Answering the call was a young, ambitious scion of the Alter of Slabodka named Eliyahu Meir Finkel
For many years, Rabbi Eliezer (Leizer) Levin stood at the helm of Detroit’s Vaad Harabonim, working tirelessly to promote Yiddishkeit. A product of the great yeshivos of Radin and Kelm, he arrived in the Motor City in 1938 and dutifully began implementing the directive of his rebbi, the Chofetz Chaim, who had advised him, “Gei redn mit Yidden [Go speak to Jews].” Rabbi Levin helped found the Beth Yehuda yeshivah and promoted kashrus, shemiras Shabbos, and mikvaos. Although Detroit lacked an official position of Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Levin was the unquestioned leader of the city’s Jewish community for more than half a century.
Among the myriad projects Rabbi Levin undertook was the opening of a kosher restaurant. The Vaad viewed this initiative as essential in a city where the assembly lines ran 24/7, and was therefore willing to support such a risky business venture.
Answering the call was a young, ambitious scion of the Alter of Slabodka named Eliyahu Meir Finkel. The new establishment was dubbed “Finkel’s Restaurant,” and ensured that Detroit’s tireless Jewish laborers would have a kosher meal available. Although Finkel’s Restaurant lasted only a couple of years, the mesirus nefesh of Rabbi Leizer Levin and Reb Eliyahu Meir Finkel was surely noticed by their young children: Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel of Yeshivas Mir and Rav Avraham Chaim Levin of Telshe would go on to become two of the great Torah builders of their era.
The Finkels moved to Chicago in 1947 and opened a catering business, which they successfully operated for decades. Reb Eliyahu Meir Finkel would sit on the executive council of Agudath Israel in Chicago alongside Rav Avraham Chaim Levin, Rav Chaim Dov Keller, as well as Rav Yaakov Perlow, the future Novominsker Rebbe. His wife Sara was active in the sisterhood of Telshe, Ponevezh, and the local Arie Crown Day School. She maintained an open home, where they hosted gedolim such as Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Mordechai Schulman, and Rav Shmuel Greineman, whose granddaughter would go on to marry Rav Nosson Tzvi.
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