Among the esteemed maggidei shiur in a yeshivah that boasts many gifted Rebbeim, Rav Elya Boruch Finkel, ztz”l, was in a class by himself. He had a unique ability to bring out the sweetness in a sugya, to allow his listeners a taste of the honey that lies beneath every word. He was refreshing and exuberant, clear and deliberate. His home, situated within the yeshivah complex, was open at all times to students who needed a listening ear, a concerned mentor who took their troubles to heart.

The grandson of Reb Leizer Yudel Finkel, ztz”l, who rebuilt Mir Yeshivah in the aftermath of the war, Reb Elya Boruch grew up inside its walls, and had unique access to Torah scholars such as Rav Nachum Partzovitz, ztz”l, and Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, ztz”l. Much like his grandfather, Reb Elya Boruch had a vast heart, and his love for Torah included anyone who learned it, regardless of who they were and from where they came.

Shortly before his untimely passing, Reb Elya Boruch shared memories of his visionary grandfather and Rebbe with Mishpacha’s Yisroel Besser. Set against the backdrop of Reb Elya Boruch’s own persona, these anecdotes highlight the greatness of the vast heart we have just lost.

T

hree months ago, I had the privilege of visiting Yerushalayim. I took advantage of my time in the Holy City to visit with some of its unique figures, to hear their recollections and memories, the perspectives of great men on other great men.

Among those with whom I had the merit of sitting was HaGaon Rav Elya Boruch Finkel, one of the legendary maggidei shiurim at one of the world’s great yeshivos, the Mir. During my own years in the yeshivah, I had heard chaburos from Reb Elya Boruch, but I had never really conversed with him. Yet when I asked him for his precious time, he embraced me warmly and assured me that it would be his pleasure.

Late on a motzaei Shabbos, close to midnight, I entered his apartment. He was delivering a chaburah, and he motioned for me to sit. He finished, then shared a kind word with each of the participants before turning to me and apologizing.

Then we spoke.

This man, scion of nobility, born and raised within the yeshivah’s holy walls, who had imbibed its sacred atmosphere from infancy, shared its fragrance with me.

How pleasant it was!

At my request, we discussed his grandfather, Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel and his Rebbe muvhak, Rav Nochum Partzovitz. He told me that we would discuss his other Rebbeim, Rav Chaim Shmulevitz and Rav Beinish Finkel, a different time.

Alas, we will not.

Reb Elya Boruch, that man who so exuded vitality and youth, left us, still in the middle of the sugya …

The following are the words I penned and prepared for publication following the interview, words that this gentle, patient man reviewed with me for accuracy.

Listen to the stories he told … for “their words are their monuments.”

*****

"The great Roshei Yeshivos were all in awe of the Brisker Rav,” Rav Elya Boruch begins. “There wasn’t a yeshivah in Lithuania or Russia that wasn’t in some way connected to Reb Chaim Brisker and his revolutionary new approach to learning. Yet, when a talmid would ask permission to go learn by the Brisker Rav, the greatest Roshei Yeshivah had a hard time parting with their students … except my grandfather, Reb Leizer Yudel Finkel. He encouraged them to follow their dreams.

“Rav Michel Feinstein, who eventually became the son-in-law of the Brisker Rav, told me that he asked my Zeide for permission to leave the Mir and study in Brisk. Reb Leizer Yudel supported his decision, and told him that he would continue to send him chalukah, a monthly stipend, even while he was in Brisk.

“My father, ztz’l, Reb Moishe Finkel, was my grandfather’s shaliach to bring the money to these talmidim in Brisk, and he told me that it cost my grandfather five times more to support a bochur in Brisk then it did in Mir.

“Reb Michel himself told me that my Zeide’s generosity was tremendous; while his father-in-law, the Rav, gave him fifteen kopecks a month, my Zeide sent ninety!

“I was once at a chasunah and I asked Reb Leib Bakst, the late Rosh Yeshivah in Detroit, how it is that Reb Chaim’s close talmidim, who revered Brisk, discouraged talmidim from traveling there to learn Kodashim, even while my grandfather allowed his best and brightest to leave him.

“He thought for a long while, and then told me, ‘I don’t know the answer, but one thing is clear; we see just how great Reb Leizer Yudel was. We don’t appreciate the Mirrer Rosh Yeshivah.’

“Rav Leizer Platchinsky, who was seated there, added a nice thought. ‘Is it any wonder that his Yeshivah enjoys such success today? The Aibeshter pays back.’

