Elimelech of Lizhensk
Born in Tykocin, Poland, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk was the founder of Hasidism in Poland and Galicia. He was the foremost disciple of Dov Ber, the Magid of Mezritsh, whom he succeeded after the latter’s death in 1772. The brother of Meshulam Zusya of Annopol, he settled in the Galician town of Lizhensk, where he gathered his own group of disciples, including Jacob Joseph Horowitz (the “Seer of Lublin”) and Abraham Joshua Heshel of Apt. Elimelech’s magnum opus, No‘am Elimelekh (1788), emphasizes the roles of a tsadik, or Hasidic rebbe, including praying for the material as well as spiritual welfare of his followers.