Remembering Rabbi Aryeh Finkel: A Beacon of Light

It's a bit sad that I probably won't succeed in explaining to people who are celebrating their great victory that the loss they unknowingly experienced that night is far more significant, even if it didn't make the news.

Rabbi Aryeh Finkel, who passed away last week, was not an outstanding athlete, but he was a gold medal on the chest of the Jewish heart. All his life, he represented the people of Israel through his total dedication to preserving its identity and heritage, with great humility, a shining face, and endless love for others. His impact on the Jewish spiritual world, through the thousands of students he mentored, will continue to accompany us for days to come, be they historically significant or not. This grand victory of his life, like the loss with his passing, truly belongs to all of us.

It's a pity for those who are lost and cannot be found, even if you didn't hear about it on the news.

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Who is an angel?

The verse "For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek law from his mouth; for he is the angel of the Lord of Hosts" is explained by the Talmud: If the rabbi resembles the angel of the Lord, seek Torah from his mouth.

Rabbi Binyamin Finkel recently shared in his eulogy for his righteous father, Rabbi Aryeh Finkel:

Among the many distressed and unfortunate people who regularly dined at our table was a Holocaust survivor named Moshe Yehuda.

It was on Hoshana Rabbah when Moshe Yehuda knocked on our door and told my father that his electricity was cut off due to an outstanding debt of 90 liras, a significant sum at the time, and he asked my father for help.

Rabbi Aryeh took out 5 liras from his sparse and empty pocket, a large sum back then, and gave it to Moshe Yehuda.
Moshe Yehuda began to cry and told my father that it wasn’t enough, and how could he celebrate Simchat Torah without electricity in the house?

Without hesitation, Rabbi Aryeh, who was then already a senior lecturer at the Mir Yeshiva, put on his hat, left his home and family in the midst of the holiday, and began knocking on neighbors' doors to collect charity for Moshe Yehuda.
One neighbor gave half a lira, another gave a lira, and so on for hours until he managed to gather the required amount and the electricity was restored to Moshe Yehuda's home.

From then on, Moshe Yehuda called him "the angel of Hoshana Rabbah."

I have seen people like angels.

May his soul be bound in the bond of life, and may death be swallowed up forever.