The Tzadikim Nistarim (Hebrew: צַדִיקִים נִסתָּרים, "hidden righteous ones") or Lamed Vav Tzadikim (Hebrew: ל"ו צַדִיקִים,x"36 righteous ones"), often abbreviated as Lamed Vav(niks)[a] refers to 36 righteous people, a notion rooted in the mystical dimensions of Judaism. The singular form is Tzadik Nistar (Hebrew: צַדִיק נִסתָר).
Origins
The existence of 36 righteous people is first mentioned in the Talmud:[1] "There are no fewer than 36 righteous people in the world who greet the Shekhinah in each generation."[2]
Another Talmudic passage mentions the righteous people, most unknown, who sustain the world, but gives a number other than 36:
A homer of barley, and a letech of barley" (Hosea 3:2)—[this refers to] 45 righteous who cause the world to be sustained ... 30 in the land of Israel and 15 here [in Babylonia]. Abaye said: And most of them can be found in the synagogue, under the upper room [i.e. among the unhonored masses].[3]
These two sources were combined into the idea that 36 righteous people sustain the world. The combination may have derived from the fact that to "greet the Shekhinah" was associated with Temple service and that was considered to sustain the world[dubious – discuss] (Pirkei Avot 1:2).[4]
The idea of 36 righteous people was fleshed out in later generations:
As a mystical concept, the number 36 is even more intriguing. It is said that at all times there are 36 special people in the world, and that were it not for them, all of them, if even one of them was missing, the world would come to an end. The two Hebrew letters for 36 are the lamed, which is 30, and the vav, which is 6. Therefore, these 36 are referred to as the Lamed-Vav Tzadikim.[1]
The idea is particularly prominent in Hasidic Judaism. Tzvi Elimelech Spira of Dinov, for example, wrote, "in every generation, there are great righteous people who could perform wondrous acts, but the generation is not deserving of that, so the stature of the righteous people is hidden and they are not known to the public; sometimes they are woodchoppers or water-drawers."[5]
Revealed and hidden righteous
On Daniel 12:3 ("...those who lead the masses to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever"), the midrash comments, "just as the stars are sometimes revealed and sometimes hidden, so, too with righteous people. And just as there are innumerable clusters of stars, so, too, there are innumerable clusters of righteous people", implying that there are significantly more than 36.[6]
Their purpose
According to mystical Hasidic Judaism and other segments of Judaism, 36 righteous people justify the purpose of humanity in the eyes of God. Jewish tradition holds that their identities are unknown to each other and that, if one of them realized their purpose, they would never admit it:
The Lamed-Vav Tzaddikim are also called the Nistarim ("concealed ones"). In our folk tales, they emerge from their self-imposed concealment and, by the mystic powers which they possess, they succeed in averting the threatened disasters of a people persecuted by the enemies that surround them. They return to their anonymity as soon as their task is accomplished, "concealing" themselves once again in a Jewish community wherein they are relatively unknown. The lamed-vavniks, scattered as they are throughout the Diaspora, have no acquaintance with one another. On very rare occasions, one of them is "discovered" by accident, in which case the secret of their identity must not be disclosed. The lamed-vavniks do not themselves know that they are one of the 36. In fact, tradition has it that should a person claim to be one of the 36, that is proof positive that they are certainly not one. Since the 36 are each exemplars of anavah ("humility"), having such a virtue would preclude against one’s self-proclamation of being among the special righteous. The 36 are simply too humble to believe that they are one of the 36.[1]
Lamedvovniks
Lamedvovnik (Yiddish: למד־װאָװניק) is the Yiddish term for one of the 36 humble righteous ones or Tzadikim mentioned in kabbalah or Jewish mysticism. According to this teaching, at any given time there are at least 36 Tzadikim. They are hidden; i.e., nobody knows who they are. According to some versions of the story, they themselves may not know who they are. For the sake of these 36 hidden saints, God preserves the world even if the rest of humanity has degenerated into total barbarism. This resembles the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Hebrew Bible, where God tells Abraham that he will spare Sodom if there is a quorum of at least 10 righteous men. Since nobody knows who the Lamedvovniks are, not even themselves, every Jew should act as if he or she might be one of them; i.e., lead a holy and humble life and pray for the sake of fellow human beings. It is also said that one of them could be the Jewish Messiah if the world is ready for them to reveal themself. Otherwise, they live and die as an ordinary person. Whether the person knows they are the potential Messiah is debated.
The term lamedvovnik derives from the Hebrew letters Lamed (L) and Vav (V), whose numerical value sums to 36. The "nik" at the end is a Russian or Yiddish suffix indicating "a person who" (as in "beatnik"; in English, this would be something like calling them "The Thirty-Sixers".) In gematria (a Jewish form of numerology), 18 stands for life, because the Hebrew letters that spell chai, meaning "living", sum to 18. Because 36 is twice 18, it represents two lives.
In some Hasidic stories, disciples consider their Rebbes and other religious figures to be among the Lamedvovniks. It is also possible for a Lamedvovnik to reveal themself as such, although that rarely happens—a Lamedvovnik's status as an exemplar of humility would preclude it. More often, the disciples speculate.
These beliefs are articulated in the works of Max Brod,[citation needed] and some (like Jorge Luis Borges)[7] believe the concept to have originated in the Book of Genesis 18:26:
And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.[8]