The Drama of Berdichev: Levi Yitshak and his Town

Summary

IN Jewish popular memory Levi Yitshak ben Meir (1740–1809), the Berdichever Rebbe, is a hero par excellence, the protector of the Jewish people before God, the friend of the simple folk, and ‘a favorite of hasidic folklore’—as if it were he, and not Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Apter Rebbe of nearby Medzhybizh, who wrote Ohev yisra'el and was given the same title, the ‘Lover of Israel’. Why has Levi Yitshak merited such esteem and popularity? He was not the only tsadik elected chief rabbi of a town. He established neither a hasidic court nor a long-lasting dynasty. Also, he was neither persecuted nor arrested by the Russian police like Yisrael of Ruzhyn. And he did not die a martyr's death, as his disciple Moshe Tsevi of Savran did while tending to sick Jews during a cholera epidemic. Nor could he boast the pedigree of Ephraim of Sudylków, grandson of the Ba'al Shem Tov. Contemporary minute books from Podolia and Volhynia reflecting the impact of tsadikim on Jewish self-governing societies seem remarkably reticent about him. According to primary sources, Samson of Shepetovka and Abraham Joshua Heschel enjoyed much greater influence and popularity throughout the region adjacent to Berdichev than Levi Yitshak himself. Opponents of hasidism persecuted Ya'akov Yosef of Polonnoe no less than they did the rebbe of Berdichev. Finally, Shneur Zalman of Lyady's intercession with the Russian government on behalf of Jews and hasidim was much greater than Levi Yitshak's. Thus, against the background of contemporary hasidic leaders, Levi Yitshak looks commonplace or at least not particularly charismatic. And yet his legendary fame far exceeds that of other tsadikim. This is the puzzle that the historian encounters when conducting research on Levi Yitshak.

One way to untangle this problem is to examine Levi Yitshak's social and cultural environment. Popular memory is influenced not only by the wonders performed by tsadikim, but also by the social factors that form a dark, almost invisible backdrop against which the tsadik is placed. The darker the backdrop, the more scintillating the tsadik's holiness becomes.