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The 92nd Street Y, New York is a world-class cultural and community center where people all over the world connect through culture, arts, entertainment and conversation. For over 150 years, we have harnessed the power of arts and ideas to enrich, enlighten and change lives, and the power of community to repair the world.
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    The Elie Wiesel Living Archive

    at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity

    Later Hasidic Masters: Rabbi Israel of Rizhin

    The Rizhiner Rebbe: Prince, Advocate and Tragic Visionary

    Nov 06, 1969

    Great-grandson of the Maggid of Mezeritch, Rabbi Israel’s unconventional Hasidic path—that of luxury--was accepted by all of his distinguished contemporaries. What was the meaning of the luxury? It attracted many Hasidim, giving a sense that even in exile Jews can live as princes. But there must be more: did he believe himself the Messiah? No. But Rabbi Israel was obsessed with bringing the Messiah. Like the Berdichever, Rabbi Israel was the Jew’s advocate, “guiding and consoling” not with miracles but with common sense. Professor Wiesel concludes: “I would like to see [the Rizhener] as a tragic visionary with the gift to view things with painful clarity.” Vizhnitz, the Hasidism to which Professor Wiesel belongs, descends from Rizhin.

    Download the transcript

    Selected Quotes:
    “
    Nothing corrupts revolutions more--and more radically--than success.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Nothing is harder to maintain than to maintain the dream after it has succeeded in molding reality.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    No fulfillment is possible without paying some kind of a price, and the price is usually one’s own innocence.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Rizhin was a temple and Rabbi Israel its royal presence.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    [The Baal Shem Tov's Hasidim had] advocated joy within misery, hope despite misfortune, faith in spite of injustice. They advocated warmth and generosity in one’s relation with another and severity, extreme severity, with one’s self.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Man--through Hasidism and in a larger sense through the Judaic tradition--tried to be God’s partner by being man’s friend.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Even his most ardent admirers agreed that he helped his followers not with study or prayer, but with tales, with the tales he told them or made them tell.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    They needed to believe that it was possible for Jews to live like princes, even in exile, even in the cold region of Russia. In their eyes he was a reflection of past grandeur, a continuation of ancient dreams and ancient glory.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    He had to be believed for he was already loved.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    It is not the beauty of the sound in the forest that is miraculous. It is not the beauty of the lightning that is miraculous either. It is man’s ability to perceive the beauty in the forest and the lightning that is miraculous.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    He told his Hasidim not to waste the possible for the impossible, not to sacrifice reality for dreams, not to give up immediate gains for unattainable rewards…He wanted them to rise one step above the ground rather than walk on clouds.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Asked how to worship God without lying to oneself, he replied, 'I'll tell you how. First imagine you are the acrobat walking a rope across an abyss. In order to keep your balance, what do you do? When your body pulls to one side, you pull to the other. Second, what you are forbidden to do, don’t do. But what you are allowed to do, wait a moment before doing it.'
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Why I don’t like Maimonides? Actually, I should like him, for he does refute Aristotle’s theories. But imagine Jews like myself, simple, simple Jews, who would read Aristotle’s theories in Maimonides’ work and would fall asleep before they were refuted.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    That is the beauty of Judaism again. The soul of the messiah is still here among man and everyone can be, without him knowing it, the messiah.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    He took sides in God’s quarrels with man, and he took the side of man and acted as his spokesman before God.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    He wanted to prove that man can fulfill himself, of course, with God, even against God, provided it is for the community, but not without God.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    One must accept what is given, but pray to get it, no.
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Perhaps he tried to console and comfort his poor Hasidim in showing them that Galut Yisrael, the exile, the reality of exile does not exclude the dream of Malchut Yisrael, the dream of redemption.”
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    He knew that after him Hasidism would no longer be the same. That later Hasidim would have the leaders they deserved and inherit a world which would not deserve them...that is a tragedy of man’s life and endeavor, it is not enough to call upon the Messiah to make him come.
    Elie Wiesel
    Books:
    Subthemes:
    1) The Parable of Paradise/Pardes
    2) The Price Paid by Revolutionary Leaders
    3) Luxurious Lifestyle
    4) Beloved by and At Odds With Classical Hasidism
    5) Popularity, Propaganda and Principles of Rizhiner Hasidism: Contrast with Kotzk, "The Holy Goat” 6) His Attraction for the Poor and the Influence of His Father, Rabbi Shalom Shachna
    7) The Impact of Imprisonment on the Rizhiner Rebbe
    8) Wisdom, Humor, Practicality, and Silence
    9) Messianic Convictions and Messages
    10) The Rizhiner Rebbe in Relationship with God
    11) Forecasting the Future & Decoding Despair
    12) The Mysterious Legacy of a Tragic Visionary
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