[5] He continued to work during the last 28 years of his life, when he had Parkinson's disease,[6] experiencing involuntary spasms and slurred speech.

[12] Reb Finkel grew up as a "typical American Jewish boy"[2] who enjoyed playing basketball and baseball.

[16] He returned to Chicago to take his secondary education at the co-ed, Modern Orthodox Ida Crown Jewish Academy, where he was president of the student council and a starting centerfielder for the baseball team.

[1] He continued to learn with chavrutas at all hours, stopping at 2 a.m.;[20] his wife would bring their children to visit him at the yeshiva so he wouldn't have to take the time to walk home.

[7] He also began delivering shiurim in the yeshiva, which was headed by his father-in-law after the death of Reb Leizer Yudel in 1965.

[3] This growth is credited to Finkel's open-door policy as rosh yeshiva: whoever wished to learn at the Mir was welcome.

Enrollment now includes Litvish, Hasidic, Ashkenazi, Sephardi and baalei teshuva students from Israel, the United States and Europe.

[1] In an unusual move for a Litvish yeshiva, Finkel accepted 800 Hasidic students and allowed them to learn in their own chabura and follow their own customs, including a fartug (pre-dawn study session) before morning prayers.

He participated in their Thursday-night study sessions as well as their seudot mitzvah (festival meals) marking a siyum, and Hanukkah parties.

[1] In the past two years, the economic recession saw the yeshiva's debts mounting quicker than they were being met, with salaries and kollel stipends running months behind.

[19] He refused to take medication for his condition, since the drugs could make his mind foggy or cause memory loss[19] and he didn't want to risk forgetting his Torah studies.

[1] An estimated 100,000 people[8][30][31] attended his funeral, which began at the Mir yeshiva in Beit Yisrael and continued on foot to Har HaMenuchot,[1] where he was buried next to Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, a former rosh yeshiva of the Mir,[31] and close by the graves of Reb Leizer Yudel and Rabbi Binyomin Beinish Finkel.

[30] The Edah HaChareidis ordered all Haredi businesses to close during the funeral, and Litvishe Torah leaders Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv and Aharon Leib Shteinman instructed teachers and students of Talmud Torahs, yeshivas, and kollels to join the funeral procession.