Rabbi Zadok ha-Kohen Rabinowitz of
Lublin (in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: צדוק הכהן מלובלין) (Kreisburg, 1823 – Lublin,
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 populous ...
, 1900), or Tzadok Hakohen or Tzadok of Lublin, was a significant Jewish thinker and
Hasidic leader.
Biography
He was born into a Lithuanian Rabbinic family and then became a follower of the Hasidic Rebbe, Rabbi
Mordechai Yosef Leiner
Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica (מרדכי יוסף ליינר) known as "the Ishbitzer" ( yi, איזשביצע, איזביצע ''Izhbitze, Izbitse, Ishbitze'') (1801-1854 of Izbica, and of
Yehudah Leib Eiger (grandson of the famed Rabbi
Akiva Eiger
Rabbi Akiva Eiger (, also spelled Eger; , yi, עקיבא אייגער), or Akiva Güns (17611837) was an outstanding Talmudic scholar, influential halakhic decisor and foremost leader of European Jewry during the early 19th century. He was also ...
, son of Rabbi
Solomon Eger, and another student of Mordechai Leiner), whom he succeeded in 1888. He is a classic example of a
Litvish
''Misnagdim'' (, "Opponents"; Sephardi pronunciation: ''Mitnagdim''; singular ''misnaged''/''mitnaged'') was a religious movement among the Jews of Eastern Europe which resisted the rise of Hasidism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The ''Misna ...
Jew turned
Chasidic
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...
.
As a young man he gained widespread acclaim as an (a brilliant
talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
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
Hasidim
Ḥasīd ( he, חסיד, "pious", "saintly", "godly man"; plural "Hasidim") is a Jewish honorific, frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. It denotes a person who is scrupulous in his observ ...
. 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'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...
,
Hasidut,
Kabbalah
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...
, 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 ''cheder ...
.
Ideas
Zadok HaKohen's radical philosophy of Judaism very much continues the thinking of his teacher Rabbi
Mordechai Yosef Leiner
Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica (מרדכי יוסף ליינר) known as "the Ishbitzer" ( yi, איזשביצע, איזביצע ''Izhbitze, Izbitse, Ishbitze'') (1801-1854 . Zadok HaKohen was much more of a prolific writer than Leiner ever was. It is therefore difficult to determine where Rabbi Zadok's radicalism 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 (; 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 sa ...
. Only then could the Oral Law truly begin to flourish.
Influence
Zadok HaKohen's philosophy was a major influence on Rabbi
Yitzchok Hutner
Yitzchak (Isaac) Hutner ( he, יצחק הוטנר; 1906–1980) was an American Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean).
Originally from Warsaw, Hutner first studied the Torah in Slabodka. He then traveled to Mandatory Palestine where he became ...
.
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
"The Hidden Root – The Existential Paradox of Rabbi Tzadok ha-Kohen of Lublin"
''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