I learned recursion in Pascal and had a ball implementing innumerable algorithms purely in recursive structures. The code was often more compact and simpler to explain — once you understood induction. I agree that combinators are helpful, but they’re not universal. Anyway, we’re probably violently agreeing.

Yes, Pascal (as least the version I know) weren't exactly friendly to passing around first class functions. It might be possible, but it ain't pretty.

I'm not sure Pascal does closure well?

A combinator heavy style works best in a language (and ecosystem) that welcomes it, like eg Haskell.