Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, also known as Reb Leizer Yudel Finkel, (1879–1965) was the Rosh Yeshiva (dean) of the Mir Yeshiva in both its Polish and Jerusalemic incarnations.

During the interwar period, the Mir Yeshiva's enrollment grew close to 500 students from all over the world.

During this time Finkel chose one of his students, Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz as a son-in-law and eventually successor.

With the outbreak of World War II, the yeshiva was forced into exile and eventually it found refuge in Kobe, Japan and Shanghai, China.

While the student body, led by Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz eventually relocated to the United States (see Mir Yeshiva (Brooklyn)), Finkel established a new branch of the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem with a handful of advanced Talmudic students from Etz Chaim Yeshiva.