Inside ArtScroll - Season 4 Episode 9: Rabbi Shimon Finkelman

[Music] Hello everyone and welcome back to Inside Art Scroll where the books you read and the people who write them come to life. Today I am privileged to be joined by Rabbi Shiman Finkelman the author of a brand new biography on Rabbi Aaron Brahman. Thank you, Rabbi Finkelman, for joining us here at Art Scroll. Thank you for having me. The truth is that your presence here is really long overdue because over the years you've written various books and I would have loved to speak to you. Um so I'm happy to finally have you here. Pleasure to see you. Thank you. Um, we are here to talk about the new biography about Rabbar Braman, an extraordinary individual. And anyone who reads this book is going to walk away totally inspired. Uh, before we get into the book, I just want to take a moment to to just go back uh down memory lane for a moment. You've written number of books over the years, biographies uh of note like on Manis Mandel is one of the well-known ones uh and and some others. What was your first book that you ever wrote? It was the story of Rebel Khan Basin which uh that book is not available anymore. Okay. Actually part I did a book called five great leaders. Right. One of the five is Rabul Khan. And you used material from Well, I really based both books on the the adult biography. But uh and that was written in the ' 80s. In the 80s. Yes. In the 80s. So well well over 30 years ago. Probably almost 40 years by now. Hashem. And since then you've uh you've been to to publish various books. Where did someone like you get the skill of writing? I'm just curious. uh just practice practice and uh reading. I was an avid Jewish observer reader. Okay. I used to read a cover to cover and it was really very even even as a youngster. As a teenager? A teenager. Teenager. Yeah. In yeshiva in the dormatory I was in charge of getting the Jewish observers delivered every month. Uhhuh. Yeah. And uh once I started I originally started with art school doing youth series books. But I have to say that uh once I began veering off to to adult biographies. Ra Mosha was the first one. Rab Nassen Sherman who uh actually wrote my mitzvah. Mhm. He was tremendously helpful not just uh directly in guiding me but when he would when he edited the Ra Mosha book I kept the galleys and to to read through his corrections and I learned a lot. Wow. Listen, no one better to learn from than Ribnas. That's right. That's for sure. We all learned so much from having Rabbi Sherman here and and consulting with him. Absolutely. And like you said, his corrections is so much to learn from. Yes. I'm speaking for myself as well. Um, well, you mentioned uh where did you learn as a youngster? You're talking about yeshiva. Learned most of my years in teras. Oh, wow. And then Lakewood. Mhm. And then you eventually went into the field of Yes. which you're still a rebi today. Many years later teaching atra. Yes. And somehow you have time to write books as well. It's a It's a balancing act, I'm sure. Try my best. You try your best. Now, biography, writing a book is one thing. Writing a biography is a whole different animal, like they'll say. It's a whole different undertaking because you're you're trying to depict for people what a certain person was about. You wrote the Ramosa biography, which is a a classic. Um, and now you embarked on writing a biography about Ramaran Brahman. Before we get to Rabbi Brahman specifically, how does a person go about doing that? Well, first thing is it's easier if you knew the person to at least some degree. I didn't know Rab Misha, but we all knew Rab Misha. He was the god Ladar. Uh with Rabbi Brahman, I actually had some connection as as I write in the preface to the book. I was a kid in ninth grade in Tarvadas when he was a rebi already in Tarvadas. And uh my first encounter with him was walking in the hall one day. My first days in the yeshiva. I see this young slight man walking surrounded by bakim. Some of them towering over him and hanging on to every word he was saying. I just was like so taken by the sight. I said to a friend of mine though, who's that man? He said his name is Rabbi Brahman. They gave him the hardest class. That was the first time I ever saw Barraa. And then when I became a rebi years later in Daran Farakawway I uh taught his son Rambarak Rabbarak in sixth grade and I got to know Rafin as a parent in the class and I met him at a sim and I saw he's was a you know as soon as you met him you saw this is a very special person and you saw right away this is a person that thinks about Claudius all the time. Claus is on his mind all the time. Even though he wasn't the god of be Israel, he wasn't someone that people coming to ask about cla making decisions about Israel. But his was so unusual that in conversation he was just talking about the situation Israel with me at he was speaking about this this the overindulgence in Kashmir in America. What can we do about it because it's not good for the for the younger generation. And um I'm saying so the first thing is if you know the person to some degree that's already a help that's a big help. That's a help that help. But then you have to you have to do a lot of interviews. You get to meet people that knew the person well and you see what they what they had to say about him. Not just the stories but how they felt about him. case of Rabbi Brahman, I have to say that I heard from so many talim or saw it in in in writing that when Rabbi Brahman passed away, I cried and cried and uh you don't always hear that it showed that there was something very special about this man as a rebi as a as a guide as