Rabbi Elimelech Biderman | |
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| Personal life | |
| Born | 12 November 1967 |
| Parent |
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| Alma mater | Ponovezh Yeshiva |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Biderman, also known as Reb Meilech (born 12 November 1967) is a Hasidic Jewish mashpia and lecturer with thousands of students and hundreds of followers, although he is not officially a Rebbe.
Biderman was born in Bnei Brak, Israel to Rabbi Alter Elazar Menachem Biderman the Bnei Brak Rebbe of Lelov (Bnei Brak). He was named after Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Perlow, the Rebbe of Karlin, and his grandfather's rabbi.
Biderman studied at the Ponevezh Yeshiva and then married the daughter of Rabbi Nosson Dovid Rosenbaum, the Rebbe of Zutska. He lives in Bnei Brak.
In the early 2000s, he began holding zitz at his home on Shabbat nights, with the participation of young Hasidic men, mainly from the Slabodka Yeshiva. He also began giving a lesson every Friday night to young Hasidic men, mainly from the Mir Yeshiva, at the home of his wife's grandfather, the Rebbe of Zvhil (Hasidic dynasty), Rabbi Shlomo Goldman, in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood.
In the late 2000s, he became famous, and he was invited to give sermons in synagogues and yeshivas, especially in preparation for Jewish holidays. He gave lessons at home that were broadcast abroad. Over time, a circle of students and admirers formed around him, most of them young married men. He used to visit his students in the cities of Elad, Beit Shemesh, Modi'in Illit, Beitar Illit, and Ashdod at least once a year. Once a year, he held a Shabbat Hitachdut (Shabbat of Unity) for all his students in Meron.
In his lessons and sermons, he deals extensively with matters of faith and trust in God, combining his messages with stories of the righteous and stories of modern-day divine providence. The lessons are broadcast via audio and video on the Kol Halashon system.
At his children's weddings, he usually holds a Shabbat in Meron, attended by approximately 1,000 of his students. Every year on the twelfth of Kislev, the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Avraham Dov of Ovruch, author of Bat Ayin, he travels with his students to his grave in Safed and to the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Meron. The event is attended by thousands of Hasidic young men and women.en.
On Lag BaOmer 2022, approximately 20,000 people participated in the lighting of his bonfire, which was held in Beit Shemesh. [1] [2] On Lag BaOmer 2023, according to police estimates, approximately 40,000 people participated in the lighting of his bonfire, which was held in Complex 89 in Meron. [3] On Lag BaOmer 2024, following the cancellation of the celebration at the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron, due to the Israel–Hamas war, his lighting in Beit Shemesh was the largest lighting in the world, with the participation of approximately 45,000 people. [4]
Biderman also founded an organization called Be'er HaSimcha which helps widows and orphans. His students print a weekly newsletter with a collection of his talks called Torah Wellsprings, which is also distributed in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, French, and other languages. A free edition is distributed via email.
Vizhnitz is the name of a Hasidic dynasty founded by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Hager. Vizhnitz is the Yiddish name of Vyzhnytsia, a town in present-day Ukraine.
Spinka is a Hasidic group within Haredi Judaism. The group originated in a city called Szaplonca, in Máramaros County, Kingdom of Hungary.
Lag BaOmer, also Lag B'Omer or Lag LaOmer, is a Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar.
Klausenburg, also known as Sanz-Klausenburg, is a Hasidic dynasty that originated in the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca, today in Romania.
Biala is a Hasidic dynasty originating from the city of Biała Rawska, where it was founded by R. Yaakov Yitzchak Rabinowicz (II). Biala is a branch of Peshischa Hasidism, as R. Yaakov Yitzchak Rabinowicz (II) was the great-grandson of R. Yaakov Yitzchak Rabinowicz, the first Peshischa Rebbe. The dynasty was originally spread throughout many towns in Poland, often taking the names of said towns. However, after the Holocaust, the name "Biala" become synonymous with the entire dynasty. Today the dynasty is mostly concentrated in Israel, America and Switzerland.
Pittsburgh is a Hasidic dynasty founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1924 by Rabbi Yosef Leifer, a Hungarian rabbi and descendant of Rabbi Mordechai of Nadvorna. This is one of the few Hasidic dynasties named after an American city.
