539) The new Rebbe of Thieves

Resisei Laila given to me by R. Shlomo Carlebach

Introduction

I recently experienced a brief lapse back into my earlier self, when I was totally captivated by the romance of Chassidism, which included a diversion into the magnetism of R. Shlomo Carlebach, his music and teachings. I once asked R. Shlomo what I needed to do to become his Chassid. He smiled and said (typically), “But I want to be a Chassid of you!” I replied, “No, seriously...” He then told me to go to the Mikveh just before Shabbos and to read Resisei Leilah by R. Zadok haCohen. I went to the Mikveh, but I could never find a copy of Resisei Leilah. Years later, someone unexpectedly gave me a small parcel wrapped in brown paper. When I opened it, it was the well-used personal copy of Resisei Leilah that R. Shlomo carried around with him. Apparently, he met someone at the airport, heard they were going to South Africa and gave them his book to give to me. I was overwhelmed and felt like I was living in one of the Chassidic stories he used to tell. Years have passed, times have changed, and my interests and pursuits have moved on, but that little worn blue book remains one of my prized possessions. 

I was reminded of this era when, after a long absence, I re-listened to one of his stories Moishele The Ganev 2 - Rabbi Shlomo's Stories - סיפורי רבי שלמה קרליבך. It's about the Baal Shem Tov also being the Rebbe of Thieves. Whenever the thief, Moishele, stole something, he would run to the Baal Shem Tov, who would bless him so that he would not be caught by the police—but it is so beautifully told and ends with the thief repenting of his crooked ways after being exposed to the ‘Torah of Heaven,’ and becoming a famous (yet unknown) Rebbe himself. 

This article—drawing extensively on the research and fieldwork of Professor Sam Shuman[1]— turns to yet another Rebbe of Thieves, Reb Shayele of Kerestir. His full name is R. Yeshaya Steiner of Kerestir (1851-1925). Unlike Carlebach’s Rebbe of Thieves, this Rebbe of Thieves is not confined to Chassidic hagiography or mythology, but walks among us—as it were—cloaked in populist sanctity. But here the story falters. The ending is not triumphant nor redemptive, and it does not resolve in Carlebachian song. Instead, Reb Shayele leaves us with a disturbing legacy far more fractured and troubling than Carlebach’s Rebbe of Thieves allows. 

‘Patron Saints’ of Judaism

The notion of semi-divine protectors already existed in Greco-Roman religion. The early Christians built churches over the graves of their martyrs and holy saints. Emperor Constantine constructed huge basilicas over the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. Saints were conceived as great protectors. Later, during the Middle Ages, saints were assigned to specific activities, professions, illnesses, and even lost articles. St. Christopher (third century CE), for example, became the patron saint of travellers, and St. Cecilia (third century CE) was the patron saint of music. Catholic saints, like St. Anthony (thirteenth century) is the patron saint of lost objects, and St. Jude (first century CE) is the patron saint of lost causes (Shuman 2025:99). 

Surprisingly, Judaism developed figures who were perceived to function much like patron saints in Roman Catholicism. While Judaism does not formally recognise ‘saints’ in the Christian sense, the veneration of charismatic sages and miracle-workers illustrates how popular religiosity often develops parallel mechanisms of intercession and mediation. A striking example is the second-century CE Tanna (Mishnaic rabbi), R. Meir Baal haNes, who is traditionally invoked to help recover lost objects. The practice, attested in early modern sources, involves reciting a short invocation (Eloka deMeir anani) three times and pledging charity in his merit (Keter Shem Tov 388). The custom has also developed to mention R. Meir in times of danger. Later, R. Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev was perceived as the ‘patron saint’ of bureaucratic hurdles and border crossings. 

