{"id":2755,"date":"2023-03-30T13:29:14","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T17:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/?p=2755"},"modified":"2023-03-30T13:29:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T17:29:14","slug":"as-if-he-left-mitzrayim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/as-if-he-left-mitzrayim\/","title":{"rendered":"As If He Left Mitzrayim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rabbi Yitzchak Finkel Brings the Past to Life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

M. Brejt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The knock on the door was startling. Deep in the middle of their Seder, the Finkels glanced at each other. Who could be at their door on Leil Pesach?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs it Eliyahu Hanavi?\u201d one of the children asked, wide-eyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their neighbor stood there. \u201cIs Rabbi Finkel here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long-time menahel<\/em> Rabbi Yitzchak Finkel welcomed him into the house and offered him a seat by the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry for bothering you,\u201d the neighbor said, \u201cbut my son asked me a question I couldn\u2019t answer. He wanted to know how it\u2019s possible that he can feel like he came out of Mitzrayim when in fact, he did not. He\u2019s a good boy, takes his learning seriously, has derech eretz<\/em>. And he lives comfortably in a nice house with all his needs taken care of. How can he feel k\u2019ilu yatza m\u2019Mitzrayim<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And who would be better to make the past come alive than Rabbi Finkel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The past comes to life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Rabbi Finkel doesn\u2019t just give you a picture of the past and doesn\u2019t only make it come alive before your eyes. Instead, he shortens the span of history, allowing the stories he so vividly describes to transform from ancient history to the very recent past. The names he causally drops during our conversation are those of pillars of the frum <\/em>world who built up Yiddishkeit <\/em>in America, but Rabbi Finkel\u2019s depiction of them makes their choices and struggles relatable\u2014and real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early years<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Yitzchak Finkel was born in Germany in the 1930s. The tension in Germany made living there for a frum<\/em> Yid unbearable, and Max Finkel, his father, picked up and moved the family to Holland six months later. It was a decision that would save his life and the lives of his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy father led the Pirchei there. I went to school in Holland,\u201d Rabbi Finkel shares. \u201cWe had to go to school on Shabbos, but I never wrote anything. Eventually, my father got permission for us not to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe went to talmud Torah<\/em> in the afternoon and were also part of the Pirchei groups. One of the groups taught me woodworking.\u201d He smiles. \u201cI used this skill in later years to create and engrave jewelry. I did silver engraving even after I became a rebbi<\/em>. And then I became a principal and my wife said \u2018ad kan<\/em>!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the Germans came to get us and take us to the concentration camp, they told us to take a blanket and pillow and a small suitcase and come. Our house key was given over to the gestapo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire family miraculously survived two different camps. Initially, they were sent to a small transfer camp in Holland called Westerbork. A year and a half later, they were transferred to Bergen-Belsen. However, thanks to South American papers that their grandmother had sent them, they were fortunate to be in a relatively better section of the camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pesach in the Barracks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we were taken off to the concentration camps, all we got was one small suitcase,\u201d Rabbi Finkel relates. \u201cMy mother packed candles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the tremendous foresight of an eishes chayil<\/em>, she understood that what she really wanted to take along with her was the mitzvah of hadlakas neiros<\/em>. The 400 candles she packed amazingly lasted her all through those dark years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pesach was coming, and Max Finkel, who had always been involved in chinuch<\/em>, was determined to do something for the children even under the inhumane conditions they were enduring. On Leil Pesach, a group of people gathered around him, and despite the pain and lack of necessities, they conducted a Seder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was one boy who was appointed to say the Mah Nishtanah<\/em>, but we didn\u2019t have marror<\/em>, didn\u2019t have matzah, didn\u2019t have anything to dip with. Instead of saying \u2018kulo matzah<\/em>\u2019 and\u2018kulo marror<\/em>,\u2019 he said \u2018b\u2019makom matzah<\/em>\u2019 and\u2018b\u2019makom marror<\/em>.