No‘am Elimelekh (Pleasing Qualities of Elimelech)

Elimelech of Lizhensk

The Relationship of Love and Fear

In the blessing “With a great love hast Thou loved us,” we say, “and unify our heart to love and fear Thy Name.” This is apparently in contradiction to the principle that fear leads to love.

However; both [statements] are correct, for there are two kinds of fear. There is a “lower fear,” which is called “Lower…

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Creator Bio

Elimelech of Lizhensk

1717–1787

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.

Related Guide

Rabbinic Scholarship, 1750–1880

Despite the challenges of the early modern period, rabbinic scholarship flourished in Central and Eastern Europe in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century. 

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