Nosson Zvi (Nota Hirsh) Finkel known as the Alter of Slabodka (1849 in Raseiniai, Lithuania – 1927 in the British Mandate of Palestine) was an influential leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe and founder of the Slabodka Yeshiva, in the town of Vilijampolė (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.
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Nosson Zvi (Nota Hirsh) Finkel known as the Alter of Slabodka (1849 in Raseiniai, Lithuania – 1927 in the British Mandate of Palestine) was an influential leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe and founder of the Slabodka Yeshiva, in the town of Vilijampolė (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 was orphaned at an early age, and 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...
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