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Chasidim of Sadogora
[Yiddish, Sadogerer chasidim], one of the most
widespread and influential Chasidic dynasties in the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. It was founded by Israel Friedman of Rozyn (Friedmann or
Fridman, 1779-1851), also called Israel Rozyn. His father, Shalom
Shachna of Pohrebyszcze [in present-day Ukraine - Ed.], was the son of
Dov-Ber of Miedzyrzecze.
Israel Friedman founded a Chasidic community in Rozyn. Because of
his family background, rather than education and knowledge, he, too,
became a tzaddik. The luxury of his manor and honor shown him by his
followers made the tsarist authorities uneasy. In 1838, he was sentenced
to twenty-two months in prison, having been accused of encouraging
people to kill a Jewish informant. After completing his sentence,
Friedman left the Russian partition and settled in Sadogora, in
Bukowina. He was regarded as a martyr of the faith, and had even more
followers than in Rozyn. In his teachings, he emphasized the emotional,
unreflecting religious experience. He believed that only a tzaddik is
capable of a more profound understanding of the mystical texts.
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Friedman was known for his luxurious lifestyle,
and his court imitated those of the Galician magnates. He was a
composer and also wrote popular parables, which have become a part of
Chasidic folklore. He engaged in a long dispute with the tzaddik Chaim
Halberstam of Nowy Sacz, who condemned his extravagant lifestyle, and
accused him of being ignorant. The scandal deepened when one of Israel's
six sons, Dov Ber, the tzaddik of Lelow, influenced by Haskalah
ideology, announced that the belief in the power of the tzaddikim is
based on deceit. Although his family deemed him mentally ill and kept
him isolated from his followers, Halberstam accused him of deviation,
and put a curse (cherem) on the entire Sadogora dynasty, which in turn
put a curse on the Nowy Sacz tzaddik.
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Israel Friedman's descendants founded dynasties
and Chasidic centers in Eastern Galicia and Moldavia: in Czortkow -
David Moshe (1828-1903), Israel (1854-1934); in Czerniowce (Chernovitz) -
Aron (?-1941); in Husiatyn - Israel (1856-1949), Yitzhak Yakub
(1900-68); in Przemysl - Mordechai Shalom Josef of Sadogora (1897-?); in
Bojany - Moshe of Bojany (1881-1943), and Mordechai Shlomo (1891-1971).
(A.C./CM)
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