Reb Elya Boruch speaks about another one of his grandfather’s zchusim. “He was ready to do whatever it takes to feed his bochurim, to fuel the mighty empire that was Mir Yeshivah. Today, every time someone leaves his home to raise money, we say that he has mesirus nefesh for Torah. But that isn’t really mesirus nefesh; my Zeide had mesirus nefesh.

“He once had to travel across a border to raise funds for the Yeshivah. The bochurim were starving and there was no choice. He was carried to the border in a flour sack, and was then thrown into the back of a truck.

“He no longer had the fur coat that he had received from his father-in-law, because he had given it away to an old beggar, so he had only an ordinary coat for warmth. It was the middle of the war, and there were extraordinarily long lines at the border.

“The Mirrer Rosh Yeshivah sat there, freezing, being prodded and pushed with the bayonets of the border guards for three whole days!

“He loved Torah, he loved bnei Torah, and he saw it as his personal mandate to help them in their quest for greatness. He would fast for his talmidim, seeking Divine mercy that they might succeed in learning.

“That minhag was a yerushah from his father, the Alter of Slabodka, who would habitually fast for his talmidim.” Reb Elya Boruch smiles. “Do you think a Reb Aharon Kotler comes just like that, uhn taaneisim [without fasting]?’”

As I reread the words, envisioning Reb Elya Boruch’s sweet smile, an incident comes to mind:

Reb Elya Boruch recently counseled a talmid who was going through a difficult time. A fellow talmid entered the apartment during that time and Reb Elya Boruch asked him how he was.

“Fine,” he replied innocently.

“Fine?” asked Reb Elya Boruch in disbelief. “Don’t you know how our friend Yankel is suffering? I haven’t been able to eat for two days!”

*****

Reb Leizer Yudel arrived in Israel on the eve of World War II, on the same boat as the Brisker Rav, intent on creating a new Torah world. The locals were different from what he was used to, more hardened and cynical perhaps, but he won them over as well. His love for Torah made him a patron of all the bnei Torah in the city, not just of Mir Yeshivah.

“When Rav Ovadia Yosef came to be menachem avel our family, when my father, Rav Moshe, was niftar, he recounted a frequent erev Shabbos conversation in his home: ‘My wife would ask me with increasing apprehension how she was expected to prepare Shabbos for our growing family without any money at all,’ Rav Ovadia told us. ‘“Margalit, al tidagi, don’t worry,” I would reply. “I will go share a chidush in Torah with the Mirrer Rosh Yeshivah and we will have money for Shabbos.”’

“According to legend, Reb Leizer Yudel once heard two hundred and seventy shticklech Torah on the sugya of yiush sh’lo midaas. He is reported to have said that he knew the subtle differences between all of them, and he was saving all of them to repeat before the Beis Din shel Maaleh.

“Many times, Roshei Yeshivah don’t have the patience to listen to long and involved shticklech Torah from young talmidei chachamim,” reflects Reb Elya Boruch. “But by the Zeide, it was never enough. He treasured every word of these diligent young scholars.

“The Yeshivah still gives money for shticklech Torah; that’s his legacy.”

Another one of the young talmidei chachamim in Yerushalayim who benefited from the Mirrer Rosh Yeshivah’s largesse was Rav Leizer Shach, who lived in poverty in the Kerem Avraham neighborhood.

“In later years, I once had the opportunity to discuss my grandfather’s selflessness and dedication to young bnei Torah with Rav Shach, who was by then the recognized gadol hador,” reminisces Reb Elya Boruch.

“We discussed a story about a great Rosh Yeshivah who took a visitor on a visit to his Yeshivah at two o’clock in the morning. The Beis Medrash was filled with bochurim learning, and the Rosh Yeshivah beamed with pride at the scene. ‘What a beautiful kiddush Hashem!’ he exclaimed.

“A baal mussar heard the story and commented that if the Rosh Yeshivah would feel that very same joy at seeing a full Beis Medrash in someone else’s Yeshivah, that would show ahavas Torah.

“I told Rav Shach that my Zeide would have felt joy at the sight of bochurim learning, regardless of where they learned. Rav Shach agreed.

“Reb Leizer Platchinsky once said that the merit of today’s Mir Yeshivah is Reb Leizer Yudel’s altruistic and noble love of Torah.

“My grandfather had no ‘zich’ [no self-ness]; he was a truly great man.”

When I heard the shocking news of Reb Elya Boruch’s sudden passing I tried to draw a picture, in my mind’s eye, of what we’d lost. Perhaps the picture that best typifies Reb Elya Boruch is that of him listening, probing, discerning, truly hearing the words of a talmid. If he found th  kushya or teirutz lacking, he wouldn’t withhold his opinion. Quite the opposite.

