Nosson Tzvi Finkel

Early life Finkel was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Finkel and his wife, Sara Rosenblum, who ran a kosher catering business. and his paternal great-grandfather was the Alter of Slabodka, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, after whom he was named. He had one brother, Gedaliah, who now teaches at the Mir yeshiva. After his parents immigrated to Israel in 1973, his mother published a best-selling kosher cookbook.

Finkel grew up as a "typical American Jewish boy" He was known as Nathan in school and Natie to his friends. He was one of the first students of the Central Park Hebrew Day School (later renamed Arie Crown Day School) and received after-school tutoring in Torah studies from Rabbi Yehoshua Levinson. In 1957, at the age of 14, he accompanied his parents on a trip to Israel to visit the holy sites and his father's family. His great-uncle, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel ("Reb Leizer Yudel"), the Mir rosh yeshiva, recognized his ability to think clearly and have patience for studying, and asked his parents to let him stay and study in his yeshiva. Finkel remained at the Mir for eight months, studying with top-notch chavrutas (study partners) to develop his skills. He returned to Chicago to take his secondary education at the co-ed, Modern Orthodox Ida Crown Jewish Academy, where he was president of the student council and a starting centerfielder for the baseball team. At the age of 17, Finkel returned to Jerusalem to learn at the Mir under the guidance of his great-uncle. He learned diligently for the next six years. Finkel married Reb Leizer Yudel's granddaughter, Leah, his second cousin and the eldest daughter of Rabbi Binyomin Beinush Finkel, who was his father's first cousin. He and his wife had 11 children. his wife would bring their children to visit him at the yeshiva so he wouldn't have to take the time to walk home. Upon the death of his father-in-law on 13 February 1990, Finkel was named rosh yeshiva of the Mir together with Rabbi Refoel Shmuelevitz (son of former Mir rosh yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz). Finkel took on the financial responsibility for the yeshiva.

Growth of the Mir Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel (center, in wheelchair) participates in a Simchat Beit HaShoeivah at the Mir in 2006. When Finkel first came to the Mir at the age of 17 in 1960, enrollment was less than 200 students, of which 75 percent were avreichim (married students) and 25 percent were undergraduates. At the time of his death, enrollment reached nearly 6,000 undergraduates This growth is credited to Finkel's open-door policy as rosh yeshiva: whoever wished to learn at the Mir was welcome. Enrollment now includes Litvish, Hasidic, Ashkenazi, Sephardi and baalei teshuva students from Israel, the United States and Europe. where Finkel gave shiurim and occasional shmuessen (musar talks), and a yeshiva ketana in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem. Like his great-uncle Reb Leizer Yudel, Finkel offered cash incentives for Torah study, challenging his students to learn many pages of Talmud and study for large blocks of time. He regularly hosted siyums for students in his own home and at his own expense.

Finkel shouldered the responsibility for raising funds for this giant Torah enterprise. Despite his disease and its side effects, he traveled twice a year to England and the United States.

Death At 6 a.m. in his home on November 8, 2011 (11 Cheshvan 5772), Finkel suddenly lost consciousness. EMS personnel attempted to revive him for 50 minutes while students of the Mir stood outside in the street praying for him. His personal doctor summoned to the home determined that he had died of cardiac arrest. attended his funeral, which began at the Mir yeshiva in Beit Yisrael and continued on foot to Har HaMenuchot,

Finkel's death was a double blow for the Jerusalem Litvish yeshiva world, coming one day after the death of Rabbi Dov Schwartzman, another respected Litvish rosh yeshiva in Jerusalem. Rabbi Finkel participated in Rabbi Schwartzman's funeral on 7 November.

At the funeral it was announced that Finkel's eldest son, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, would succeed his father as rosh yeshiva.