The Conversos (Spanish for ‘converted,’ referring to those forced to adopt Christianity by the Spanish Inquisition) revered Queen Ester as their ‘patron saint.’ The Bene Israel Jews of India adopted Eliyahu haNavi as their ‘patron saint.’ But the strangest ‘patron saint’ must be Reb Shayele, who is not only a new Rebbe of Thieves, but also one who guards businesses and homes and protects them from the law(!), and additionally, is believed to: 

“perform an exceedingly curious expression of divine intercession—he wards off mice” (Shuman 2025:100). 

Reb Shayele and the eradication of mice

According to one origin story, a Chassidic food merchant approached Reb Shayele at a Melave Malka one Saturday night following Shabbat, seeking a blessing to protect his warehouse stock from being consumed by a plague of mice. Reb Shayele inquired of his follower whether the local priest in his town was favourably or unfavourably disposed toward the Jews. When the Chassid confirmed that the priest was no friend of the Jews, Reb Shayele responded that he should tell the mice to go to the house of the priest instead. Ever since that event, some Jews who have been plagued by mouse infestations have adopted the practice of placing a picture of Reb Shayele in their homes to keep them rodent-free.[2] 

Another origin story, in a similar vein, recounts a Jew who, anxious about the outcome of a pending court case, sought the blessing of Reb Shayele. When the Jew arrived in court, the case had to be postponed because all the evidence had been eaten by rats. Needless to say, the case was never heard again in court.[3] 

These stories may be interpreted as representing the silenced subaltern voice of marginalised and powerless Jews who emerge victorious without ever having to directly face their enemies. But, as we shall see, Reb Shayele and his portrait were—and are—used in more nefarious circumstances as well. 

Reb Shayele’s portrait

Reb Shayele’s portrait took on a life of its own, even well after his passing in 1925. The portrait is interesting because he does not sit upright: 

“His body slouches, the brim of his hat slants downward” (Shuman 2025:101). 

Kestenbaum Auctioneers explain: 

“This painting produced during Reb Shayele’s lifetime depicts him with head slightly bowed. It is said that the Divrei Chaim [R. Chaim Halberstam (1793–1876), founder of the Sanz Chassidic dynasty] placed his hands on Reb Shayele’s head to bless him and that Reb Shayele never raised his head again.”[4] 

Somehow, Reb Shayele’s portrait and name are, unfortunately, often used today—not only to eradicate rats, but to protect against, and defy, the law! 

A culture of confrontation with the law

Reb Shayele and his portrait have become de facto symbols of defiance against lawful civil authorities and even other Chassidic Rebbes with whom his followers may be in disagreement. 

COVID-19

Shuman (2025:107) notes that during the COVID-19 pandemic, he personally witnessed portraits of Reb Shayele displayed on synagogue doors within Antwerp’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. These images were not naively intended to be apotropaic [to ward off] and protect against the virus itself, but rather as a symbolic safeguard against police intervention, who sought to shut down unauthorised public prayer gatherings at the height of the pandemic. The photograph below was taken by Shuman of the door of a Chassidic shtiebel in Antwerp, Belgium, in 2021. A close reading reveals that a biblical verse is cited to theurgically [magically] blind the police so they will not see the door: 

“And the people who were at the entrance of the house, young and old, they struck with blinding light, so that they were helpless to find the entrance”  (Genesis 19.11). 

Protection of abusers against prosecution

The portrait of Reb Shayele again surfaced at the trial of Malka Leifer, the Australian-Israeli citizen sentenced to eighteen years in prison for abusing young women while acting as principal at a school in Melbourne. In the photograph below, her sister “faced the judge directly with a printout of Shayele’s photo” (Shuman 2025:111). 

 

Protection for irregular construction sites

Reb Shayele’s portrait also found its way to a construction site for a new Chassidic synagogue just outside Boro Park, to protect against the consequences of law infringement, as can be seen in the photograph below: 

 

Protection against speeding on the highway

On June 22, 2021, a State trooper pulled over a young Chassidic man who was speeding on a highway. The officer asked for his identification, and the young man produced a picture of Reb Shayele. The following is the actual transcript from the police radio: 

State trooper: I don’t know what that is.

