Yaakov Jizchak from Przysucha

Jaakow Jizchak ben Ascher von Przysucha , called "the holy Jew" (* 1766 in Przedbórz , † 1813 in Przysucha ) was a Hasidic rabbi and tzaddik . He was the founder of the Przysucha dynasty in Poland .

life and work

He was born in the small town of Przedborz, where his father, a descendant of an important rabbinical family, was a preacher. Jaakow Jizchak studied there with Arie Leib Charif, whom he followed to Apta , and in the yeshiva of Leszno . As a youth he was characterized by great physical strength, but later withdrew from worldly affairs and was weakened as a result of long fasts and ecstatic prayer. At first he tried to hide his spiritual values ​​and charity, but then, under the influence of Moshe Leib von Sasow, he joined Hasidism and became famous for his scholarship in the Torah and intense religious devotion. He used to say, "If a sword is stuck into the body of a man who is praying and feels this pain, then his prayer is not real." After distributing his money among the poor, his fortune dwindled and he was forced to act as Village teacher ( Melamed ) to work.

A turning point in his life came when he met Yaakov Jizchak Horowitz, the seer of Lublin , and became his most trusted student in Lublin . Because of the same name as his teacher, he was called by the Hasidim "the Jew" or "the holy Jew". The seer from Lublin admired his pupil and appointed him spiritual advisor to the young pupils. He admonished his protégés to get used to the feeling of their own worth. He distinguished three types of tzaddikim : those who call themselves a tzaddik are the most unworthy; he who calls himself a tzaddik, but not of a higher order, is more valuable. But best of all is the real tzaddik who recognizes that he has yet to achieve consummation. The honest execution of the religious commandments , without an interest in status or material gain, was a concern of his and earned him the nickname Schibolet Sahaw ("ear of gold"). His works were published in collections of the early 20th century.

Positions and aftermath

The new thing about Hasidism by Jaakow Jizchak was the combination of Torah study and prayer. He started a campaign against the superficiality that had spread within Hasidism in connection with the belief in miracles. He opposed faith healers and the tzaddikim who dealt with worldly affairs. In his opinion, anyone who reached a certain level of spirituality could perform miracles. On the other hand, it is more difficult to honestly fulfill one's duties as a Jew: "The good is enough, even if it is only a hair's breadth, provided it is offered in truth and with all of the heart." His followers were ready to begin the prayers, such as they are set in Shulchan Aruch to postpone and wait until they have reached the state of mind required for prayer. This led to resistance from all the other tzaddikim who were students of the Seer of Lublin. The seer himself turned against his pupil, who had to leave Lublin and founded his own community in Przysucha. The course of the Napoleonic Wars triggered associations among the Jews with the struggle between Gog and Magog and aroused new expectations of redemption. On the evening of Seder in 1813, attempts were made to bring about the coming of the Messiah by mystical means, but Yaakov Yitzchak refused to take part in such an endeavor. In the same year he died at the age of almost fifty in Przysucha. His son Jerachmiel became his inheritance, but most Hasidim accepted his student Simcha Bunem of Przysucha as his successor. Another important student of Jaakow Jizchak was the Kotzker Rebbe . In Martin Buber's historical novel Gog and Magog , the “Holy Jew” is the protagonist.

literature

• Encyclopedia Judaica , Vol. 13, pp. 1300-1301.