Tzadik
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Tzadik (
Tzadik is also the
Since the late 17th century, in Hasidic Judaism, the institution of the mystical tzadik as a divine channel assumed central importance, combining popularization of (hands-on) Jewish mysticism with social movement for the first time.[2] Adapting former Kabbalistic theosophical terminology, Hasidic philosophy internalised mystical experience, emphasising devekut attachment to its Rebbe leadership, who embody and channel the Divine flow of blessing to the world.[3]
Etymology
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Kabbalah |
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Ṣedeq in Canaanite religion may have been an epithet of a god of the Jebusites.[4] The Hebrew word appears in the biblical names Melchizedek, Adonizedek, and Zadok, the high priest of David.
Nature of the Tzadik
Definitions
In classic Jewish thought, there are various definitions of a tzadik. According to Maimonides (based on Tractate Yevamot of the Babylonian Talmud 49b-50a): "One whose merit surpasses his iniquity is a tzadik".[5]
According to
As for what is written in the Zohar III, p.231: He whose sins are few is classed as a "righteous man who suffers", this is the query of Rav Hamnuna to Elijah. But according to Elijah's answer, ibid., the explanation of a "righteous man who suffers" is as stated in Raaya Mehemna on Mishpatim, which is given above. (Distinguishing 2 levels of Tzadik: The "righteous who prospers"-literally "good to him" is interpreted to mean that the natural soul in him has become "his own-transformed to good". The "righteous who suffers"-literally "bad to him" is interpreted to mean that his natural soul still exists in his unconscious, but is nullified to his Divine soul, "the bad-is under him") And the Torah has seventy facets. (So the reason for the question)[citation needed]
Tzadikim Nistarim
The Talmud says that at least 36 Tzadikim Nistarim (anonymous tzadikim) are living among us in all times;[9] they are anonymous, and it is for their sake alone that the world is not destroyed.[10] The Talmud and the Kabbalah offer various ideas about the nature and role of these 36 tzadikim. In Jewish folklore they are called lamedvovniks, from the gematria numerical value for 36. In Hasidic Judaism, with its social institution of the Tzadik in the central role of the community, the 36 may not necessarily be unknown, therefore. However, a Hasidic aphorism describes a known Rebbe Tzadik as being among the 36, as their true greatness could be concealed beyond the perception of their devoted followers.
Tzaddik of the Generation
Hasidim adhere to the belief that there is a person born each generation with the potential to become Messiah, if the Jewish people warrant his coming. This candidate is known as the Tzadik Ha-Dor, meaning Tzaddik of the Generation.
Miracle workers
While tzadik status, according to its above definitions, is not necessarily related to the ability to perform or call upon
In some contexts, people refer specifically to the pious miracle worker as a tzadik. In Hasidism, the doctrine of "Practical Tzadikism", developed by Elimelech of Lizhensk, involved the Tzadik performing miracles to channel the Ayin-Yesh Divine blessing. In its most extreme version, Hasidic "wonder-workers", predominant in 19th century Poland, emphasised this conception, sometimes criticised by other Hasidic leaders as superficial. To Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, and his reaction against Popular Tzadikism, the greatest miracle was to examine oneself without self-delusion.
Historical sources
Based on the teachings of Isaac Luria, the Baal Shem Tov and the Chaim ibn Attar, Shneur Zalman of Liadi taught in the name of the Zohar that "He who breathed life into man, breathed from Himself." Therefore, one's soul comes from the essence of God.
According to Kabbalah, a tzadik, because they have completely nullified themselves and their desires to what God wants, their Godly soul (which like every Godly soul is part of God) is revealed within them more than other people who have not completely nullified themselves to God. This concept is based upon many Jewish sources. Here are some:
- The Shimon Bar Yochai.")[12]
- The Jerusalem Talmud: "Was not Eliahu the ruler of the prophets? But it teaches that all the time he was standing before his teacher Aḥiyya from Shilo it was as if he stood before the Divine Presence."[13] This is explained in the Yesod HaAvodah of Alexander Süsskind of Grodno in the name of David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra: "This was because Aḥiyya had his mind and thoughts connected and cleaved to the greatness of the holy one, and Elijah when he stood before his teacher connected his thoughts with the thoughts of his teacher with the love from his heart, and therefore it was as if he stood in front of the Shekhinah."[citation needed]
- King Messiah that he is called with the Tetragrammaton as it is stated.[15]and this is his name that he shall be called, The Lord is our righteousness...And the reason by all of them is because one who cleaves to something, is called by the thing which he is cleaving to."