\u2019 The boy did just fine until he reached the last question. We couldn\u2019t recline in the barracks. We couldn\u2019t even stand up straight. Instead of saying \u2018b\u2019makom<\/em>,\u2019 the boy broke down. He couldn\u2019t get the words out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Max Finkel, who had a beautiful voice, started to sing \u201cV\u2019hi She\u2019amdah<\/em>,\u201d and the sense of depression that had settled on the group dissipated as they all joined in the song of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kapo<\/em> came in just a few minutes later and the Seder broke up, but that memory stayed with Rabbi Finkel. It is that ability to find faith in the darkness, to view the world with positivity and simchah<\/em>, that beautifully characterizes Rabbi Finkel until today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Survival<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against all odds, the family survived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the miracles were not finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Finkel pulls an old menorah off the shelf and unscrews the decoration on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA few months after the war, when we got back to Holland, a huge goy<\/em> knocked on the door holding the top piece of the menorah,\u201d Rabbi Finkel relates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you recognize this?\u201d he asked Max Finkel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At his dumfounded nod, the stranger handed him the menorah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere are you from, and how do you have this?\u201d Finkel asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man smiled sadly. \u201cI was the one in charge of bringing your family to the concentration camp. I spotted this item on the shelves, and I knew it must be valuable.\u201d Afraid it would be looted by the gestapo, the officer crept back into the house and took the menorah, which he hid in his own home for three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour family is so beautiful. I knew you would survive,\u201d he told the openmouthed Max Finkel. \u201cAnd so, for the last three months since liberation, I checked the newspapers every day until I saw your name, so I could return it to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lakewood of old<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Finkel pulls out an old photo album and starts flipping through it. Photos of gedolim<\/em> line the pages, including a few of Rabbi Finkel\u2019s brother-in-law Rav Chaim Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou were in Lakewood? Did you know Rav Aharon personally?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid I know R\u2019 Aharon? Of course!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After learning in Rav Koppelman\u2019s yeshivah in Belgium for two years, Rabbi Finkel came to America in 1947 and attended Toras Emes in Boro Park before going to the Mir. Then, at 20 years old, he made the then-unusual decision to attend Bais Medrash Govoha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was the thirty-third bachur<\/em> to join Lakewood,\u201d Rabbi Finkel relates. \u201cWe were small, but R\u2019 Aharon didn\u2019t care as long as we were learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He laughs. \u201cI remember that when the plans for the Yoshon were drawn up, R\u2019 Aharon said it was too big! He said the bachurim<\/em> would hide\u2014he wouldn\u2019t be able to see if they\u2019re there or not if it\u2019s such a big room!\u201d Rabbi Finkel shakes his head. \u201cIf only he could see it now!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the yeshivah\u2019s small size, R\u2019 Aharon had big expectations of his bachurim<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cR\u2019 Aharon wanted the beis medrash<\/em>\u2014the learning, the mussar<\/em>, and the schedule\u2014to be like in Kletzk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The schedule for bachurim<\/em> in Kletzk was intense, with an extra-long second seder <\/em>culminating in a mussar seder<\/em> and supper offered only afterward. For many American bachurim<\/em>, this setup was difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne bachur<\/em> finally got the courage to go to R\u2019 Aharon and say, \u2018This isn\u2019t Kletzk! We\u2019re Americanisher bachurim<\/em>; we need a different schedule!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R\u2019 Aharon was clearly distraught. \u201cDa is Kletzk<\/em>\u2014This is Kletzk!\u201d he exclaimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rav Nosson Wachtfogel stepped in and amended the request. \u201cNo, no, the bachurim<\/em> understand that it is Kletzk,\u201d he assured R\u2019 Aharon, \u201cbut even in Kletzk, we can change the schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t just a rephrase. Rather, it clarified the aspiration of the yeshivah. The yeshivah wasn\u2019t changing its focus to cater to the whims of American bachurim<\/em>. Some details might need to be modified, but the overall, R\u2019 Aharon\u2019s objective\u2014to replant the Torah of Kletzk in America\u2014would continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Rabbi Finkel was part of it. Today\u2019s classic pattern of bachurim<\/em> attending BMG after beis medrash<\/em> and staying on for a few years in kollel<\/em> was brand-new in his time, and he was one of the first to attempt it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giving it over<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After several years in Lakewood, Rabbi Finkel moved back to Brooklyn and became a Halachah rebbi <\/em>in Rebbetzin Kaplan\u2019s Bais Yaakov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was only a few years older than the girls, but they still respected me,\u201d he says with a grin. \u201cI enjoyed the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then Rabbi Margulies of Torah Temimah, to use Rabbi Finkel\u2019s own words, \u201ccaught\u201d him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started off teaching seventh grade, but I didn\u2019t want to teach the upcoming class the next year, so I switched to eighth. The next year I went back to seventh. This happened three times. I taught the same class in seventh and eighth grade. They don\u2019t do it today though\u2026 Each year, they said they liked me better in eighth!