Young man: Reb Shaye ben Reb Moshe hot gezugt “oder zikh leygn oder zikh beygn” [Reb Shaye, the son of Reb Moshe said: “ Either die or bend (to my will).”]

ST: I’m sorry?

YM: Reb Shaye ben Reb Moshe hot gezugt “oder zikh leygn oder zikh beygn”

ST: What does that mean, sir?

YM: Reb Shaye ben Reb Moshe—

ST: OK?

YM: hot gezugt “oder zikh leygn oder zikh beygn.”

ST: OK, I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me….

YM: Reb Shaye…

ST: Uh-huh 

The State trooper let him go without a ticket, and this event was celebrated as another of Reb Shayele’s protective miracles. Hasidic on X: "בייגן אדער לייגן https://t.co/xxYdh6EBSX" / X 

Bribing a judge

While the radio transcript may seem amusing, this apotropaic theology is quite alarming. The theurgical incantation “oder zikh leygn oder zikh beygn,” first appears in an account of a drunk non-Jew who frequented a tavern owned by a Jew and caused untold trouble and refused to pay for his drinks. He threatened to kill the owners of the tavern who asked Reb Shayelke for advice. He responded: 

“I have a tradition that an evil person like that has two choices, udder beigen udder leigen— either he will bow [change his ways] or he will lie [lose his life]”[5] 

In a similar story (perhaps another version of the first), also about a Jewish tavern owner, the judge of the city, probably somewhere in Hungary, was alleged to be antisemitic, and the story seems to involve some licence infringement for the tavern. Reb Shayele advises the man to bribe the judge. He responds that he has already tried to bribe him, but the judge refused to accept the bribe. Reb Shayele responds: 

“I have a practice transmitted through tradition that a non-Jew needs to take money—and if not, then he will receive an unnatural, violent death” (Sefer me beʼer Yeshaʻyahu, Jerusalem, 1957, 83. Translation by Shuman). 

A New York Laundry burns down

Reb Shayele sent certain amulets to Jews in New York City. One amulet is said to have protected a Lower East Side laundry owner from attempted arson by his non- Jewish competitor. The competitor apparently had hired the services of an arsonist to burn down the Jew’s store, but—due to the power of the amulet—he mistakenly burned down the competitor’s own store instead (Shuman 2025:130, n.67). 

Reb Shayele’s ‘licence’ for sale

At the yearly yartzeit pilgrimages to Kerestir, Hungary, Shayele’s Guest House sells a “reb yshayeles LICENSE” for fifteen dollars, photographed below. It comes with the instruction to give charity and recite three chapters of Psalms (namely Pss 23, 51 and 101). It features the incantation “R. Yeshaya ben R. Moshe: Oder beygen oder laygen; Either bend [to my will] or die [an unnatural death]”:  

Dealing with civic inspectors

Some Chassidic followers of Reb Shayele place kvitlech (letters to the Rebbe) at his gravesite, or study Mishnaot, to ward off civic inspectors and auditors who attempt to monitor illegal activities and questionable business practices. “The Power of R’ Shayele of Kerestir,” YouTube video - Google Search 

Donald Trump

Before the 2020 presidential election, many travelled to Reb Shayele’s gravesite and prayed that Donald Trump would win “Be- zekhus [in the merit of] Reb Shayele ben Reb Moshe.” Even Twitter users included Reb Shayele’s picture with his ubiquitous incantation “udder beigen udder leigen - Either bend [to my will] or die [an unnatural death]” (cited in Shuman 2025:124). 

Recent renewal of interest in Reb Shayele of Kerestir

During his lifetime, Reb Shayele was venerated as a miracle worker by both Jews and Christians. Yet, intriguingly, in the past decade or so, he has undergone a kind of cultural ‘resurrection,’ with his reputation experiencing renewed prominence. This revival, particularly among ultra-Orthodox communities, reflects a venerable movement within contemporary religious culture—though not without ambivalence, as his renewed popularity has also provoked criticism and unease. 

