tsaddik Judaism.
(ˈtsædɪk)
Also tsadik, tzaddik, tzaddiq, zaddik, etc. Pl. -kim, -ks.
[a. Heb. ṣaddīq just, righteous.]
A man of exemplary righteousness; a Hasidic spiritual leader or sage.
| 1873 New Era (N.Y.) III. 75 These zadiks, or leaders, have no fixed salary. 1881 [see rebbe]. 1904 Jewish Encycl. VI. 253/2 The Hasidim were, however, particularly noted for the exalted worship of their ‘holy’ zaddikim. 1907 I. Zangwill Ghetto Comedies 409 A Tsaddik (wonder-rabbi) was killed in the last pogrom. 1933 S. Birnbaum Life & Sayings Baal Shem p. iii, Chassidism..is characterized..by a new psychic and material organization of comprehensive scope, at whose center of crystallization stand the tzaddikim, the ‘righteous ones’, the masters of the souls of men. 1941 G. G. Scholem Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism ix. 338 The existence of the Zaddik or saint as the actual proof of the possibility of living up to the ideal. 1964 M. Wohlgelernter I. Zangwill vii. 111 The numerous sects that mushroomed all over Europe, each with its own Zaddik performing untold ‘miracles’. 1968 Observer 10 Nov. 26/5 He was bound to end up..a great chassidic Tsadik. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia X. 225/3 In the..movement known as Hasidism, the Jewish religious leader (tzaddiq) was viewed as a mediator between man and God. Since the tzaddiq's life was expected to be a living expression of the Torah, his behaviour was even more important than his doctrine. 1982 Times 18 June 13/3 The world has much need of such tsaddiks (righteous men). |