Surf Wiki
Save to docs
arts

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev

Ukrainian rabbi and Jewish leader

Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev
Summary

Ukrainian rabbi and Jewish leader

Mausoleum of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak in the old cemetery in Berdychiv, May 2002.

Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev (Levi Yitzchok Derbarmdiger (compassionate in Yiddish) or Rosakov) (1740–1809), also known as the holy Berdichever, and the Kedushas Levi, was a Hasidic master and Jewish leader. He was the rabbi of Ryczywół, Żelechów, Pinsk and Berdychiv, for which he is best known. He was one of the main disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch, and of his disciple Rabbi Shmelke of Nikolsburg, whom he succeeded as rabbi of Ryczywół. He is also the great-grandfather of Israeli artist Isaac Frenkel Frenel.

Levi Yitzchok was known as the "defense attorney" for the Jewish people ("Sneiguron Shel Yisroel"), because he would intercede on their behalf before God. Known for his compassion for every Jew, he was one of the most beloved leaders of Eastern European Jewry. He is considered by some to be the founder of Hasidism in central Poland.

Life

Levi Yitzchak was born in 1740 CE (5500 in the Jewish calendar) to Rabbi Meir (who was the Av Beit Din (head of a rabbinical court) of Zamosc) and Sarah-Sasha Ruskov in Husakiv (), now in Yavoriv Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of Ukraine. In his youth he was known as the Illui from Yaroslav. He married Perel, the daughter of Rabbi Israel Peretz of Levertov. After his wedding, he studied for several years under Dov Ber of Mezeritch.

In 1784, he settled in Berdychiv, Russian Empire, in what is today Ukraine. There, he served as rabbi until the beginning of the 19th century. Nachman of Breslov called him the Peér (glory) of Israel. Levi Yitzchok composed some popular Hasidic religious folk songs, including A Dude'le and "The Kaddish of Rebbe Levi Yitzchok (A din Toyre mit Gott)."

He died on the 25th of Tishrei, 5570 (October 5, 1809) and is buried in the old Jewish cemetery in Berdychiv.

The second of his three sons, Israel, succeeded him as leader of the Hasidic movement. One of Levi Yitzchok's grandsons married the daughter of Dovber Schneuri, the second Chabad-Lubavitch rebbe and the first to live in Lubavitch.

Works

Works by Levi Yitzchak

  • The "supreme" Hasidic classic Kedushas Levi: A commentary on Torah—arranged according to the weekly Torah portion—and the Jewish holidays, expanding upon earlier Hasidic philosophy, as well as Talmud and Midrash. In it, Levi Yitzhak discusses various points of Halakha. It was published first in 1798 and has been reprinted numerous times since. An English translation was first published in 2009, and the first complete translation was published by Mitchell Silk in 2023.
  • Beis Levi: his commentary on Pirkei Avos.

Secondary works

References

References

  1. link. HebrewBooks.org
  2. "Yitzhak Frenkel".
  3. "BEN MEIR LEVI OF BERDICHEV ISAAC".
  4. Green, Arthur. ''Defender of the Faithful: The Life and Thought of Rabbi Levi Yitsḥak of Berdychiv''. Brandeis University Press, 2022, p. 17.
  5. (1992). "The Historical Atlas of the Jewish People". Hutchinson.
  6. link. HebrewBooks.org
  7. link. HebrewBooks.org
  8. "Tzadikim".
  9. [[Louis Jacobs]] (1995). [http://www.berdichev.org/levi_yitzhak_of_berdichev.html Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev]
  10. link. HebrewBooks.org
  11. ''Kedushat Levi: Torah Commentary by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev'' (3 vols.). Translator, Eliyahu Munk. {{ISBN. 978-9655240276
  12. (2023). "Amazon.com". ArtScroll.
  13. link. HebrewBooks.org
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1740-births 1809-deaths 18th-century-rabbis-from-the-russian-empire 19th-century-rabbis-from-the-russian-empire hasidic-rebbes jewish-musicians russian-male-musicians hasidic-rabbis-from-galicia-(eastern-europe) 19th-century-male-musicians-from-the-russian-empire students-of-dov-ber-of-mezeritch ukrainian-male-musicians
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report