הרב זאב וולף מז'יטומיר

Rav Zev Wolf of Zhitomir (niftar 14 Adar 5558/1798), called after his sefer the Or HaMeir, was one of the tzaddikim of the third generation of chassidut and among the leading talmidim of the Maggid of Mezritch. He earned his living at first in the wine trade, and afterward served as maggid meisharim in Zhitomir, where he opened a chassidic beit midrash and spread the teachings of chassidut.

Little has come down about his early years. His mother’s name was Yehudit, and he was a descendant of Rav Shaul Wahl. In his sefer he sets out the manner in which his rebbe, the Maggid, would say over Torah; he was also close to Rav Pinchas of Koretz and to others among the tzaddikim of the movement. His first wife was Etya Esther, and after he was widowed he married Tuiba, daughter of Rav Tzvi Hirsch Margaliot, rav of Mezritch, and widow of Rav Yitzchak Isaac Katz, the Brit Kehunat Olam; three sons were born to them. Among his sons were Rav Yisrael Dov Ber, who filled his father’s place in Zhitomir, and Rav Menachem Mendel of Berditchev.

The Or HaMeir was set down by his talmid Rav Eliezer of Zhitomir and first printed in Koretz in 5558/1798, carrying a haskamah from Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev among others. In its derashot he calls for a life of plainness and speaks against the chase after luxuries, setting aside the vanities of this world — its holdings, its appetites and its pains — and he did not withhold his criticism from the conduct of the admorim of his own day. His last years were passed in Ivanitz, near Zhitomir, and there he was niftar and buried.