But if it was a good kushya, an innovative chidush, he would review the entire sugya, working in the new idea, repeating it, trying it out, hearing if it fit into his perfectly constructed picture.

And if he liked it? Yom Tov! The face of a man who had been completely engrossed in learning since childhood would rest upon the face of his talmid, often a young, insecure American struggling with Yiddish, with a paternal pride.

He loved Torah, bnei Torah, chiddushei Torah, giving others the sweetness of Torah.

A grandson of the “Zeide.”

As I sit with Reb Elya Boruch, I wonder aloud how it is that Mir Yeshivah is seen as home by so many different types of Jews.

Reb Elya Boruch smiles. “The secret of the appeal of this Yeshivah to so many, of the walls that are saturated with ahavas Yisrael, is the zchus of my Zeide and his love for Yidden.

“But there is another unique attribute to the Mir Yeshivah, and that is the kol HaTorah kulah that can be found within it. There is the Yeshivah mesechta and there are chaburos that learn everything else, from Kodashim to Taharos to hilchos Shabbos to the daf haYomi … So much Torah, so many talmidei chachamim, such a breadth of knowledge…

“That is a zchus from one of the greatest figures in this Yeshivah’s history; a man who was one with the Torah and its various streams. Reb Nochum Partzovitz. He passed away at the prime of his life and career as a marbitz Torah … He gave us such dimensions.”

Reb Elya Boruch was among Reb Nochum’s closest talmidim, learning with him b’chavrusa for twelve years, through illness and air raid sirens.

He recalls one particular incident, a memory that is extremely precious to him. “With this you will understand who Reb Nochum was and what we lost … Had he lived longer, he would undoubtedly be among the gedolei hador.

“I had learned in Ponevezh together with one of today’s leading Roshei Yeshivah, Rav Boruch Weissbecker of Bais Mattisyahu. He was much older than I was, but we were good friends.

“In time, we both married and settled in Yerushalayim. He was delivering shiurim in a local Yeshiva. One freezing winter night, I met him and asked him if he was content in Yerushalayim.

“‘You know, Reb Elya Boruch, it is very difficult for me here,’ he told me.

“I asked him why.

“‘In Bnei Brak, I had Reb Shmuel.’ He was referring to the legendary Rosh Yeshivah in Ponevezh, Reb Shmuel Rozovsky. ‘There, I could go speak to him about any sugya, at any time, and know that I would benefit from his blend of wide-ranging knowledge and total clarity and mastery of the topic. Since I have moved here, to an unfamiliar city where I don’t know all the talmidei chachamim, I have not been able to replace that, and I am suffering.’

“‘Reb Boruch,’ I told him with joy, ‘I have the person that you are looking for! Reb Nochum! He is intimately familiar with every sugya, and views each word in it with his unique perspective, plumbing the depths to arrive at novel conclusions.’

“Reb Boruch didn’t believe it was possible to find someone like Reb Shmuel. We discussed it for a while. Midnight came and went. It was freezing. He didn’t want to go.”

Together, these two young talmidei chachamim stood there. Cold winds blew through the streets of Jerusalem, but nothing could dissuade them on their search for truth.

“Finally, he agreed to come with me to Reb Nochum, but he insisted that it was already too late to go that night. I assured him that it wasn’t. He accompanied me to Mir Yeshivah, and by the time we stood in front of the door of Reb Nochum’s humble apartment, it was already one o’clock in the morning. He was so hesitant, unconvinced that my assurances that Reb Nochum was up were true. The iron bolt was already in place, but I knew my Rebbe and his schedule. I knocked.

“Sure enough, the bolt slid open and Reb Nochum peered out. His eyes lit up when he saw us. He welcomed us warmly.

“We entered his little room and it was like entering the middle of a storm. There were open seforim all over, a large Rambam at the head of the table, a cloud of simchas HaTorah surrounding us. Before we spoke, he hurried off to the kitchen to prepare glasses of tea for us, as there was no heat in the apartment. He returned with the hot drinks and sat down to hear us out.

“Reb Boruch began to speak in the sugya of ‘hakchasha b’stira ubedika’ in mesechta Pesachim, a complex and intricate topic which is not included in the standard Yeshivah curriculum. He quoted the words of Rashi. Reb Nochum held up his hand. ‘I don’t think that Rashi says exactly that. Perhaps he is saying something slightly different … ’

“They began to battle. Reb Boruch, young, fresh and immersed in the sugya, began to wage war on Reb Nochum, weak, tired Reb Nochum. Reb Nochum had the sugya in front of him, and it was ‘like clay in the hands of a potter.’ He shaped and altered, worked out a subtle nuance here and answered a question there, and suddenly, a new sugya emerged. The sugya took on new colors during those predawn hours in the small, cold apartment.

