Moriah ‘legend’ mourned
FORMER Moriah College vice principal and acting principal Morrie Finberg has passed away from cancer at the age of 77.
FORMER Moriah College vice principal and acting principal Morrie Finberg has passed away from cancer at the age of 77.
Finberg joined the school in 1981 where he touched the lives of thousands of students before he retired in 1997.
College Rabbi Aryeh Solomon said Moriah “has lost a real stalwart, someone who was a legend who was synonymous with Moriah for decades”.
“His wit and his wisdom and his commitment and his love of the school collectively, and the students individually, is irreplaceable,” he said.
Rabbi Solomon said Finberg “held the school ethos together”.
“He lived and breathed Jewish pride and wanted to imbue the school with that spirit. He was also very passionate in his love for Israel,” he said.
“Moriah became his second home – he actually told me that – and he felt totally at home there from the first day that he walked in in 1981.”
Rabbi Solomon described Finberg as a “master teacher” in English.
“He was a charismatic teacher, students would actually pack his classrooms for his lessons of Chaucer, and he was also a stickler for correctness in English language and editing,” he said.
“Whilst he was a disciplinarian, he was always respected by the students, who knew that he did it with a sense of love, and affection and concern for them.
“He told me personally that his moment of greatest pride and achievement at Moriah was when Moriah first achieved its outstanding academic HSC achievements by topping the state, because that is when Moriah came of age.
“His contribution to Moriah lives on.”
Rabbi Solomon said he met with Finberg several times as his illness worsened.
“He met with me knowing that what he was going to tell me was going to be for his hesped, he said he wanted me to do his funeral,” he said.
“He was absolutely, I guess you could say, stoic about it – very practical. And when he would talk about Moriah, he became very animated and passionate.
“He will be sorely missed.”
GARETH NARUNSKY
The late Morrie Finberg was a ‘legend’ at Moriah College.
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