Some have drawn parallels between the revival of Reb Shayele and the exponential growth of Breslov in recent times. Both were relatively obscure and unknown movements in their own time, yet each has undergone a striking transformation into a locus of popular appeal. The two groups have some form of correspondence because, today, one can purchase copies of R. Nachman of Breslov’s Tikkun haKelali with Reb Shayele’s picture on the cover! Fifty thousand people flock to Reb Shayele’s gravesite on his yartzeit in Kerestir, Hungary, on the third day of Iyar. Unfortunately, there is an ongoing feud between his descendants over who controls the proceedings at the gravesite on such occasions (Shuman 2025:104, n.15). 

One explanation for the growing interest in Reb Shayele lies in what Shuman (2025:123) describes as the “factionalism and splintering within the Hasidic world.” Leadership in most Chassidic dynasties is hereditary, typically passing from father to son. Over time, however, this dynastic model has generated internal divisions and raised questions about the perceived legitimacy of Chassidic authority. Against this backdrop, figures such as Reb Shayele—whose charisma and reputation as a miracle worker transcend dynastic succession as he did not stem from an established dynasty—offer an alternative locus of devotion. 

“Hasidim are looking back into Hasidic history and elsewhere…in search of simple, austere, Hasidic miracle workers” (Shuman 2025:123). 

This is sometimes described as a quest for the original form of Baal Shem Tovian Chassidism, before the movement became formalised. 

A commentary on the state of Chassidism today

Reb Shayele occupies a liminal position within the chain of Chassidic dynasties. Born in 1851 to modest parents, he lost his father, Moishe Steiner, at the age of three. Following his barmitzvah, his mother, Hentche Miriam, entrusted him to her distant relative, the Lisker Rav, who raised him as his own son. In this way, Reb Shayele was integrated into a dynastic lineage, though never fully a product of it. This ambiguity carries significant implications for contemporary Chassidism because—while the renewed devotion to figures such as Reb Shayele signals disillusionment with particular dynastic Rebbes—it does not, theoretically, undermine the legitimacy of the Rebbe’s role itself. Rather, it suggests that although confidence in certain hereditary leaders may falter, the broader need for charismatic leadership embodied in the figure of the rebbe remains intact. 

Perhaps this also explains the recent resurgence of Breslov, where R. Nachman (d. 1810) remains the Rebbe without the complications and disputes that often accompany dynastic power struggles and continuity. 

This liminal image of Reb Shayele, remaining somewhat of a threshold figure—neither great nor obscure—is borne out in the following Chassidic exegesis: 

“Reb Mordechele [of Nadvorna] once looked at Reb Shayele and quoted the words recited on Shabbos in [. . .] Yekum Purkan: Ravrevaya im ze’eiraya, tafla u’neshaya, which literally means ‘Big ones and small ones, children and womenfolk.’ ‘Ravrevaya,’ Reb Mordechele quipped, ‘refers to the prominent Rebbes, and ze’eiraya refers to less celebrated Rebbes. Tafla means the little- known rebbes, and then there is u’neshaya and Shaya [Yiddish: un Shaya] —for he, too, is a Rebbe.”[6] 

In other words, within the perceived hierarchy of Chassidic Rebbes, Reb Shayele of Kerestir occupies a position akin to that of a ‘woman’ (u’neshaya) in terms of chashivut (importance) within the Chassidic imagination. 

The wordplay continues because the Yekum Purkan prayer can also be read: 

“‘U’neshaya malka dealma yevarekh’—er iz gebensht gevorn fun di groyse rebbes far a rebbe” (“And the women [i.e. Reb Shaya], the King of the Universe will bless”—[which means] he was blessed by the prominent rebbes to become a rebbe)” (Sefer me beʼer Yeshaʻyahu, 50). 

