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Rabbi Nosson Tzvi “Der Alter” Finkel

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Rabbi Nosson Tzvi “Der Alter” Finkel

Birth
Raseiniai, Raseiniai District Municipality, Kaunas, Lithuania
Death
1 Feb 1927 (aged 77–78)
Jerusalem District, Israel
Burial
Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel Add to Map
Plot
חברה קדישא: פרושים | גוש: הנביאים | תת חלקה: ז | שורה: 5 | מספר: 14
Memorial ID
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Was an influential leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe and founder of the Slabodka Yeshiva, in the town of Slabodka (a suburb of Kaunas). He is better known by the Yiddish appellation der Alter ("the Elder"). Many of his pupils were to become major leaders of Orthodox Judaism in the USA and Israel.

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.

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.
Was an influential leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe and founder of the Slabodka Yeshiva, in the town of Slabodka (a suburb of Kaunas). He is better known by the Yiddish appellation der Alter ("the Elder"). Many of his pupils were to become major leaders of Orthodox Judaism in the USA and Israel.

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.

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.

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