Lynn has education in her "blood". Her father was the principal of a junior high school in the Bronx, and the principal for general studies of the Mir Yeshiva High School in Brooklyn. After graduating from the Torah Academy for Girls in Far Rockaway, New York she went on to earn a BA in English Literature and a credential in Education from Brooklyn College. She concurrently learned in the Torah Academy for Girls Seminary as well as the Teachers' Institute of Stern College of Yeshiva University.

After graduation Lynn came to Israel for a year and taught in several different Torah institutions. During this year Lynn had her first substantial exposure to the Ba'al Teshuva "movement". Lynn's imagination was electrified by the phenomenon of mature young men and women with little Jewish education choosing to adopt a life of Torah. It was during this period that Lynn had a most rare opportunity: to become genuinely close to an authentic G'dol HaDor, a leading rabbinic sage of this century.

As a child, Rabbi Yisrael Gustman was recognized as a prodigy. At the incredibly young age of 19 he became a dayan on the Beit Din of Vilna. His great stature as a Torah scholar was universally acknowledged and the story is often told of how the Chafetz Chayim respectfully rose from his chair in his presence.

During the second world war, Rabbi Gustman suffered unspeakable horrors, including the Nazis killing his son while in his arms. Rabbi Gustman was able to escape the Nazi murderers and become a partisan fighter in the forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe. After a sojourn in the United States Rabbi Gustman settled in Israel and served as the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Netzach Yisrael.

Lynn was introduced to Rabbi Gustman when she was 14 years old by her uncle who had been a close friend of the rabbi. During her year in Israel, Rabbi Gustman took an exceptional interest in her. He would call her up and say, "Gustman here. Come over after mincha, I have some things I would like to discuss with you." He would counsel her on many issues and guide her Torah growth. He would sometimes pull a book off the shelf and say, "Here, go learn this." Lynn would protest that the sefer was too complex for her but the rabbi would not let her say no and, indeed, she would go home and learn it.

When Rabbi Gustman passed away Lynn found out by hearing an announcement made over a public address system in the street in Jerusalem. She was devastated and, numb with grief, joined the huge funeral procession, eventually noticing that she was the only woman to accompany the entourage to the cemetery. Lynn commented, "When I looked at his face it was like looking at a page of Torah. While he was alive I felt that my relationship with him gave me direction for growth. Now that he is gone I feel that I, and the entire Jewish world, are, in a way, orphaned."

Lynn returned to America where she received an MS in Counseling from Hunter College. Over the next few years she honed her craft of teaching and counseling at the prestigious Central and Bruria High Schools. During this time Lynn married Larry Finson, a young talmid chacham and computer consultant. The Finsons then came to Israel for three years, during which both of them devoted half of their day to Torah study. The growing Finson family returned to the States, where Lynn worked with ba'alei teshuva at the Jewish Heritage Center.

In the summer of 1995, the Finsons came on aliya. Lynn's reputation had preceded her and Rabbi Shurin drafted her to join the faculty. Mrs. Finson sees the function of Midreshet Rachel as "bringing the students closer to G-d". We are all very fortunate to have someone of the caliber of Mrs. Lynn Finson sharing the helm of our Midrasha.                               

Mrs. Lynn Finson