Rabbi Zadok ha-Kohen Rabinowitz of

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

(in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: צדוק הכהן מלובלין) ( Krustpils,

Vitebsk Governorate Vitebsk Governorate (, ) was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting Belarusian Governorate and existed until 1924. Today most ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, 1823 – Lublin,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, 1900), or Tzadok Hakohen or Tzadok of Lublin, was a significant Jewish thinker and

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

leader.

Biography

He was born into a Lithuanian Rabbinic family and then became a follower of the Hasidic Rebbe, Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izhbitza, and of Yehuda Leib Eiger (grandson of the famed Rabbi

Akiva Eiger Akiva Eiger (, also spelled Eger; , ), or Akiva Güns (8 November 1761 – 12 October 1837) was a Talmudic scholar, halakhic decisor and leader of European Jewry during the early 19th century. Eiger is considered one of the greatest Talmudic ...

, son of Rabbi Solomon Eger, and another student of Mordechai Leiner), whom he succeeded in 1888. He was also a disciple of Rabbi Sholom Rokeach of

Belz Belz (, ; ; ) is a small city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine, located near the border with Poland between the Solokiya River (a tributary of the Bug River) and the Richytsia stream. Belz hosts the administration of Belz urban hromada, one of ...

. He is a classic example of a Litvish Jew turned Chasidic. As a young man he gained widespread acclaim as an (a brilliant

talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ist). Rabbi Zadok refused to accept any rabbinic post for most of his life. He eked out a living by his wife running a small used clothing store. Upon the death of Eiger in 1888, Zadok Hakohen agreed to take over the leadership of the Lublin Hasidim, along with Eiger's son Rabbi Avraham Eiger. It was then that he began to give his public classes that would take place on Shabbat, Holidays, Rosh Chodesh and special occasions. The transcriptions of those classes were compiled into his work known as ''Pri Tzadik''. Rabbi Zadok was a prolific writer in all areas of Judaism,

halakhah ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

, Hasidut,

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

, angelology, and ethics; he also wrote scholarly essays on astronomy, geometry, and algebra. One of his lone surviving students was Rabbi Michael Mokotovsky, whose son was Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Mokotovsky, better known by his penname

Eliyahu Kitov Avraham Eliyahu Mokotow (; 22 March 1912 – 7 February 1976), better known as Eliyahu Kitov () was a Haredi rabbi, educator, and community activist. Biography His younger years were spent in the town of Opole Lubelskie, where he learned in a '' c ...

Ideas

Zadok HaKohen's philosophy of Judaism very much continues the thinking of his teacher Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner. Zadok HaKohen was much more of a prolific writer than Leiner ever was. It is therefore difficult to determine where Rabbi Zadok's is a mere articulation of ideas left somewhat veiled (albeit possibly purposely) in the writings of Leiner and where Rabbi Zadok is actually breaking new ground.

Tzidkas HaTzaddik

You can learn a lot about a person from his dreams. What we dream is a reflection of who we are. It is the measure of our aspirations and goals, and of those values we hold dear and place above all else. One does not squelch the evil inclination but rather helps channel its energies positively.

Pri Tzaddik, Genesis

Humanity's first sin was not Adam and Eve's eating of forbidden fruit, but rather the way they ate it. The Tree of Knowledge, says he, was not a tree or a food or a thing at all. Rather it was a way of eating. Whenever a person grabs self-conscious pleasure from the world, he falls, at that moment, from God consciousness, and eats from the Tree of Knowledge.

Takkanas HaShavim

Zadok HaKohen said that the

Oral Law An oral law is a code of conduct in use in a given culture, religion or community application, by which a body of rules of human behaviour is transmitted by oral tradition and effectively respected, or the single rule that is orally transmitted. M ...

developed to its full potential after the victory of the Hasmoneans over the Greek culture, a culture characterized by deep analysis and hair-splitting argument. These virtues were converted to a holy nature with the victory of Israel over Greece. This was the fulfillment of the verse “God will give beauty to Yefet and this beauty will dwell in the tents of Shem” (as per Megillah 9b). After the victory, Jews could begin the successful integration of natural science, logic, and philosophy into the world of the

Written Law The Torah ( , "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. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

. Only then could the Oral Law truly begin to flourish.

Influence

Zadok HaKohen's philosophy was a major influence on Rabbi

Yitzchok Hutner Yitzchak Hutner (; 1906November 28, 1980), also known as Isaac Hutner, was an American Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean). Originally from Warsaw, Hutner was the long-time dean of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, New York, an older i ...

. Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff has given numerous lectures on the works of Zadok HaKohen.Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff
''Torah Anytime''.

Works

*''Resisei Layla'' *''Takkanas HaShavim'' *''Tzidkas HaTzadik'' *''Machashavos Charutz'' *''Sichat Malachei HaShareit'' *''Divrei Sofrim'' *''Poked Akarim'' *''Likkutei Ma'amarim'' *''Dover Tzedek'' *''Yisrael Kedoshim'' *''Ohr Zarua LaTzadik'' *''Pri Tzadik'' (Compiled by his students from his weekly classes) *''Otzar Hamelech'' (comments on the ''Rambam'', and a long ''Tshuva'' on ''Tumas Ohel'')

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* Avichai Zur

''Tradition'', 53:4 (2021), pp. 53-72. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zadok Hakohen Hasidic rebbes Polish Hasidic rabbis Hasidic rabbis in Europe Kohanim writers of Rabbinic literature 1823 births 1900 deaths