Rabbi Shimon Yehuda HaLevi Finkelstein
שמעון יצחק ב”ר יהודה צבי הלוי
1861-1947
Yahrzeit: Nissan 26 5707
Rav Finkelstein was born in 1861. His father was Harav Yehuda Tzvi HaLevi of Slabodka. Blessed with a keen mind, Reb Shimon learned in the yehivos of Kovno and Slabodka until the age of 16, after which he learned on his own. By the age of 19 he was expert in the first half of Shas and was known as the Iluy of Slabodka. When maskilim tried to influence him with anti-Torah attitudes, he went to Rumsheshok, where he studied under the tutelage of Reb Yosef Yozel Horowitz, the Alter of Novardok.
In 1882 he married his Rebbetzin, the former Chana Brager, to whom he was married for 42 years. Among the Rabbanim from whom he received semichah were Harav Yehudah Meshil, Rav of Aleksat, and Harav Tizchak Elchanan Spektor of Kovno. He learned in the famed Perushim Kollel of Harav Yitzchak Blazer.
Rav Finkelstein provided hashgachah for the shochtim and butchers in the community and combated efforts by some Yidden to open a synagogue with mixed seating.
Rav Finkelstein’s Seforim
Seder Tefillah im Biur Siach Yitzchak סדר תפילה עם ביאור שיח יצחק
Rabbinic Positions Held
Baltimore, Maryland
Cincinatti, Ohio
Syracuse, New York
Brooklyn, New York
EARLY AMERICAN RABBONIM 
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