- Joel Sirkis "The purpose of The Blessed One was always that one should be involved in Torah in order to bond our souls in the essence and spirituality and holiness of the source of the giver of the Torah... And if one is involved in Torah study with this intention, one becomes a Merkavah and Heichal for the Shekhinah may he be blessed, so that the Shekhinah is literally within them, because they are a Heichal to God and within them literally the Shekhinah establishes its dwelling place."[16]
- Mitzvot...Then he himself is the Beit HaMikdash itself...Because this is the truth regarding Tzadikim through the deeds which are desirable by the blessed one they are the Mikdash mamash"[17]
- Moshe Chaim Luzzatto: "The holy one who cleaves constantly to God and his soul fires up with true intellectual understanding with great love of his creator and fear...Behold a person like this, he himself, is considered to be like the Tabernacle Beit HaMikdash and the Mizbeiach...And also it is said regarding Tzadikim they are the Markavah, because the Shekhinah dwells in them just like it dwelled in the Beit HaMikdash."[18]
- Hashem may He be blessed, Himself, and they are the same."[19]
- In 1951, the seventh Rebbe of Chabad, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, made a similar statement[20] regarding the practice by Hasidic Jews to have a rabbi act as an intermediary with God on their behalf. He explained, "The Rebbe is completely connected with his Hasidim, not like two separate things that connect; rather, they become completely one. And the Rebbe is not an intermediary which separates, but one that connects. Therefore by a Hassid, he with the Rebbe with God are all one ... Hence, it is not possible to ask any questions about [how it is possible to turn to the Rebbe as] an intermediary [for the purpose of asking him to pray to Hashem on one’s behalf], since this is Atzmus uMehus [God's Essence] itself as it put itself in a body. This is similar to the statement of the Zohar,[21] 'Whose is the face of the Master [God]? This is the Rashbi.'."
In Majority Muslim Countries
The veneration of tzadikim and the veneration of prophets and other figures from the Torah, Bible, and Quran overlapped significantly, as did the veneration of figures from one religion by other local religions. Certain theological concepts overlapped as well. In the Medieval Muslim worldview, places like Egypt, al-Shām (especially Syria), and Karbala were holy or blessed land, though not necessarily as much as Mecca, Medinah, and Jerusalem. Jews never regarded other cities as sacred as Jerusalem, but lands like Syria, Iraq, and Egypt were also seen holy. A more specific location often became holy when someone saw a prophet or saint in a vision and was told to build a shrine. The prophet or saint made the place holy, but their granting of holiness was limited. The holiness was perpetuated via ritual behaviors such as prayer, supplication, votive offerings, sprinkling perfume and water, laying on the shrines and tombs, living in them, circumambulation, touching, and taking soil and rocks away that were thought to heal through baraka. These actions marked the sites associated with saints and prophets as separate from their surroundings. Sites that were destroyed and never rebuilt were seen as having lost favor with God, the prophets, and the saints. Sites also became holy due to their place in scripture, eschatological tradition, legends, local performance of ritual, the import/export of sacred objects and substances, and the production and display of talismans. Saint and prophet shrines were more common in cities, but plenty have been recorded in rural areas.[22]
Saints and prophets in the view of Medieval Jews and Muslims possessed baraka (which can be translated as "blessing"), an innate force which was also conferred into objects they'd used or places they'd been, both of which are very important to saint veneration. Jews also use the word qadosh ("holiness") in the same context. In both religions, God is the ultimate source of holiness, and holiness comes from being or having been in service of God.[22]
Holy places, particularly the shrines and tombs associated with saints and prophets, were associated with supernatural sensory phenomena, particularly in the pre-modern era. This includes unnatural lights descending to holy sites or emanating from them, visions, unexplained pleasant smells, and clouds ascending from shrines or hovering over them. Both Jews and Muslims also said that a shrine of a prophet or saint would evoke a feeling of awe or holiness.[22]
Egypt
In Egypt, Jewish saint veneration is not often a topic of research and is not prominently practiced today, though a number of Egyptian saints are said to be Jews who converted to Islam. There are three Jewish mausoleums in Egypt currently associated with the practice:
Hatsera was a Moroccan rabbi who died in Egypt while on pilgrimage, and was subsequently buried in Egypt. His tomb has been taken care of by Muslim Egyptians for many years, though it and it's pilgrimage has become a contentious legal and political issue. The tomb sits on a hill, and all hilltop tombs in Egypt are believed to protect surrounding villages from floods. Many locals mistakenly believe he was Muslim, or do not know what religion he was. A few even believe he was a Christian from the Pre-Islamic era. The local Muslim villagers often visit his tomb for healing, protection from the evil eye, or before Friday prayers. 89 other Jewish graves surround Hatsera's tomb.[23]
In the anniversary of Hatsera's death, pilgrims come on a hillūla journey, mostly from Morocco and France. A market pops up, and pilgrims gather in the tomb to pray, ask for blessings, and place items on the grave in hopes they'll be blessed. After the prayers, a meal is held. A rabbi and one of Hatsera's descendants are typically in attendance.[23]
Many Egyptians do not distinguish between saints of different religions, and simply rank them. First are the family of Mohammed, then the Companions, the martyrs, holy men, and lastly, local saints who are not well known outside their villages.[23]
Iraq
In Iraq, Muslims and Jews served alongside each other as keeps of shrines associated with saints and prophets.[22]
Among the tombs and shrines frequented by Jews in Iraq are the shrine of Ezekiel and the tomb of Ezra (in the 11th century said to be surround by the graves of seven tzadikim).[22]
Lebanon
In Lebanon, Karak Nuh hosts a tomb thought to be that of Noah, an identification dating back to the Medieval era.[22]
Morocco
In Morocco, emphasis has been put on saint veneration's similarities between Jewish and Muslim communities to different political ends. While these practices are indeed similar, and saints may be shared between communities, certain elements are uniquely Jewish. Saints and their icons are often likened to Torah scrolls and are physically treated in similar ways- the tomb of a saint is like a Torah's ark, and the frames of icons are made with similar materials to Torah mantles. Pilgrimages also borrow elements from Torah services.[24] Annual Jewish pilgrimages to tzadik's tombs were called hillūla, meaning celebration.[25]
Both Jews and Muslims held communal meals in the tomb sanctuary. Both attributed saints with the power to heal, do miracles, control nature, perform spiritual and ritual healing via trance, and control jinn. Tzadikim were also attributed to swnd messages in dreams, spirit forms, and while transformed into animals. Some of these traits are also similar to Christian saints, which likely influenced Iberian Judaism and was brought to Morocco by the explusion of Jews from Spain.[25]
The differences between the traditions include the fact that Muslim marabouts were recognized while alive, and were commonly related to, or were students or followers of, other holy figures. Tzadikim typically did not come from such holy lineages and were recognized after their deaths. Marabouts also often joined or were said to join anti-colonial resistance groups, while tzadikim did not.[25]
Tzadikim in Morocco are typically Torah scholars, miracle workers, and divine mediators. Stories and poems written about them are done in the same style and tradition as other Rabbinic literature.[24] They were usually Rabbis, which is not uncommon in the Jewish tzadik tradition. Many saints in both Judaism and Islam were localized and only worshipped in specific areas. Others gained widespread recognition. Jews believed their saints to be superior to Muslim saints, and sometimes viewed the Muslim worship and serving of the tzadikim as evidence of this.[25]
The similarities of Moroccan Jewish and Muslim practices, including saint veneration, were used by colonial European powers to claim Morocco was unified and consisted of a distinct nation, but that Moroccans were not sufficiently united to resist imperialism. Today, these similarities are used to emphasize and display tolerance of religious minorities.[24] In the colonial era, these overlaps and similarities led to positive economic relations in regard to saint veneration. The infrastructure introduced during colonialism increased the number of pilgrims for everyone, which increased their economies and the logistics for organizing them. The festive nature of Jewish pilgrimages in Morocco also increased during this time. Muslims often did the upkeep and protection of tombs, as the sultan would appoint them to protect the cemeteries of dhimmis. Today the government of Morocco continues to upkeep tombs and help organize and facilitate pilgrimages.[25]
Palestine
In Palestine, the sites associated with tzadikim and other holy figures have become politically contentious. These sites were once frequented by all religions in the area, with varying personal beliefs about who was buried there, but following the creation and expansion of the Israeli state, Palestinians, whether they are Muslim or otherwise, have often been banned from these sites. As such these sites are often at the center of violence. They have been used to justify Israeli settlements in the West Bank, hundreds of Israeli military personnel being deployed as escorts, military installations, and even the destruction of towns.[26] In one instance, an Israeli killed Palestinians in the Cave of the Patriarchs and has in turn been venerated by some.[22]