Boyan is a Hasidic dynasty named after the town of Boiany in the historic region of Bukovina, now in Ukraine. The Hasidut is headquartered in Jerusalem, with communities in Beitar Ilit, Bnei Brak, Manchester, Australia, Beit Shemesh, London, Antwerp, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Monsey, Lakewood, and Atlanta. Boyan is one of the branches of the Ruzhiner dynasty, together with Bohush, Chortkov, Husiatyn, Sadigura, Kapishnitz, Vaslui and Shtefanesht.
Lelov is a Polish-Israeli Hasidic dynastic court, which traces its origins to the town of Lelów, Poland where the court was established in 1815 by Rabbi Dovid Biderman (1746-1814).
Ohel is a structure built around a Jewish grave as a sign of prominence of the deceased. Ohelim cover the graves of some Hasidic Rebbes, important rabbis, tzadikim, prominent Jewish community leaders, and biblical figures. Typically a small masonry building, an ohel may include room for visitors to pray, meditate, and light candles in honor of the deceased.
Kalonimus Kalman Szapiro, was the Grand Rabbi of Piaseczno, Poland, who authored a number of works and was murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust. He is best remembered for a series of homilies on parshah that were delivered almost every Shabbat during the time he spent with his students in the Warsaw ghetto between the years 1939 and 1942. Shortly after the final entry in this series of meditations, the entire community in the ghetto was sent to the gas chambers in Treblinka. This work is collected under the title Esh Kodesh.
Ashlag is the name of a number of Hasidic courts that were established in Israel by the students and descendants of Kabbalist Rebbe Yehuda Leib Haleivi Ashlag from Warsaw, Poland, known as Baal HaSulam.
Pinsk-Karlin is a Hasidic group that is an offshoot of Karlin-Stolin.
Komarno is a dynasty of Hasidic Judaism founded by Rabbi Aleksander Sender Safrin of Komarno, Ukraine.
Mordechai Yissachar Ber Leifer was the third Rebbe of the Pittsburgh Hasidic dynasty. Born in the United States, he joined his father, Grand Rabbi Avraham Abba Leifer, in Ashdod, Israel, to serve as rosh yeshiva of a new Pittsburgher yeshiva in that city in 1981. After succeeding his father as Rebbe, he expanded the Hasidic presence in Ashdod with new schools and institutions, and increased the number of Pittsburgher families to nearly 200 in Ashdod. He also shepherded Pittsburgher Hasidim in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Beit Hilkia, New York City, and California. An accomplished Torah scholar and musical composer, he led the Hasidut for three decades until his death in 2020.
Nachum Dov Brayer is the Rebbe of the Boyan Hasidic dynasty. He is the grandson of the former Boyaner Rebbe of New York, Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo Friedman. On Hanukkah 1984, at the age of 25, he was crowned Boyaner Rebbe. He lives in Jerusalem.
Radomsk is a hasidic dynasty named after the town of Radomsko in Łódź province, south-central Poland. The dynasty was founded in 1843 by Shlomo Hakohen Rabinowicz. His son, grandson and great-grandson also led the dynasty, which had thousands of followers. On the eve of World War II, Radomsk was the third largest Hasidic dynasty in Poland, after Ger and Alexander.
Shikun Chabad, also spelled Shikun Habad, is a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood in northern Jerusalem. It includes the oldest Hasidic yeshiva in Israel and Jerusalem, Yeshivas Toras Emes.
Dov Lando is the rosh yeshiva of the Slabodka yeshiva of Bnei Brak along with Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, a rabbi of Chug Chazon Ish, and a member of the directorate of the Board of Yeshivas. In his youth, he studied under Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz as well as at the yeshivot of Ponevezh and Hebron.
The tomb of Shimon bar Yochai, or Kever Rashbi, on Mount Meron is the traditional burial place of the 2nd-century Mishnaic rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. A place of pilgrimage since the late 15th century, it is today the second-most-visited Jewish site in the world after the Western Wall with as many as two million annual visitors.
Rabbi Avrohom Yitzchok Kohn was a Hasidic rabbi and founder of the Toldos Aharon Hasidim. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi Aharon Roth, and the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok is named after him.