Radoshitser (of Radoszyce), Issachar Baer

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RADOSHITSER (of Radoszyce), ISSACHAR BAER

RADOSHITSER (of Radoszyce ), ISSACHAR BAER (1765–1843), ḥasidic ẓaddik whose popularity is attested by his nickname, "the holy old man"; famous as a miracle healer. At first he lived in great poverty as a village schoolmaster (melammed) in Checiny (Chantchin) and Chmielnik. He frequented the courts of numerous ẓaddikim and was among the disciples of *Jacob Isaac ha-Ḥozeh (The Seer) of Lublin, Jacob Isaac "the holy Jew of *Przysucha", Joshua Heshel of *Apta, and Israel the Maggid of *Kozienice. From 1815 he became a ẓaddik in his own right in Radoszyce. He was a tärnik, i.e., one of those who believed that 1840 (ת״ר) would be the year of the redemption.

bibliography:

R.H. Tshernoḥa, Nifla'ot ha-Sava Kaddisha (1937); I. Alfasi, Ha-Sava ha-Kadosh mi-Radoshitz (1957); M. Buber,Tales of the Hasidim, 2 (1966), 200–5; R. Mahler, Ha-Ḥasidut ve-ha-Haskalah (1961), 303–5,307–11.

[Esther (Zweig) Liebes]