Syria
In Damascus, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians would visit the same tomb of a medieval Muslim saint, a sharing of holiness that was once common throughout Muslim majority countries.[22]
Both the Medieval Jews and Muslims of Damascus believed the city would be the site of the coming of the Messiah at the emd of time. Many sites in the city were given specific future roles in this, as well as being associated with various holy figures such as Abraham and Noah.[22]
Some of the holy sites frequented by Jews in Syria throughout history include the Synagogue of Elijah in Damascus (which contained a shrine dedicated to Elijah as well), another shrine dedicated to Elijah in Jawbar, east of Damascus, the propurted Tomb of Ezra in Taduf near Aleppo, the shrine of Abraham in Kefar Avaraham (aka Barza) near Damascus, and several other shrines dedicated to Elijah throughout Syria. Abraham has been associated with Damascus as far back as Josephus's writings, who recorded the belief that he had ruled Damascus as a king dyring some of his life.[22]
Terminology in Kabbalah
Identification with Yesod
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"..For all that is in Heaven and on Earth.."[27]
"-For all כל (Yesod) joins the Heaven and the Earth"[28]
"The Tzadik is the foundation (Yesod) of the World"[29]
In the system of 10
In the
- In the Divine, Yesod is the 9th Sefirah, in the middle balanced column, connecting all the higher sefirot, centred on Divine immanent female presence of God). The 16th century SafedKabbalists introduced the prayer "For the sake of the union" of these principles before Jewish observances.
- In the soul, Yesod is contact, connection and communication with outer reality of malchut, similar to the way the foundation of a building connects it with the earth.
- In the bodily form of man and woman, Yesod corresponds to the organ of procreation, analogously where the Tiferet body descends towards action, expressed in the procreative power to create life. This relates to the Circumcision "Covenant of Abraham", the Jewish "Sign of the Covenant" with God. As the Torah describes two levels of Jewish covenant, physical "covenant of circumcision" and spiritual "circumcision of the heart", so women are considered born already physically circumcised. Joseph's resistance to Potiphar's wife represents his perfection of the "Sign of the Covenant". Yesod is the foundation of a person's future generations, the power of generating infinity in the finite.
- Yesod is identified with the righteous tzadik, "the tzadik is the foundation of the world". As Jewish mysticism describes different levels of Tzadik, Kabbalah sees this verse as particularly referring to the one perfect tzadik of the generation. In the tzadik, God's infinite-transcendent light becomes manifest in this finite-immanent world. The tzadik procreates spiritually through revealing Divinity in new Torah returnto God in his generation.
- Yesod connects beginning to end in God who encompasses all. In the Bible, Abraham began the Yesod covenant of circumcision, though his sefirah is Chesed love-kindness, the first emotional expression. Love creates the unity of spiritual covenant. For Abraham this descended into action, to become expressed in the physical covenant of circumcision. Yesod expresses this descent, uniting spiritual and physical. "Foundation" is the beginning of a building and the conclusion of planning. Yesod is the power to bring action to conclusion, to reveal that the beginning and end are united in God, "the end is wedged in the beginning, and the beginning in the end".[30]
- Each Sefirah contains an Divine purposeconsummately.
Intellect in the supernal soul of the community
"..To love the Lord your God, to listen to His voice, and to cleave to Him.."[31]
"Cleaving to a Torah scholar is as cleaving to the DivineShechinah"[32]
The leaders of Israel over the masses stem from the intellect of Adam's soul[33]
"In every generation there is a leader like Moses"
- The soul of the Tzadik is an inclusive, general soul of the community. In Kabbalah, gematria (numerical value) has significance, because Creation is formed through Divine "speech" as in Genesis 1. The gematria of Yesod (יסוד) is 80, 8 times 10, forming reduced value of 18 (חי Life), as a tzadik is called truly alive spiritually. 80 is the value of Klal (כלל), the "community", the extension of Kol (כל), the term in Kabbalah for the sephirah of Yesod. The "Tzadik of the generation" is a "general soul" (neshama klalit) of the generation, in which each individual soul is included. Hasidic thought focuses on this parallel, and its application for each person. Through the personal connection of each soul to the tzadik, their Yechidah soul-essence becomes revealed, through the revelation of the Yechidah of the Tzadik.
