Place
Ruzhin and Sadigura רוז'ין וסדיגורה
A court kept like a sovereign's — carriage, house, retinue — with the explanation that the grandeur belonged to the community, not to the rebbe.
R. Israel of Ruzhin, great-grandson of the Maggid of Mezeritch, explained the splendour thus: he owned none of it, he wore it as a king wears a crown, by office. His opponents answered with the Mishnah, 'Who is rich? He who is content with his portion.'
Accused in the killing of two informers, he fled Russia and settled in Sadigura in Bukovina. The Ruzhin–Sadigura courts descend from there — Chortkov, Husiatyn, Boyan and others — keeping the same manner.
On the timeline
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Avot 4:1 — 'Who is rich? He who is content with his portion' — the argument against splendid courts
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- Irin Kadishin — the teaching of R. Israel of Ruzhin
Basis: documents and evidence.