(Author: Cecil Bloom, Vol 72, #1, Pesach 2017)
There is a very old Jewish legend to the effect that every generation has thirty-six saints on whose piety the fate of the world depends. The Book of Proverbs (10:25) provides an early source for the belief that the Just Man is the basis of the existence of the world: “When the storm wind passes, the wicked is no more but the righteous is an everlasting foundation”, that is to say, the righteous man holds up and supports the world just as the foundations of a building support it. Another source for the legend is from the Mishnaic period (1st –2nd Century): “When the Tzaddikim come to the world, good comes to the world and misfortune is removed but when the righteous pass away disaster comes and goodness leaves the world” (Tosefta Tractate Sofa ch10 para 1). The Tosef ta goes into some detail to make this clearer.
The earliest specific reference to this phenomenon is the Babylonian Talmud, which attributes to a 4th Century Babylonian teacher, Abbaye, the statement that “there are not less than thirty-six righteous men in every generation who receive the Shechinah [the Divine Presence]. It is written, happy are all they that wait for Him” (Sanhedrin 97b; Sukkot 45a). The Hebrew for ‘Him’ ( – lamedvov) also represents the number thirty-six in Hebrew numerology, and this provides the basis for the number of saints. The number may also be derived from the verse in the Book of Isaiah (30:18), “Happy are all they who hope for Him”, which has been interpreted to mean, “Happy are all those who hope for the thirty-six”, that is, who rely on these thirty-six Just Men. There is a less well-accepted belief that there are seventy-two saints. The Zohar points to Hosea 10:2, which reads, “Their heart is divided”. With the Hebrew word for ‘their heart’ — having in gematria the numerical value of seventy-two, this has drawn the conclusion that thirty-six saints are in Eretz Israel and thirty-six in the Diaspora.
At first the Talmud viewed lamedvovniks merely as being good individuals. Later, however, they began to be seen as hidden saints and many legends circulated about them. Unrecognised by their fellow men and unknown even to each other, they are said to pursue humble occupations, such as artisans or water-carriers. They do not admit their identity to anyone and, if challenged, would deny membership of the order. It is said that the Vilna Gaon was once asked if he was a lamedvovnik and replied that he was indeed one, but was “fifth on the list” because he was “a bit famous”. However, this story must surely be apocryphal.
The Almighty is said to replace a lamedvovnik immediately on such a person’s death. A Just Man is believed to emerge and use his hidden powers when a Jewish community is threatened with serious trouble but returns to obscurity once his task is completed. This has given rise to the notion that a stranger suddenly appearing but who seems to be somewhat mysterious may be a lamedvovnik. Several legends claim that one of the thirty-six is the Messiah, who will reveal himself when the time is ripe. Others hold that as soon as a hidden Just Man is discovered, he dies
It has been argued that the number thirty-six derives from sources other than those given above. One is that it comes from ancient astrology, where the 360 degrees of the heavenly circle are divided into 36 units of ‘deans’ and these deans were looked upon as guardians of the universe. Another theory is that 36 is the square of 6, which is said to be the symbol of the created world in Alexandrian Jewish philosophy. Neither of these theories is particularly convincing. However, little research appears to have been carried out to identify conclusively the legend’s origin.
The lamedvovnik tradition is an Ashkenazi belief. Sephardim do not recognize it, albeit that it has been present in Kabbalistic literature from the 16th Century and in Hassidic legend from the late 18th Century. There are t wo 18th Century Kabbalistic books whose authors, R. Neta of Szinawa and R. Eisik, a shochet in Przemysl, have been described as being lamedvovniks. Hassidim recognize two categories of saint – those who work in full view and the hidden ones who belong to a higher order of men.
Tale s of lamedvovniks are widespread, particularly in Hassidic literature, and the noted Hassidic scholar, Martin Buber, also introduced lamedvovniks into some of his tales. Some Hassidic tales emphasise the role of the saint behind a boorish or uncouth façade, a theme also used in some stories of the Baal Shem Tov. Apparently, this was to make people believe that a noble soul could live within every man – one should not draw conclusions from simple visual experience. Prominent writers from Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav in the 18th Cent ur y to 20th Century ones of the statures of S.Y. Agnon and Elie Wiesel have been attracted to the subject. R. Nachman’s The Prince who was made entirely of Precious Stones introduces us to two lamedvovniks who, on different occasions, helped a king to begat a daughter and a son and also to save the son from disaster. In Agnon’s The Hidden Tzaddik , the lamedvovnik is a stove maker who wants to be buried “in a plot where the stillborn are buried” and whose grave should not be marked with a tombstone. Agnon followed the tradition faithfully but R. Nachman’s tale indicated that others knew of the identity of the two lamedvovniks because it was only when the king ordered the Jewish community to help him that the two saints were produced. Elie Wiesel’s One of the Just Men also abandons the idea that the identity of these men is hidden. By contrast, Albert Memmi keeps to the traditional view in his The Unrecognised Just Men.
One novel on the subject, Andre Schwartz-Bart’s The Last of the Just, achieved best-seller status in 1960. Ernie Levy, a descendant of the 12th Century Rav Yom Tov Levy, is depicted as being one of the Just Men, inheriting the honour through his family line. The story of the Levy family begins in York, England, in 1185, going on to cover the Inquisition and pogroms in Kiev and many other outrages. Ernie is the last of the line and he is destroyed in Hitler’s gas chambers. Schwartz-Bart’s interpretation of the legend is a controversial one because the honour of being a lamedvovnik is not one that is handed down from father to son. Nevertheless the novel, which won the prestigious Prix Goncourt, France’s most important literary award, gave rise to much interest in the legend.
Cecil Bloom, a veteran contributor to Jewish Affairs, is a former technical director of a multinational pharmaceutical firm in the UK. His essays on Jewish themes relating to music, literature, history and Bible have also appeared in Midstream and Jewish Quarterly.