Breslov Hasidut
...the Rebbe (
Rosh HaShanah, continually, until the arrival of the Mashiach. The Rebbe himself said that the Evil had glorified many false leaders, making it extremely difficult to find where Moses is - the true Tzaddik. You should know, my friend, that this is the reason we have come here: to join our precious heritage with a bond that will last every day of our lives— Nathan of Breslov [citation needed]
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov explained how only a true leader can awaken the most genuine Jewish faith: this leader is the Tzadik.[citation needed]
Variants as first names
- Hebrew: Tzadik, Zadik, or Tzadok
- Amharic, Tigrinya: Tsadik (ጻድቅ) or Tsadkan (ጻድቃን)
- Arabic: Sadiq, Sadeq (صَادِق)
- Persian: Sadegh or Sadeq
Tzadik in Hasidism
See also
References
This article uses secondary sources that critically analyze them.(March 2017) ) |
- ^ dictionary item
- ^ The Zaddik: The Interrelationship between religious Doctrine and Social Organization by Immanuel Etkes, in Hasidism Reappraised edited by Ada Rapoport-Albert, Littman.
- ^ God and the Zaddik as the two focal points of Hasidic worship Ada Rapoport-Albert, in Essential Papers on Hasidism edited by Gershon Hundert, NYU Press 1991
- ^ Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, s.v. ""Sedeq", Melchizedek".
- ^ Mishneh Torah, Sefer Madda, Laws of Repentance 3:1
- ^ Tanya ch.23
- ^ Tanya, ch. 27
- ^ Tanya, Chapter 1 footnote
- ^ Sanhedrin 97b; Sukkah 45b.
- Kohanim represent the tzaddikim who "eat to satiate their souls" (Book of Proverbs13: 25). Not only can they elevate the material world to the spiritual, but they draw spirituality into the material world as well (Likutey Halakhot III)
- ^ Avot, 2:4
- ^ Zohar, 2:38a.
- ^ "Jerusalem Talmud Eruvin 5:1:4". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ^ Ki Sisa, 33:7
- ^ Jeremiah, 23:6.
- ^ Bach on the Tur, Orach Chaim, 47
- ^ Nefesh HaChaim, Gate 1, ch. 4
- ^ Mesillas Yesharim, ch. 26
- ^ Marbitzei Torah U'Mussar, sec. 3, p. 10
- Likutei Sichos, Vol 2, pp. 510-511.
- ^ 2:38a.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-169796-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4008-4913-0, retrieved 2024-04-19
- ^ a b c Beyond Exoticism and Syncretism: Situating Moroccan Pilgrimage in Jewish Studies by Oren Kosansky
- ^ a b c d e Ojeda-Mata, Maite. Saints and Sanctity in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. pp. 199–215.
- ^ "Why Do Palestinians Burn Jewish Holy Sites? The Fraught History of Joseph's Tomb". Institute for Palestine Studies. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
- ^ I Chronicles 29:11. The verse mentions all the emotional Sefirot. Yesod is alluded to by these words
- ^ Zohar I:31a, II:116a, III:257a
- ^ Proverbs 10:25, as interpreted in the terminology of the Sefirot
- ^ Sefer Yetzirah 1:7
- Deuteronomy30:20
- Ketubot111b
- ^ Kabbalistic conception, emphasised by Isaac Luria, discussed in Tanya I:2
Sources
- Frumer, Assaf. Kol Hanikra Bishmi (Hebrew)
- Lessons In Tanya
- Pevzner, Avraham. Al HaTzadikim (Hebrew). Kfar Chabad. 1991
External links
- Kuntres HaHishtatchus The classic Maamar explaining the significance of visiting the grave of a Tzaddik. (In English) chabad.org
- Maaneh Lashon An English rendition of the prayers to be said at the graveside of the righteous.
- Torah sources concerning Tzaddikim
- Connotations of the Kabbalistic sephirah Yesod-Foundation from inner.org
- Connotations of the inner dimension of Yesod: Emet-Truth from inner.org
- "The Soul of Life: The Complete Neffesh Ha-chayyim" (2012), Amazon, ISBN 978-0615699912