“When we left, several hours later, Reb Boruch turned to me in wonder and said something that still resounds in my ears. ‘When I came here, I considered myself a “baalebos” on the sugya and a guest by Reb Nochum. Now I know the truth; I am a guest in the sugya and a “baalebos” in front of Reb Nochum!’”

****

Reb Elya Boruch was widely recognized as one of Reb Nochum’s chosen few, the closest disciples to whom all was revealed. Reb Elya Boruch was involved in the yetzirah, the creation of the breathtaking shiurim which have become legend in the yeshivah world, as Reb Nochum’s young chavrusah. As a teenager, it was well known that he “understood learning,” and his reputation preceded him to Ponevezh, where he went to study under Rav Shmuel Rozovsky and Rav Shach.

Reb Elya Boruch loved gedolei Torah, and looked for opportunities to have contact with them. He had an opportunity to meet Rav Elya Lopian and he asked him for a brachah.

The revered mashgiach looked at him and wished him that he merit to attain such levels in learning, that Mashiach would want to speak with him in learning.

When Reb Shmuel Rozovsky heard the Mashgiach’s brachah, he commented, “The first half has already been realized; now we just need Mashiach to come to actualize it entirely!”  

***

As Reb Elya Boruch speaks, these otherworldly figures come to life, shadowed and colored by his intimate familiarity with even the hidden sides of their greatness.

“In the introduction to my Zeide’s sefer, Divrei Eliezer, he thanks Reb Nochum, calling him a ‘tov ayin,’ which means that he had a good eye, a positive outlook. This is surprising. It is well known that Reb Nochum essentially compiled the shiurim into a sefer, reworking the notes into a comprehensive, clear work. For that he is called a ‘tov ayin?’ Doesn’t he deserve more?”

Reb Elya Boruch smiles broadly. “The Gemara tells us that the primary attribute that Moshe Rabbeinu possessed was that he was a tov ayin, and that is why he merited to give the Torah. He had a good eye for Yidden, and much like a mother wants to feed her children the best, most filling foods, he wanted to give them Torah.”

****

Aclose talmid of Reb Elya Boruch’s was involved in a shidduch, and he found himself unable to concentrate on his learning. As he walked in the Yeshivah’s hallways, lost in thought, he met his Rebbe, Reb Elya Boruch.

“Vus hert zich, Moishe?”

“To tell the truth, Rebbe, my head is not in the sugya ,I am weighed down by the pressure of deciding.”

“Not in the sugya?” asked Reb Elya Boruch in genuine concern, as if the talmid had revealed that he couldn’t breathe. “Come with me, Moishe.”

Then Reb Elya Boruch, who delivered a daily shiur to hundreds of boys and various chaburos to many others, stopped whatever he was doing. He led Moishe into his room and closed the door.

All was forgotten as they sat there, Rebbe and talmid, and learned for three hours, tasting the sweet waters together.

Then Reb Elya Boruch sent Moishe on his way, his head back in the sugya.

****

This year, on parshas Naso, a large group of talmidim ate the Shabbos seudah with their Rebbe, a common occurrence.

They sat there, enthralled at their Rebbe’s Torah and stories, and as the meal continued, the Rebbetzin excused herself from the table. The bochurim felt bad that theyhadn’t had a chance to thank her properly.

Reb Elya Boruch looked at the door after his Rebbetzin had left the room, and shared an insight on the day’s haftara.

“The pasuk tells us that ‘The angel didn’t appear to Manoach and his wife anymore. Then they knew that it was truly a malach Hashem (Shoftim, 13).’

Reb Elya Boruch asked, “How is it that they knew this only once the malach was already gone?”

He smiled his trademark smile. “Because one who leaves, who disappears before the recipient of his favor even has a chance to say ‘thank you,’ is truly a malach!”

Reb Elya Boruch! You left so suddenly. Hundreds of bochurim in shiur, developing. Hundreds of talmidim,  established talmidei chachamim who relied so heavily on your guidance and clarity, who looked to you to encourage them, who hurried to share their chiddushim, knowing that your contagious joy would carry them for days. A yeshivah filled with bnei Torah who cherished your “Shalom … ”

And you left before we could say, “Thank you …”