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he was offered the job of assistant principal, he was initially reluctant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to do it. I liked teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Finkel was zocheh<\/em> to have a close relationship with Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, and it was to him that he brought his dilemma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cR\u2019 Yaakov told me something that I\u2019ve never forgotten and that I\u2019ve repeated to many rebbe\u2019im<\/em> when they told me they didn\u2019t want to be principal. R\u2019 Yaakov said, \u2018If I ask you what you like better, you\u2019ll say you like teaching better, but what if I ask you what the Eibershter likes better? There are very few principals. The Eibershter would be happier if you became a principal.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Finkel, for whom making the Eibershter happy is the only priority, took the job and remained as principal in Torah Temimah for the next 40-plus years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even once he moved to Lakewood, Rabbi Finkel\u2019s chinuch <\/em>career didn\u2019t end. Not one to sit back and enjoy his retirement, he helped found Talmud Torah of Lakewood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI learned in yeshivah under Rav Avraham Kalmonowitz, and his great-grandson approached me and told me he wanted to start a school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Finkel asked him, \u201cWhat experience do you have? What\u2019s your exposure?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy five-year-old son,\u201d was the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people would have walked away, but Rabbi Finkel saw potential, and with his classic positivity and warmth he told him, \u201cI\u2019ll help you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat will your role be in the school?\u201d Rabbi Kalmanowitz asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll speak at different events, I\u2019ll be there at meetings with the parents, I\u2019ll tell stories to the boys. I\u2019ll call myself the zeidy <\/em>of the school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Finkel is reluctant to share his role in the success of the cheder<\/em>, but it\u2019s clear that he has an excellent relationship with the talmidim<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe boys all know me. They were all here on Purim, just a few weeks ago. I go into the classroom and share stories. I recently walked in and asked them if they remembered if I\u2019d told them a specific story. The boys said, \u2018We remember every story you told us since second grade. But it\u2019s okay, we want to hear it again!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mesorah lives on<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you tell your family your stories about the war?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Finkel looks thoughtful. \u201cMost people who went through the war didn\u2019t like to share their experiences. It\u2019s rare that people did. Maybe I did because I was more easygoing or because I was young. I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have my own suspicions. His glowing, cheerful countenance and unshaken trust in Hashem\u2019s goodness might have something to do with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the stories need to be shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen this man and his son knocked on my door Pesach night and joined our Seder, I told them some of these stories of nissim<\/em>, of my experiences. Children think that hardships are a thing of the past. At the Seder, the parents might dramatize the stories, make them exciting, but that doesn\u2019t help make them real. They\u2019re not personal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back on that Seder night, Rabbi Finkel had looked at the boy and said, \u201cYou need to understand that the bondage, the nissim<\/em>\u2014it happened to you<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rabbi Yitzchak Finkel Brings the Past to Life M. Brejt The knock on the door was startling. Deep in the middle of their Seder, the Finkels glanced at each other. Who could be at their door on Leil Pesach? \u201cIs it Eliyahu Hanavi?\u201d one of the children asked, wide-eyed. Their neighbor stood there. \u201cIs Rabbi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[19],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2757,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755\/revisions\/2757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}