a mashia that the tamid felt so attached to him and um I'm saying you have to get a when doing a biography everything you say to First thing is but after that you have to get a feel for the subject and the only way to do that is by speaking speaking to people who know him and you do most of those conversations are in person or or by telephone or mostly by telephone by and you take notes as you speak to the person I I take notes and very often I have a I put speaker up and I record this way so you could reference it later. Right. That's right. Right. And then you do you start writing at at the beginning or do you first kind of collect all of it and then begin writing a book or is does it depend on the subject? I always start writing right away. I don't let everything pile up. But um I've done sometimes I've tried to categorize things right away. In the case of Rabbi Braman uh I did I think over a 100 interviews. Wow. So, uh, I just I found it easier to just, you know, t write up the interview and when I thought I had enough material start figuring out where to go. That's right. Yeah. This book is very unique in in in the the warmth and you were talking about his NASA oil which it's really remarkable the stories that you have in the book and I didn't read all of them but I read some of them. um whether it was traveling with the Talmud if after if after Tira of of his parent and and or or the Talmud walking in and finding him in tears and finding out because a soldier had been killed in Aritis and and that was who Rabbi Brahman was. He was he was malleish. He was a person who was he kind of wore his emotion on his sleeve very much and I was to to meet him quite a few times. If I may interrupt for a moment, it's important to point out and it's it's mentioned in the book talking the way we're talking about him. You'd think he w he would walk around worried all day. He was a happy person. He was a positive upbeat person and he was able to balance that with his nas. I think that was that was the godless. Yes. That he was a very happy person, but he but he was able to internalize what other people were going through. Right. Um, sometimes people who are very exalted, it's hard to try to emulate characteristics because they're just beyond our comprehension. So much of I think Rabbi Brahma personified and you could tell me if you agree and what I'm taking from this book is are are things that really all of us simple people could really learn from about caring about other people about noticing things that maybe other people don't notice the you know that type of thing especially as a manal he was in a position to really take these uh Tamidam's concerns and feelings to heart. Yes. and um his the fact that as you say he noted things others people didn't know it wasn't only with Tom he it was with everybody's that one of the stories I really took I was really taken by was he on the he he had a car was really he took a train one day he took the LR to Manhattan he had a speaking engagement and in the train he hears a young lady on the phone crying because of her personal situation. Now, another person would have just he didn't know the lady, but when she hung up the phone, he went over to her, gave him her a paper with her his phone number and said, "I might be able to help you. If you want to call, here's my number." And she called and he helped her. He helped her. Later, one of Braman's grandchildren met the girl's mother and the one that I believe started crying and said, "Your grandfather saved my daughter. Saved her." So, so as you so he noted everything. He also had a tremendous pas tremendous insight into human nature and it helped him so much in being able to mold each Talmud in his specific way. The very first story in the book if I can give it away. Sure. Is uh there's there's enough to read in the book. Okay. There was uh there was a bak who was having a tough time was a 10th grader. He was not doing well. would find him here and there and send him back to class. And one day the boy decided, you know, I'm going to not go to class today. I'm going to play in the gym, but the gym is locked. So the night before when the gym was officially open, he put something by the door so it didn't shut all the way. The next morning he came into the gym during learning time. He didn't turn on the lights. No one should see him. And began to play basketball. The door opens up and there he said he said he's told over the story. He said, "I'm going to get it now." and I deserve it. And Rab Braman looked at him and said, you know, at that by that time it was really recess time. By the time he called him was really recess time, he said, you know something, it's a shame he's in the gym. It's a nice day outside. The boys are having a snowball fight. Why don't you go join them? Maf understood that this boy was in a not a good place and he didn't need the mush right now. He knew what he did was wrong and it turned the boy around and the boy was Mat in the end. Wow. So what any other stories that come to mind? There are some remarkable stories. So many remarkable stories. I'll mention as as you try to think what what what struck me and I I'll share something with our viewers when we were having internal discussions here at Art School about the book. So you know it is there's there always conversations what to call the book, what to subtitle the book. You've been down this road so many times and then we're fortunate to have Rebelli Corron who designs gorgeous covers and so on and so forth. One of the options for the subtitle of the book had the word man in it. A caring manal, a loving manal. I don't remember exactly what it was. And