Hasidut on Tehillim – Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk
Tehillim 16:8
- “Shiviti Ad-nai lenegdi tamid” – (I envision G-d before me always)
After the passing of the Maggid, Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch (of blessed memory), the chassidim of Poland and Galicia gathered to decide whom to choose as their new Rebbe. They decided on Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk. After his coronation, they all set out for Lizhensk, led by Rabbi Elimelech. Along the way, the chassidim stopped for the night at an inn, where Rabbi Elimelech was given a private room. The chassidim felt that their Rebbe was sleeping too much, and began to wonder whether they had made the right choice in selecting Rabbi Elimelech as their Rebbe, since a Rebbe could not simply sleep like an ordinary person. They began discussing what to do and decided to turn to his brother, Rabbi Zusha, who was also among them.
“You want to wake the Rebbe? It is very simple,” said Rabbi Zusha. He approached the mezuzah hanging outside the closed door of Rabbi Elimelech’s room and covered it with his hand. At that very moment, the chassidim heard the Rebbe awaken and get up.
“You know that every Jew has a mitzvah: ‘I envision the Almighty before me always,’ Rabbi Zusha explained to the astonished chassidim.
“A Jew must always live together with G-d, and His Name must always stand before the Jew’s eyes. If so, how can one allow oneself to go to sleep, when during sleep a person cannot envision the Name before him? When we go to sleep, we rely on the Name of the Almighty inscribed on the mezuzah. Therefore, when I covered the Name on the mezuzah with my hand, my brother, the Rebbe, had to awaken instantly in order to inscribe It in his imagination.”.
When Rabbi Elimelech passed away on 21 Adar 1787, thousands of his chassidim were left without a Rebbe. Some of them decided to travel to Anipoli to ask Rabbi Zusha to take his brother’s place.
After hearing them out, Rabbi Zusha said:
“It is written in Bereishit: ‘And a river issues forth from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four principal rivers.’
The Torah is eternal and intended for all generations. Even today, we can find in it a hint pertaining to our own times.
- “Eden” – this is our holy teacher, the Baal Shem Tov;
- “The river issuing from it” – this is the great Maggid, Rabbi Dov Ber;
- “To water the garden” – this is my brother, Rabbi Elimelech;
- “And from there it divides and becomes four principal rivers” – these are his holy disciples: the Chozeh of Lublin, the Maggid of Kozhnitz, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, and the Rebbe of Apta. They will be your mentors. Turn to them and learn from them the ways of the Almighty.”
(“Brothers,” by Rabbi Yaakov Doktor)
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Tags: Tzadikim, Chassidut on Tehillim, Mezuzah, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, Tehillim 16 and Chassidut, Shiviti Ha-Shem Lenegdi Tamid, Shiviti Hashem LeNegdi Tamid, Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli
