ELIMELEKH OF LIZHENSK (1717?–1787), Hasidic teacher and leading theoretician of the tsaddiq concept. Elimelekh and his brother, Zusya of Hanipol, who lived for some time as wandering ascetics, were both attracted to the teachings of Dov Ber of Mezhirich (Międzyrzecz, Poland) and became his disciples. After his master's death, Elimelekh settled in Lizhensk (Lesajsk, Poland) and became the major disseminator of Hasidic teachings in Galicia. Most of the later schools of Polish and Galician Hasidism, including Prsyzucha, Kotsk (Kock), Ger (Góra), Sandz (Halberstadt), and Belz (Beltsy, Moldova), are ultimately derived from Elimelekh's influence, especially through his disciple and successor Yaʿaqov Yitsḥaq, the "Seer" of Lublin (1744/45–1815). The collection of Elimelekh's homilies, published as Noʿam Elimelekh (1787), was one of the most popular and widely reprinted volumes of Hasidic teaching.

These homilies are primarily concerned with the promulgation of a single concept, that...