Rabbi Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezritch

Humble beginnings

Rabbi Dov Ber was born in Lukatch, a small town in Volhynia not far from Rovno, to Rabbi Avraham, a poor teacher of young children, and his wife Chava. The year of his birth is uncertain; dates offered by various traditions range from about 1690 to 1710, and around 1704 is a common estimate. Family tradition traced the line back to the Tanna Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar and to King David.

It is told that when the family home burned down in his childhood, his mother wept over the loss of the document recording their noble lineage, and the young boy comforted her by promising that he would begin a new line of yichus. Whether or not every detail is historical, the story captures how his later life was understood: a self-made giant of Torah and fear of Heaven who became the root of countless Chassidic families.

As a young man he studied intensively, and one tradition places him in the yeshiva of the Pnei Yehoshua in Lemberg. He became a master of the Talmud and of Lurianic Kabbalah, lived in great poverty and practiced severe self-denial. He married Rebbetzin Keila, daughter of Rabbi Shalom Shachna of Turchin, and worked as a teacher and later as a preacher (maggid) in towns such as Turchin, Koretz and Dubno – the source of the title by which he would be known for all generations.

Meeting the Baal Shem Tov

His fasts and ascetic practices took a heavy toll on his health, and he suffered from a painful illness in his legs for the rest of his life. Chassidic tradition relates that he first came to the Baal Shem Tov in Medzhybizh hoping for a cure, or at least curious to test the reputation of the new master. According to the well-known account, the Baal Shem Tov asked him to explain a passage of the Etz Chaim about the angels; when the Maggid gave a scholarly answer, the Baal Shem Tov recited the same passage himself, and the room filled with light and the presence of the angels. 'Your explanation was correct,' he reportedly said, 'but your learning had no soul.'

From that encounter the learned ascetic became a devoted disciple. The Baal Shem Tov taught him that a Jew can serve Hashem with joy and with every part of life, and he in turn became the student most capable of giving those teachings an ordered intellectual form.

Leader of the movement

After the Baal Shem Tov's passing in 1760, leadership of the young movement passed to the Maggid, and Chabad sources date his formal acceptance of the role to 1761. He settled in Mezritch in Volhynia, and for a period also held court in Rovno. Unlike his master, who traveled constantly among simple Jews, the Maggid rarely left home because of his poor health; instead the brightest young scholars of the generation came to him.

His court in Mezritch became a kind of academy for future leaders. He taught short, deep discourses, often on a single verse or saying of Chazal, and then expected each student to absorb and develop them. He encouraged his disciples to settle in different regions, so that by the end of his life there were Chassidic centers in Volhynia, Podolia, Galicia, Poland, Lithuania and White Russia.

The Chevraya Kadisha

The Maggid's circle of students, often called the 'holy fellowship', reads like a list of the founders of later Chassidic dynasties. Among them were his own son Rabbi Avraham 'the Malach', the brothers Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk and Rebbe Zusha of Anipoli, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, Rabbi Aharon of Karlin and Rabbi Shmelke of Nikolsburg. A popular tradition says he had twice as many disciples as the Baal Shem Tov.

Each student absorbed a different facet of the teacher. The Alter Rebbe developed his intellectual approach into Chabad; Rebbe Elimelech emphasized the role of the tzaddik; the Berditchever became the great advocate of every Jew. The Maggid himself also asked the young Schneur Zalman to compose a new, clear code of halacha, the work later known as Shulchan Aruch HaRav.

Opposition, final months and passing

The last years of the Maggid's life saw the first organized opposition to Chassidus, culminating in the bans issued in Vilna in 1772. Around the same time an epidemic struck Mezritch. His disciple Rebbe Zusha brought the Maggid and his household to the village of Anipoli, where he lived for roughly seven months.

He passed away there on Tuesday, 19 Kislev 5533 (15 December 1772), and was buried in Anipoli. Rebbe Zusha was later laid to rest beside him, and the two kevarim are visited together to this day. His son, Rabbi Avraham the Malach, lived only a few more years, and the leadership of Chassidus continued through the many disciples rather than through a single heir.

Legacy

The Maggid never wrote a book himself. His teachings were recorded by his students and printed after his passing, beginning with Maggid Devarav LeYaakov (Koretz, 1781), compiled by his relative Rabbi Shlomo of Lutzk, and followed by Or Torah, Likkutim Yekarim, Or HaEmes and other collections. Many more of his ideas live on inside the books of his disciples.

Historians and Chassidim alike regard him as the architect who turned the inspiration of the Baal Shem Tov into a lasting movement. Almost every Chassidic court in the world today traces its lineage back to the study hall of Mezritch.