Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk: Life, Teachings, and Segulot from Noam Elimelech

The 21st of Adar, marks the yahrzeit (anniversary of passing) of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk. Following are 10 facts you may not have known.

1. A Central Chassidic Leader of the Third Generation

Rabbi Elimelech Weisblum of Lizhensk was a Rebbe and Chassidic leader in the third generation of Chassidut.

He was one of the great builders and stabilizers of Chassidut in Poland, to the point that in the sefer “Meor V’Shemesh” he is compared to the holy Baal Shem Tov.

2. Early Devotion and Exile with His Brother Reb Zusha

From childhood, he devoted himself diligently to the study of both the revealed and hidden Torah, and minimized his sleep.

Together with his brother, Rabbi Zusha, he went into exile for eight years. During this time, they wandered between villages and towns, suffering curses and beatings. At the end of these years of exile, they merited Ruach HaKodesh (Divine inspiration).

3. The Sefer Noam Elimelech – A Foundational Chassidic Work

His work “Noam Elimelech” was one of the earliest Chassidic sefarim. It contains the main principles of his approach and path, which were compiled by his son Elazar and arranged in the order of the weekly Torah portions.

The divrei Torah were spoken by Rabbi Elimelech on Shabbat and written down by his son. After showing them to his father, the son received his blessing; however, by Rabbi Elimelech’s explicit instruction, he did not bring the book to print until after his father’s passing.

This book became a cornerstone of the Chassidic movement, and many set regular study of it every Shabbat. In the approbations to the sefer written by the great rabbis of the community, they showered abundant praise on him and on his sefer.

4. Segulot Connected to Noam Elimelech

Many segulot (spiritual remedies) have been associated with this sefer.

• A common and “tried and tested” segulah for an easy birth is to place the sefer Noam Elimelech under the pillow of the woman in labor.

• It is also brought in the name of Rabbi Elimelech that any pregnant woman who eats anything on Motzaei Shabbat (Saturday night) and says verbally that she is doing so for the sake of the mitzvah of the Melaveh Malka meal, this is a segulah that she should give birth easily with the help of Hashem.

(This is cited in Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 300:64, and by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in Yabia Omer, vol. 10, Orach Chaim 33.)

5. The Tzetel Katan – A Small Note with Daily Guidance

In addition to Noam Elimelech, Rabbi Elimelech composed a short work in Yiddish called “Tzetel (Note) Katan”, which contains several paragraphs of daily conduct and personal avodah.

Below is part of the Tzetel Katan, printed at the end of the Beit Tefillah siddur and in other siddurim:

5a. Sanctifying God’s Name in Thought

“At every time and moment when a person is free from Torah study – especially when he is sitting idle alone in a room, or lying on his bed and cannot fall asleep – he should contemplate the positive commandment of ‘And I shall be sanctified among the Children of Israel’

He should imagine in his soul and picture in his thoughts as if a great and awesome fire is burning before him up to the heart of heaven, and that for the sake of the sanctification of the Name of the Blessed One, he breaks his nature and throws himself into the fire to sanctify God’s Name. And a good thought, the Holy One Blessed be He joins to an action. Thus it turns out that he is not lying or sitting idle, but actually fulfilling a positive Torah commandment.”

5b. Accepting the yoke of heaven in Shema and Amidah

“In the first verse of Kriat Shema and in the first blessing of the Amidah, he should contemplate as mentioned above.

He should also have in mind that even if all the nations of the world were to torture him with all kinds of harsh afflictions and flay his skin from his flesh in order to force him, God forbid, to deny God’s Oneness, he would bear all the sufferings and would not admit anything to them, God forbid. 

He should picture in his mind and thoughts as if all this is actually being done to him. By this, he fulfills his obligation of Kriat Shema and prayer according to the law.”

5c. Forty Days to Change a Trait

“A person was created in this world only to break his nature. Therefore he should strengthen himself to rectify his character traits specifically in his eighteenth year, as I will explain: For example, someone who was born with a nature of stubbornness should break his nature for forty consecutive days, doing specifically the opposite of whatever comes to his mind.

Likewise, one whose nature is laziness should accustom himself for forty consecutive days to do everything with alacrity: in going to bed, in arising in the morning from his sleep, in quickly dressing, washing his hands, cleaning his body, and going quickly to the synagogue immediately after rising from the sefer, and similarly in other matters.

Similarly, one whose nature is excessive shame or negative shyness should accustom himself for forty days to pray specifically in a loud voice, with energetic movement of his limbs, and to recite the blessing over the Torah out loud, until they help him from Heaven to remove that negative shame from him.

Likewise, one whose speech is not clear and orderly due to habit and natural tendency, and whose power of speech is weak, should accustom himself for forty days to listen carefully to the words coming out of his own mouth – whether in mundane matters or in holy matters, and especially during learning. For habit in anything becomes master.

Similarly, one whose nature is not to be consistent in his learning should accustom himself for forty days to learn more than his usual habit. He should look each time before learning into my Tzetel Katan, and from then on, from Heaven they will help him to continue increasing in breaking his bad traits until they are completely removed.”

6. The Famous Prayer of Rabbi Elimelech – “Adaraba, Ten B’libeinu”

Rabbi Elimelech composed a special prayer to be recited as preparation for Shacharit, known as “The Prayer of Rabbi Elimelech.” A well-known passage from the prayer reads: “Adaraba – On the contrary, put into our hearts that we may see the virtues of our friends and not their shortcomings; and that each of us may speak with his fellow in a straight and pleasing way before You;
and let no hatred arise in the heart of one person toward another, God forbid; and strengthen our connection with one another in love for You, as is revealed and known before You, so that everything shall be for Your satisfaction.”

This prayer is considered a segulah that the gates of Heaven be opened and that prayers be accepted, and indeed many have the custom to say it every day before davening.

7. His Great Disciples

Among his holy students were:

• The Ohev Yisrael of Apta

• Rabbi Aharon Leib of Premishlan

• Rabbi Eliezer Horowitz

• The Chozeh (Seer) of Lublin

• The Maggid of Kozhnitz

• Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev

• Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov

• Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib of Sassov

• And the author of “Meor V’Shemesh”

8. Passing on His Spiritual Powers to His Students

When the time came for Rabbi Elimelech to leave this world, he placed his hands on the heads of his students, and to four of his closest disciples he transferred particular aspects of his spiritual power:

• To the Chozeh of Lublin – from whom he requested to educate his nephew, Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapira of Dinov – he gave the spiritual power of the “light of his eyes.”

• To the Maggid of Kozhnitz, he gave the spiritual power of the heart.

• To Rabbi Mendele of Rimanov, he gave the power of the soul within the mind.

• To the Rebbe of Apta, he gave the spiritual power of his mouth.

9. A Miracle at His Grave During the Holocaust

During World War II, the Nazis, may their name be erased, destroyed the ohel (structure) built over his grave and found his coffin intact. When they opened the coffin, they discovered to their astonishment that his body was whole, as if he had just been buried.

After the war, a new ohel was built on the foundations of the previous one.

10. His Yahrzeit and the Promise at His Grave

Rabbi Elimelech passed away on the 21st of Adar, 5547 (1787) in Lizhensk, the city of his rabbinate, and his grave became a major pilgrimage site.

Rabbi Elimelech said that whoever comes to his grave after his passing will not leave this world without having done teshuvah (repentance).

The “Tiferet Shlomo” of Radomsk said that on this day, Rabbi Elimelech stands with outstretched hands, blessing and advocating for good on behalf of those who pour out their hearts at his grave and who read from his holy sefarim, to learn and fulfill them.