someone noted that the word manal doesn't always have a positive connotation because a manal is someone who is you know enforcing the law so to speak. It's so interesting that Rabbi Brahman there was a dichotomy there because he was a manal yeshiva of Faraki one of the outstanding meister satyra in the farway five towns area and much of that thanks to Rabbi Brahman. So he had to enforce the law so to speak but at the same time he had the most caring sensitive personality. You don't always find that going hand in hand. And he could be tough when he needed to. He could be tough but the boys and this was told to me by so many who started off not doing well. You know other Shivas maybe wouldn't have taken them but they said that they knew they knew he loved them. So even when he was disciplining them, they knew it came from a place of love. One story that it just came to mind was where uh a boy did something really awful. I don't know what he did, but he was actually expelled, which was very rare. And by the way, Rafen never expelled a Talmud. Rarely did he expel a Talmud, but if he ever did, he ne he always found the boy in the yeshiva. Never put him in the street. Never ever would do that. Right? This time they felt the boy has to be expelled. So they called the meeting of the han hala and the parents parents came down explained the situation the parents said there's nothing for us to say you explained what he did and we have to say you're right there's nothing for us to do says okay and um I need everybody to leave the office for I need to be alone for a couple minutes I'll resume the meeting right away what is going on they left the office about five minutes later I called him back and he said there's been a change we decided we're take the boy's staying he's staying in the yeshiva later of course the the parents left what happened she said his parents are not advocating for him a boy needs an advocate if if his parents will not be the advocate we have to be the advocate we're not sending him away and took him under his wings and the boy turned out fine he was mle with him wow unbelievable yeah he was really a tre he really an an unbelievable mechanic Yeah. And and uh and in a certain way you could say that he was he was what do you say a man before his times in terms of he was ahead of his time in terms of his his intuition. Yes. You know, a lot of a lot of the things that we hear today, which is credit to the evolving system and the outstanding Rabim and teachers who staff our schools today who really really superhuman efforts to understand children and and to apply the the the boundless love and care for the children. The so much of that that's invoked today Rabbi Brahman had five decades ago, right? the 1970s. 1970s when he started that was really pre the contemporary scene and and uh you know talk about that for a second because you are you yourself you're a Makan and here you're writing about him and you're hearing these stories about him many of which took place early in his career uh as he was evolving as a man on his own and he seemed to just really understand that the way to a child's heart is with that genuine care and concern. Yes. And also the insight he had to know exactly what he was tell who's in a great was I think I think taught in the yeshiva for about 40 years is also a cousin to rabman he said that raman did not come across as brilliant but he was he was he was a brilliant and he was brilliant in his insight into people. He said he was always like a step ahead of everybody else in figuring out the Bah. He he just knew he understood I guess also with great he understood what each particular baka needed and um you'll soon be hearing from Rabbi Dov Kilson one of his closest who uh also he dove was not a troublemaker but uh he today that's not the uh he should talk about it more than I should that's not where he saw himself when he came to Shiva Parakaw. It was only through Raen's love and guidance that he became what he is today. Now, from your research and and from the hundred some odd interviews that you did, who would you say was the one or two individuals who really framed Rabbi Brahman and and and and kind of helped mold him into who he became. Uh, one was definitely his grandfather, his father's father, Raak Brahman, who didn't have I don't believe he had any any official position as a RV, but he was a great kam and Rabbi Braman's father went off to to the was drafted into the United States Army, I think before he was even born. And he didn't see his father for the first I think two three years of his life. They lived by the grandparents. He became very close to his grandfather and his grandfather had a tremendous influence on him very big influence on him and invadas his main invadas was wereal of kamki and those were his three main he and he uh you know the book talks about his relationship with all three of them he was very close with them and he learned a lot it's Rabak used to go to Florida the last uh 10 years of his life wintertime and once Rabban found out that that day he was going to be at JFK on his way to to Florida. JFK is a 15-minute drive from the yeshiva. So he went with all the Rabim to greet Rabakov. Rabakov was in a wheelchair in the airport. He was in a wheelchair. When he saw a brain he stood up for him. Wow. Yeah. They were very close. effect one of the cover collage pictures is at the Yes. by the wedding. Yes. So they those four people his grandfather and Yakov and Rafam was that that's quite a quite a lineup to learn from. Yes, that's right. And he was able to Yeah. really really gain so much. Right. If I can add another great mea that Rabraman excelled in