Shmelke of Nikolsburg (1726 Chortkiv

Chortkiv

Chortkiv is a city in the Ternopil oblast in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chortkiv Raion . Population: 29,057...

, Galicia - 1778 Nikolsburg

Mikulov

Mikulov is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 7,608 . It is located directly on the border with Lower Austria. Mikulov is located at the edge of a hilly area and the three Nové Mlýny reservoirs...

, Moravia

Moravia

Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...

) was one of the great early Chasidic

Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...

 Rebbes. Born Shmuel Horowitz (but commonly known by the diminutive "Shmelke", he was the oldest son of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Horowitz of Chortkiv

Chortkiv

Chortkiv is a city in the Ternopil oblast in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chortkiv Raion . Population: 29,057...

. A Levite

Levite

In Jewish tradition, a Levite is a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan, the Levites were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners "because the Lord the God of Israel himself is their inheritance"...

, he traced his lineage back directly to the prophet Samuel who was also a Levite. In their early years, Shmelke and his brother Pinchas

Pinchas Horowitz

Rabbi Pinchas HaLevi Horowitz was a rabbi and Talmudist.-Life:The descendant of a long line of rabbinical ancestors and the son of Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Horowitz of Chortkiv, he received a thorough Talmudic education, chiefly from his older brother, Rabbi Shmelke of Nikolsburg, together with whom he...

 - who would also become a famous rabbi - studied Torah together. After traveling to Mezritch

Mezhirichi

Mezhirichi is a village in the Korets Raion of the Rivne Oblast, Ukraine. It is located in western Ukraine, 13 miles W of Korets, 27 miles E of Rivne.- Names :Mezhirichi is also known as , , .- Jewish life in Mezhirichi :...

 and meeting the great chasidic master Dovber of Mezeritch

Dovber of Mezeritch

Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch was a disciple of Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidic Judaism, and was chosen as his successor to lead the early movement...

, they became his ardent followers.

After serving as rabbi in Ryczywół

Ryczywół

Ryczywół may refer to the following places:*Ryczywół, Greater Poland Voivodeship *Ryczywół, Masovian Voivodeship...

 and Shineva

Sieniawa

Sieniawa is a town in southeastern Poland. It had a population of 2,127 inhabitants . Since 1999, Sieniawa has been part of Subcarpathian Province.-References:Notes...

, Shmelke was invited, in 1773, to become the rabbi of Nikolsburg

Mikulov

Mikulov is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 7,608 . It is located directly on the border with Lower Austria. Mikulov is located at the edge of a hilly area and the three Nové Mlýny reservoirs...

 in Moravia

Moravia

Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...

, where he made a powerful impact. On the first day of his being rabbi of Nikolsburg, Abraham Trebitsch

Abraham Trebitsch

Abraham ben Reuben Trebitsch was an Austrian-Jewish scholar...

 a native of Nikolsburg reports him performing a miracle and bringing rain. It is told that his strong attachment to Chasidus angered many members of the community, which led to bitter quarrels that were quelled as a result of the personal intervention of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk

Elimelech of Lizhensk

Elimelech Weisblum of Lizhensk , a Rabbi and one of the great founding Rebbes of the Hasidic movement, was known after his hometown, Leżajsk near Rzeszów in Poland...

.

Shmelke established a major yeshiva that attracted numerous outstanding students. Among these were such luminaries as Rabbis Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin

Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin

Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin, also Jacob Isaac of Lublin, or Y. Y. Horowitz , known as "The Chozeh of Lublin" , or simply as the "Chozeh", was a Hasidic rebbe from Poland....

, Menachem Mendel of Rimanov

Menachem Mendel of Rimanov

Menachem Mendel of Rimanov was a Hasidic Rebbe and author. Born in Neustadt, Nowe Miasto, he was introduced to Hasidut at the age of 11 when he met Dovber of Mezeritch...

, Yisroel Hopsztajn, Mordecai Benet

Mordecai Benet

Mordecai ben Abraham Benet was a Talmudist and chief rabbi of Moravia born at Csurgó, a small village in the county of Stuhlweissenburg, Hungary.-A Gifted Child:...

 and Moshe Leib of Sassov

Sassov (Hasidic dynasty)

The Sassov Hasidic dynasty began with Rabbi Moshe Leib Erblich of Sassov , a disciple of Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch, the disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism....

.

The Nikolsburg Hasidic dynasty

Nikolsburg (Hasidic dynasty)

Nikolsburg is the name of a Hasidic dynasty, named for the Rebbe Shmelke of Nikolsburg .There currently exist three distinct branches of the Nikolsburg dynasty:...

 and the Boston Hasidic dynasty

Boston (Hasidic dynasty)

Boston is a Hasidic sect, originally established in 1915 by Grand Rabbi Pinchas Duvid Horowitz. Following the custom of European Chassidic Courts, where the Rebbe was called after the name of his city, Bostoner Chassidus was named after Boston, Massachusetts...

descend from him.