Eliyahu Boruch Finkel

Eliyahu Boruch Finkel (25 December 1947 – March 31, 2008) was an influential maggid shiur (lecturer) at the Mir yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Eliyahu Boruch Finkel
Personal
Born	Eliyahu Boruch Finkel 25 December 1947 Jerusalem
Died	March 31, 2008 (aged 60) Jerusalem
Religion	Judaism
Spouse	Chana Gelman
Parents	Rabbi Moshe Finkel Nechama Eidel Levin
Denomination	Haredi
Position	Rosh Yeshiva
Yeshiva	Mir yeshiva (Jerusalem)
Ended	2008

Biography

He was born in Jerusalem, Israel to Rabbi Moshe Finkel, son of the rosh yeshiva of the Mir, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, and grandson of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka. His mother was Nechama Eidel Levin, daughter of Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Levin, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Eitz Chaim).

He grew up under the tutelage of his grandfather, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda, and studied in Talmud Torah Yavneh. At the age of 10 he went to learn in Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi, a school named after his grandfather Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel. Half a year after his bar mitzvah, he moved to the Mir yeshiva and learned in chavruta (study partner) with Rabbi Chaim Kamil, where he was recognized as an outstanding student.

While learning at the Mir, he became close with Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz and Rabbi Nochum Partzovitz. He would learn with Rabbi Partovitz every day for a few hours, covering all the sugyos of Shas, even those topics not studied regularly in yeshivas. Because of all the years that they learned together, Rabbi Eliyahu Boruch considered Rabbi Partzovitz his rebbe muvhak (chief teacher).

In recognition of Finkel's tremendous abilities, the roshei yeshiva appointed him to be a maggid shiur at a young age.

In the summer of 1967 he went to learn in the Ponevezh Yeshiva, where he learned in chavruta with Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo Berman, one of the roshei yeshivas. He also learned with Ponevezh rosh yeshiva Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky, who said about Eliyahu Boruch: "There was Rabbi Eliyahu Boruch Kamai (grandfather of Rabbi Eliyahu Boruch Finkel; Kamai means "first" in Aramaic), and now we have Rabbi Eliyahu Boruch Basrai (Aramaic for "last")".

After his tenure in Ponevezh, he returned to the Mir until his marriage to Chana Gelman, daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Gelman of Queens, New York.

Maggid shiur

His shiurim were characterized by profundity on the one hand and clarity on the other, even in the most complicated sugyos. He would analyze the words of the Rishonim intently and give over his shiur with excitement.[1] His students recall his simchas ha-chaim (positive, happy attitude) and the personal relationship he built with each of them.[2] His shiurim influenced the way of learning in the Mir specifically and in other yeshivos as well. Many of his students now say shiurim of their own and give over Rabbi Finkel's way of learning to the next generation of students and Torah scholars.

Before his death, Rabbi Finkel was delivering the second-largest shiur in the Mir, teaching hundreds of students.[3]

Rabbi Finkel died suddenly on 31 March 2008. His funeral took place the following morning in the main building of the yeshiva. Tens of thousands of mourners accompanied his bier to Har HaMenuchos, where he was buried in the new area for rabbis. His eldest son, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Leib Finkel, currently says shiur as his father's successor.

References

1. Cohen, Rabbi Chaim (9 April 2008). "A Shabbos With Rav Finkel, A'H". Five Towns Jewish Times. Archived from the original on 7 April 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
2. "Rav Eliyahu Boruch Finkel Zt"l – The Talmidim Unite". Five Towns Jewish Times. 25 February 2009. Archived from the original on 7 April 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
3. Heimowitz, Rabbi Yehuda (9 November 2011). "Special Tribute Edition: One Father, Myriads of Orphans". Mishpacha. Archived from the original on 12 November 2011. Retrieved 10 November 2011.