This, again, illustrates the unique and paradoxical positioning of Reb Shayele somewhere between the category of a ‘woman’ (u’neshaya) and a most prominent Rebbe. This new ‘category’ of Rebbe seems to be just what many people are looking for in Chassidic leadership today (although, clearly, the old Chassidic schools and approaches still remain very powerful social forces). 

“It captures the paradoxical and enigmatic stature of Shayele in the Hasidic pantheon: ‘smaller’ than even those of the little-known rebbes (tafla) and yet singular to be accorded a category entirely of his own. His diminution stands out” (Shuman 2025:126). 

Mimetic activation

In the various case studies examined above—none of which represent the most exemplary expressions of Chassidic practice, particularly in instances where illegal activities are ‘sanctified’ through the display of Reb Shayele’s protective images—one observes the frequent use of incantations. These formulaic utterances function as attempts to produce a quasi-magical outcome, often in connection with actions that would otherwise be regarded as misdeeds. These utterances and sometimes even ritual acts in Reb Shayele’s merit are believed to: 

“propel Shayele into action…We might call this the mimetic activation of ritual” Shuman 2025:129-130). 

In other words, one performs activities or mouths formulations which act as ‘ritual mimicry,’ to cause Reb Shayele’s protective power to spring into action. 

Analysis

In Carlebach’s tale of the Rebbe of Thieves, the Baal Shem Tov ultimately offers the thief a taste of Torah from Heaven, an encounter so transformative that he ceases to be a thief. By contrast, in the cases examined in this article, the individuals in question have already been immersed in Torah—abundantly so—yet they persist as thieves and swindlers. And their misdeeds are shielded from legal and moral accountability through the belief that they enjoy the endorsement and protection of Reb Shayele of Kerestir, who now emerges as a reconstituted Rebbe of Thieves. Unfortunately, these thieves do not cease being thieves and swindlers. 

The difference lies in viewing Torah as a transformative, personal, and even mystical encounter (as in Carlebach’s narrative), versus viewing Torah as embedded social practice and accumulated cultural capital (as some do in the ultra-Orthodox reality). The former emphasises rupture and redemption, while the latter highlights continuity, routinisation, habitus, and insulation—resulting in the paradox of Torah exposure without ethical transformation. 

From a sociological perspective, Carlebach’s thief may be compared to Victor Turner’s anthropology of ritual, in which ritual is understood as a potentially liminal, sacred, transformative threshold enabling radical change. Reb Shayele’s thieves, by contrast, may be situated within Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of practice, where ritual potentially becomes habitus—ingrained, embodied behaviour that simply reproduces social norms. This is often what happens when ideologies turn into movements. 

Thus, Carlebach’s thief experiences Torah as a liminal sacred threshold, breaking continuity and enabling radical change. Reb Shayele’s thieves, however, experience Torah as routine, normalised to the point where it becomes a resource for legitimising behaviour—even misdeeds—rather than transforming them.

 

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[1] Shuman, S., 2025, ‘Of Mice and Hasidic Men: Reb Shayele as Populist Patron Saint’, Jewish Quarterly Review, vol 115, no. 1, 99-135.

[2] “Reb Shayele— Stories,” Jewish Gen Kehila Links, July 16, 2024.

[3] Besser, Y., Rubin, M.M., and Likhtenshtain, S.E., 2017, Reb Shayele: The Warmth and Wonder of Kerestir, Jerusalem, 304.

[4] Online source: https:// www . kestenbaum . net / auction / lot / auction - 60 / 060 - 374 /.

[5] Besser, Y., Rubin, M.M., and Likhtenshtain, S.E., 2017, Reb Shayele: The Warmth and Wonder of Kerestir, Jerusalem, 288.

[6] Besser, Y., Rubin, M.M., and Likhtenshtain, S.E., 2017, Reb Shayele: The Warmth and Wonder of Kerestir, Jerusalem, 62.