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Media Savvy
Personable rabbi goes beyond typical outreach.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman I Contributing Writer
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safety pins in earlobes, the whole works, now
a working mother:'
His journey to the rabbinate began when
a chemistry teacher explained quantum
mechanics by telling him, "That's the way
God wants it:'
"Something hit me he said. "Was it pos-
sible that science could not answer all my
questions? Was there indeed something
more?"
Before finding his calling, Finman spent
five unfulfilling years in Hebrew school,
briefly considering and nixing Christianity
and then Hinduism. By the time he was 17,
he was studying Buddhism.
"My eldest brother went off to Thailand at
age 19 to learn the secrets of Buddhism:' he
said. "He kept a 32-volume set of Buddhist
philosophy in my mother's garage. I began
reading it and became enthralled. Its simple
complexity hit a chord with me, and I want-
ed to follow in my brother's footsteps:'
A friendship with new neighbors in his
hometown in New Jersey altered the plan
and changed the course of his life entirely.
Now a Chabad rabbi in Oak Park, Finman
spends much of his time teaching Torah,
Kabbalah and other Jewish topics through
one-to-one sessions in homes and offices, by
phone, through Web conferences, lunch-and-
learn classes, online and on-air as facilitator
and founder of The Jewish Hour, Michigan's
only Jewish radio show.
"I like to refer to The Jewish Hour as the
largest Torah class in Michigan:' he said.
A Winning Show
Last week, he celebrated the 19th anniver-
sary of the program — Sundays from 11
a.m.-noon on WLQV-AM 1500 and online at
faithtalk1500.com.
And last year, competing among entries
from North America, Finman received
a first-place American Jewish Press
Association (AJPA) Simon Rockower Award
for Excellence in a Multi-Media Story. The
first-time win was for The Jewish Hour's
airing of "Ephraim Zuroff — The Last
Nazi Hunter; an interview with the direc-
tor of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in
Jerusalem, who coordinates Nazi war crimes
research worldwide. The interview can be
heard on Podcast, iTunes, stitcher.com and
Jcastnetwork.org.
The radio variety show includes Israeli
and entertainment news, words of wisdom
culled from the week's Torah portion or
8
March 5 • 2015
_Te
Rabbi Herschel Finman, host of The Jewish Hour, interviews Specs Howard (Jerry
Liebman) for his "chai anniversary" show last March; he had been Finman's first
interview 19 years ago when the show first started.
related to the Jewish calendar or Chasidic
stories, along with guest interviews relating
to the Jewish community or a political theme
affecting local Jews. Music genre ranges
from Old World klezmer and New Age
funk-Jewish, from artists including Avraham
Fried, Zoomgalli Boogey, Theodore Bikel,
Carlebach and Mickey Katz.
Brownies And Tea
The Jewish Hour adheres to the philosophy
of the Orthodox, Chabad-Lubavitch — the
world's largest Jewish educational outreach
organization — a connection that, for
Finman, began with neighborly conversation
and enticing baked goods while he was a
teenage student of Buddhism.
"My grandmother had recently passed
away, and my mother had rented her apart-
ment downstairs to a young Lubavitch cou-
ple Finman said. "We became close friends,
and I began a debate with them, Judaism
verses Buddhism. We were both beginners,
and the playing field was basically level. They
did have an advantage: chocolate brownies.
"For three years, we spent Friday evenings
feasting on brownies and peppermint tea
and discussing philosophy until well after
midnight," he said.
Upon a suggestion from his host, he
attended Shabbat services at a Chabad
synagogue and was soon studying the
weekly Torah reading and attending classes
on Tanya (the main work of the Chabad
philosophy). "I did it so I would know the
material well enough to argue against it:'
Finman said. All the while, I kept up my
Buddhist readings, careful not to get too
close. Buddhism was my journey:'
But still, he said, "These weekly classes
inspired me to thinking deeply about our
purpose of existence and how to achieve
that goal. In one of my Friday get-togethers,
I admitted to my host that Buddhism and
Chassidus (Chasidic wisdom) were very,
very similar and that I enjoyed the contrasts
and comparisons. His response to me was,
`If you believe they are saying the same
thing, why run to Thailand? You have it right
here: At that moment, I thought one thing:
`Checkmate: I could not argue. I had to
agree. I stayed put:'
His neighbor suggested he attend the
Lubavitch Youth Organization's annual week-
end program in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
"That Shabbos, I was billeted with a mod-
est Lubavitch family. In the middle of the
meal, the phone began to ring. After about
20 rings, I asked the host if he was going to
answer the phone, perhaps it was important.
His response: 'Maybe it's not: A lightning
bolt hit me. Here was the inner peace, the
simplicity I was looking for. In one small
phrase, 'Maybe it's not; this simple man had
transcended time and space, something I
had been trying to do for three years. I felt
encouraged:'
A New Education
By the end of the weekend, Finman was
offered a week of study in Teferus Bochurim,
which he describes as "a remedial yeshivah
for the newly observant:' in Morristown, N.J.
"I found the food foul and the learning
incredible," he said. "I understood there was
a world underneath the Judaism to which I
had been exposed:'
Describing his home, he said, "Judaism
was there, and we went to an Orthodox
synagogue, but we were not religious:'
After his weekend in Morristown, he went
back home.
"My mother served spaghetti and meat-
balls with parmesan cheese he said. "After I
ate, I went into the bathroom and threw up.
I put on the tzitzit and yarmulke that I had
procured in Crown Heights and announced
to my mother that I was frum (observant).
My mother's reaction: 'Not in my house: I
quizzed her as to her reaction. My brothers
were Buddhist, Shinto and hippie Jewish. My
sisters were strung out and Christian. Why
was mine different? She never answered the
question.
"A month later, I was in yeshivah full time
and at the beginning of my journey:'
For five years, Finman lived in Crown
Heights, where Chabad Lubavitch World
Headquarters is based. "I davened with the
Rebbe's minyan," he said of the late Lubavitch
rabbi, Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
After eight years in various yeshivot,
Finman received ordination from the United
Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Brooklyn. He and
his wife, Chana, parents to seven children,
spent four years in Australia before settling
in Michigan.
Chana Finman is co-producer of The
Jewish Hour, bringing with her a resume that
includes her years as a professional clown.
Now, she says, working on the show is "a
huge part of my life. My role has been to act
as a story hunter. I travel abroad and in the
U.S. to find stories. We use the Internet, too,
but meeting people, going to art exhibitions
and visiting museums is best:'
She also reads half a dozen books a
month, in addition to those sent by publish-
ers, in search of interview subjects and topics
for her husband.
"Currently, I'm doing research on the
Jewish angle of the Detroit Institute of Arts'
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibition:'
she said. "My next ambition for a story is to
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