Moshe Chaim Ephraim, also known as Ephraim of Sudilkov, was born in

Medzhybizh Medzhybizh, previously known as Mezhybozhe, population 1,731, (Census 2001) ( uk, Меджибіж, russian: Меджибож, Translit: ''Medzhibozh'', pl, Międzybóż, german: Medschybisch, yi, מעזשביזש, translit. ''Mezhbizh'') is ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

1748 and died there on the 17th of Iyar in 1800. He was best known as the

Baal Shem Tov Israel ben Eliezer (1698 – 22 May 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov ( he, בעל שם טוב, ) or as the Besht, was a Jewish mystic and healer who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. "Besht" is the acronym for Baal Shem Tov, which ...

's grandson and for the work ''Degel Machaneh Ephraim,'' first published in Korets, 1810.

His life

Moshe Chaim Ephraim was one of three sons of Udl, the beloved daughter of Rabbi Israel "Baal Shem Tov". Brought up in the household of the Baal Shem Tov, at five years-old he was referred to as a great genius ("ilui gadol b'tachlis halimud") by his grandfather. After the Baal Shem Tov's death in 1760, he studied under R. Dov Ber the Maggid of Mezerich and under R. Yaakov Yosef of Polonoye. Afterwards, he settled in Sudilkov (near

Shepetivka Shepetivka ( uk, Шепеті́вка; pl, Szepetówka) is a city located on the Huska River in Khmelnytskyi Oblast (province) in western Ukraine. Shepetivka is the administrative center of Shepetivka Raion (district). It hosts the administrati ...

) in 1780 where he served as Maggid until 1785. In 1785, he returned to

and served as rebbe there until 1800 when he died. He is buried next to his grandfather, the Baal Shem Tov. In many ways, Moshe Chaim was the exact opposite of his brother, R.

Boruch of Medzhybizh Rabbi Boruch of Medzhybizh (1753–1811), was a grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. Reb Boruch (known in his childhood as Reb Boruch'l, a Yiddish diminutive, and subsequently as ''Reb Boruch'l HaKadosh'') was the first major "rebbe" of the Hasidic m ...

. Moshe Chaim was quiet, studious and reflective, and who lived his life in utter poverty. His wor
''Degel Machaneh Ephraim''
was published by his son Yaakov Yechiel in 1810 in Korets. A classic of Chasidic literature, it contains discussions about each of the weekly

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

portions based upon the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and his other teachers. It also contains a recording of his dreams from 1780 to 1786. The work is considered a primary source in the understanding of the ideology of the Baal Shem Tov. (This is not to be confused with another work entitled ''Machane Ephraim'', written by Ephraim ben Jacob HaKohen, a 17th-century Lithuanian talmudist.

References

*Rabinowicz, Tzvi M. ''The Encyclopedia of Hasidism'': Jason Aronson, Inc., 1996. *Chapin, David A. and Weinstock, Ben, ''The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in Eastern Europe, Volume 1''. iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2000. *Hebrew Wikipedia reference for Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov :he:משה חיים אפרים מסאדילקוב

External links

''The Book Degel Machne Ephraim in Hebrew''
1748 births 1800 deaths Hasidic rebbes Hasidic rabbis in Europe Polish Hasidic rabbis People from Medzhybizh Descendants of the Baal Shem Tov {{Poland-rabbi-stub