Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev

Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev (Levi Yitzchok Derbarmdiger (compassionate in Yiddish) or Rosakov) (1740–1809), also known as the holy Berdichever, and the Kedushas Levi, was a Hasidic master and Jewish leader. He was the rabbi of Ryczywół, Żelechów, Pinsk and Berdychiv, for which he is best known. He was one of the main disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch, and of his disciple Rabbi Shmelke of Nikolsburg, whom he succeeded as rabbi of Ryczywół.^[1] He is also the great-grandfather of Israeli artist Isaac Frenkel Frenel.^[2]

Portrait of Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev

Mausoleum of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak in the old cemetery in Berdychiv, May 2002.

Signature

Levi Yitzchok was known as the "defense attorney" for the Jewish people ("Sneiguron Shel Yisroel"), because he would intercede on their behalf before God. Known for his compassion for every Jew, he was one of the most beloved leaders of Eastern European Jewry. He is considered by some to be the founder of Hasidism in central Poland.^[3] And known for his fiery service of God.

Life

Levi Yitzchak was born in 1740 CE (5500 in the Jewish calendar) to Rabbi Meir (who was the Av Beit Din (head of a rabbinical court) of Zamosc) and Sarah-Sasha Ruskov in Husakiv, now in Yavoriv Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of Ukraine.^[4] In his youth he was known as the Illui from Yaroslav. He married Perel, the daughter of Rabbi Israel Peretz of Levertov. After his wedding, he studied for several years under Dov Ber of Mezeritch.

In 1784, he settled in Berdychiv,^[5] Russian Empire, in what is today Ukraine. There, he served as rabbi until the beginning of the 19th century.^[5] Nachman of Breslov called him the Peér (glory) of Israel.^[6] Levi Yitzchok composed some popular Hasidic religious folk songs, including A Dude'le and "The Kaddish of Rebbe Levi Yitzchok (A din Toyre mit Gott)."

He died on the 25th of Tishrei, 5570 (October 5, 1809) and is buried in the old Jewish cemetery in Berdychiv.^[7]

The second of his three sons, Israel, succeeded him as leader of the Hasidic movement. One of Levi Yitzchok's grandsons married the daughter of Dovber Schneuri, the second Chabad-Lubavitch rebbe and the first to live in Lubavitch.

Works by him

• The "supreme"^[8] Hasidic classic Kedushas Levi:^[9] A commentary on Torah—arranged according to the weekly Torah portion—and the Jewish holidays, expanding upon earlier Hasidic philosophy, as well as Talmud and Midrash. In it, Levi Yitzhak discusses various points of Halakha. It was published first in 1798 and has been reprinted numerous times since.^[8] An English translation was first published in 2009.^[10] In 2023, former United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury of the first Trump administration Mitchell Silk, a Hasidic Jew, published the first-ever complete translation of the work with elucidation and commentary^[11] as part of Chassidic Classics,^[12] an effort to render the classic Hasidic texts into an accessible and readable English translation.
• Beis Levi:^[13] his commentary on Pirkei Avos.

Books about him

• Loving and Beloved: Tales of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev, Defender of Israel (Menorah Books, 2016) ISBN 9781592644735
• Sparks from Berditchov (Feldheim, 2017)
• Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev: Portrait of a Hasidic Master (Hartmore House, 1974)
• Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (ArtScroll, 2011)
• Defender of the Faithful: The Life and Thought of Rabbi Levi Yitshak of Berdychiv (Blackwell's, 2023) by Arthur Green
• Loving and Beloved: Tales of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev, Defender of Israel (Toby Press, 2016) by Simcha Raz
• The World of A Hasidic Master: Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev (Shapolsky Publishers, 1986)