קדושת לוי · Kedushat Levi

Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev's commentary — and Levi Yitzchak is the movement's advocate, the figure remembered for putting God on trial on behalf of the Jews and for refusing to find a Jew guilty of anything.

⭐⭐ He is the answer to the charge that the tzaddik doctrine is about power. The stories about him are all of a piece: a man caught smoking on Shabbat is praised for his honesty in admitting it; a wagon-driver oiling his axles while wearing tefillin is praised for praying while he works. ⚠ Whether the stories are true is beside the point — a movement that chose these stories to tell about its own leadership was making a claim about what leadership is for.