The Alter of Slabodka רבי נתן צבי פינקל — הסבא מסלבודקה

Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel studied with Rabbi Simcha Zissel of Kelm, a disciple of Yisrael Salanter, and brought the Mussar movement into a large yeshiva. At Slabodka near Kovno he built a school where study was joined to constant work on oneself.

His approach is called gadlus ha-adam, the greatness of man: one should begin not from man's insignificance but from his being made in the image of God, and demand of oneself accordingly. Out of Slabodka came the heads of the yeshivot of Mir, Ponevezh, Hebron and Lakewood — the whole network of twentieth-century Lithuanian yeshivot grew largely from this house. In 5685 he moved with part of his students to Hebron.