Menachem Mendel of Kotzk

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, the Kotzker Rebbe (* 1787 in Bilgoray, † 1859 in Kotzk near Lublin ) was a Hasidic rabbi.

Life and work

Menachem Mendel was born in Bilgoray near Lublin in a non- Hasidic family and became a student of Yaakov Yitzchak, the Seer of Lublin, Yaakov Yitzchak Przysucha and later by Simcha Bunem Przysucha.

Initially he assumed a position as rabbi in Tomaszów, he was from 1834 until his death in Rabbi Kotzk ( Kock ) in Lublin.

About 20 years before his death, he decided to " leave this world ". He locked himself in a room next to the house of study, where his students learned. Food was given to him through a window, and with exception to his most faithful friends and individual family members he was only in very rare occasions see. It is unclear what led him to this dramatic step, but it is clear that the number of his followers was not diminished by his isolation.

Although he took in his teachings, some principles of the Baal Shem Tov, however, differed fundamentally in some things from the founder of Hasidism. During the Baal Shem Tov love, joy and compassion emphasized for this world and with everyone maintained a friendly intercourse, Menachem Mendel called a steady, tense struggle against egocentrism, representing its principles with prophetic, relentless zeal.

At the beginning of Hasidism was trying to include all Jews in the movement, Menachem Mendel, however, was interested only in a select few. His focus was on Emet, truth. To achieve the goal of truth, he was willing to sacrifice everything else. There is only one truth, and everything outside the truth is wrong, but the worst are the replicas of the truth, and the more so the closer they get to the truth. This truth can be achieved only through absolute freedom, it meant not to give in to external pressure, waiver of complacency and favors for others. He did not preach asceticism or negation of this world, but announced that the man in search of the truth must often against themselves and fight the society.

This requirement came to his numerous pupils, often learned young men who gave up her studies and her family to search in Kotzk the truth. Menachem Mendel explained to them the true worship does not consist in finding the truth, but in the honest search for what a complete self-abandonment requires.

As the safest way to finding the truth, he described the study of Torah and Talmud, which he thought the world of the Gaon of Vilna is approached, who was originally the most important and strongest opponents of Hasidism.

After the death of Rebbe Kotzker his radical demands were considerably by his students and successors modified (ie, mitigated ); However, the self-conscious, restless approach in the study of Torah remained a hallmark of the School of Kotzk.