 22, 1898 - November 2, 2001), was a leading Haredi rabbi in modern Israel. ... Ponevezh yeshiva (or Pononvezh). ... Mentioned as one of the cities in the portion of the Tribe of Dan (Yehoshua 19:45), Bnei Brak is famous in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 32b) as the seat of Rabbi Akivas court, and in the Pesach Haggada as the site of the all-night Pesach Seder of Rabbi...

External links

• Spending time in Slobodka
• Learning from the Alter
• 1929 Hebron massacre Slabodka victims