ר׳ צבי אלימלך שפירא

ר׳ צבי אלימלך שפירא (1783–1841), known as the בני יששכר, was a major Galician Hasidic leader, prolific author and founder of the Dinov dynasty. Born at Jawornik Polski into the Langsam–Spira family, he entered the formative Polish Hasidic circles of ר׳ מנחם מנדל מרימנוב, ר׳ יעקב יצחק הלוי הורוביץ מלובלין and ר׳ ישראל הופשטיין מקוז׳ניץ. He held rabbinic posts in several Galician and Hungarian communities, most importantly Strzyżów, Munkács and Dynów. His Munkács tenure ended amid conflict over communal reform and modernising tendencies, after which he returned to Dynów and established the court identified with his descendants. His writings combine halakhah, Kabbalah and Hasidic interpretation. בני יששכר, arranged around Shabbat, the months and festivals, became his best-known work and his enduring popular name; its two parts first appeared posthumously in Zhovkva in 1846 and 1850. Other influential works include דרך פקודיך on the commandments, אגרא דכלה on the Torah and אגרא דפרקא. He opposed the Haskalah and treated calendrical and ritual time as a principal arena of spiritual meaning. He died at Dynów on 18 Tevet 5601 and was buried there; his grave remains a Hasidic pilgrimage site.