Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov רבי מנחם מנדל מרימנוב
a disciple of Rabbi Elimelech; founder of the Rimanov court; the man who in the Napoleonic wars awaited redemption
He studied under Rabbi Shmelke and under Rabbi Elimelech and became one of the four to whom, by tradition, Rabbi Elimelech left his power. He settled in Rimanov in Galicia.
Strictness. He required simplicity of his chasidim: dress without new cut, food without excess, speech without idleness. It is said he saw to it that in his townlet bread was baked from pure flour only, unmixed.
Napoleon. In 1812–1813, when Napoleon marched on Russia, he saw in it the war of Gog and Magog before the coming of the Messiah and prayed for a French victory; the Chozeh of Lublin and the Maggid of Kozhnitz saw otherwise and prayed for their defeat. The dispute of the three tzaddikim over Napoleon is among the best known in chasidic tradition, and we name it without deciding who was right.
He died on 19 Iyar 1815. The court was taken not by his son but by his attendant, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- The chasidic tradition on the dispute of the three tzaddikim over Napoleon — both sides named; the right assigned to neither
- The Lizhensk tradition on the four disciples — to whom Rabbi Elimelech left his power
Basis: documents and evidence.