was EMS. Everything had to be em. How he dealt with a person had to be em and his dealings were em. How the yeshiva ran had to be em. How his day camp ran had to be em. And rapam and were both known that they were outstanding in midas. in in Raom's own word to his children by us a word is a contract and Rab Rafen had that from his I was amazed whenever I visited my uncle uh the honorable Jerry Feller lived in Farway a few doors down from Rabbi Brahman a mater court so I was a few times to to be there in farway to be the vashabas to be in the uh as an outsider so to speak I was always so taken by the mutual respect between the Rashiva Rabbi Per and Rabbi Brahman they were they were one unit and Tamid didn't talk about it they could talk about it much more personally but I'm just speaking as an outsider and I'm sure you you came across this when you were writing the book that unique relationship between Rashashiva and Mania yes it's was really unusual it's mentioned in the book more than once because so many people spoke about I one of the first people I interviewed was Rabbi Perishley to the rashiva and uh his love for was very apparent in the interview. He thanked me at the end of he said thank you for bringing him back to some degree by speaking about him. That's what he said to me. But he press said bya and he told to me directly I believe he said that they they worked together for almost 50 years. He said we disagreed. We never had an argument. Mhm. So we disagreed but and the the respect was incredible was also they had tremendous respect and love for each other. Rabbin was such an unovit of Pere with the bakim and take notes of the schmuz he viewed himself as a tom of the rabbi pair which is also shows some more of his godlessness. You mentioned earlier his his concern for Clai Israel and you also mentioned your reading of the Jewish observer which is interesting because the Jewish observer was one of the mediums uh that Rabbi Brahman used to express that a he was a superb writer and a very talented speaker as well. He would speak by different places but I was just recalling that that he I remember reading his articles even as a youngster. Rabbi Brafen would from time to time, you know, write on different topics of the day, you know, expressing really taking here's a busy manal. I'm sure he had enough on his plate to keep himself occupied, but like you said, he was he was a a claw man very very much so. Yes, we have a whole chapter of the book is devoid of his Jewish observer articles. They're brilliant articles. Dashkafa is classic and you could you could they were long articles. You could we just excerpted that you could see how much effort and time went into those articles but also the fact that he cared so much. Oh first first of all in the articles you see he was royal he was able to see ahead like with a ber he could see what the ber could become. He would see where things were heading with euthanasia mercy killing. He wrote a ban in the 1970s. We have to be careful because who knows how it could affect. And he and he said afterwards that people were upset with him. They said, "What are you sounding the alarm bells for? This is not this doesn't relate to us. We're not going to do these things." And unfortunately now we see how prevalent how prevalent how and how Cla is busy with it. You know how careful we have to be when the personal goes into the hospital. Mhm. So that that's one thing. Another thing is is that as you said before he was such a busy person just as Manal and busy with individual problems and busy with his articles and he took the time and this is to me something unbelievable to run a day camp every summer instead of going on vacation. The man worked so hard. He ran a day camp where he hardly ever took any money out of it. He didn't draw he he only took a salary if there was a surplus and there was hardly ever a surplus because if anybody said he couldn't pay he didn't charge them. He just did it because people needed they care for their children. Who does things like that? A person who's lash nothing else was on his agenda. Nothing else was on agenda. It's really really unbelievable. Now, as we wrap up our conversation, people in Rich are going to go out to buy the book. What what what's your wish? What what should be the takeaway? Um like any biography first of all I feel should be read more than once. You have to a biography is not just to en you know you read a novel you want to just enjoy the novel. about a great person. We want to learn, we want to gain, want, we want to become better from reading it. And to do that, I think we have to try to read it more than once. But uh with with this particular book, I think a person can come away realizing that I don't have to be a godby Israel and in my own way, I can have an impact and even even in my own dalas, I can do great things just by truly caring. translating that carrying it to whether it's davening or giving sta whatever it is that's what being is all about as children is saying that man's purpose in this world is to do for others that's he lived and he lived for others on that note rabbi fingleman first of all mazav on this release uh as you alluded to before how much time and effort goes into such a book it's only the author really knows. Uh so congratulations on putting together really what's a masterpiece a masterpiece of a biography about a masterpiece of a person. Um and uh our hope is just like your other previous volumes which have inspired so many people this book will inspire young and old and we continue we we wish you continued. Amen. Same to you. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. [Music]