R. Zevi Elimielkh Dynow (1785–1841) was a ḥasidic ẓaddik in Dynow, Galicia, often known after his main work as "the author of Benei Yissakhar" (Zolkiew, 1850). He was a disciple of R. Ẓevi Hirsch of Zhidachov , R. Jacob Isaac "ha-Ḥozeh" ("the seer") of Lublin, and the Maggid R. Israel of Kozienice .R. Ẓevi Elimelech served as rabbi in Strzyzow, Halicz, Dynow, and Munkacs. His total opposition to Haskalah and philosophy was evidenced in both his devotion to Kabbalah as the essence of Judaism and his statement that "there is no knowledge, either in the realm of science or philosophy, which is not alluded to in the Torah [which is higher than the intellect]" (Benei Yissakhar, Sec. 2:88). He considered philosophical enquiry a waste of time and of soul. Rational reason should not be sought for the mitzvot, but they should be observed with love, as divine decrees, whether rational or not, without questioning or seeking proofs. Man must have faith "even in two opposite [commands of God] where the intellect cannot solve the contradiction" (ibid., Sec. 1, 73). The task of the ẓaddik is of utmost importance since by means of the high spiritual level he attains he may help to unite the upper and lower worlds. Ẓevi Elimelech differentiated between two types of ẓaddikim: the perfect one, "the servant of God" (eved adonai) and the one who only "worships God" (oved Adonai). Worship of God must combine both love and fear. Fear corresponds to ẓimẓum and love corresponds to hitpashetut ("expansion"). Just as there can be no stability or survival for worlds without ẓimẓum, so if it were not for fear, man would dissolve in ecstasy "and the light of the soul would depart from its earthly container." Fear of Divine Majesty – in contradistinction to fear of punishment – is the acme of faith. A man "to whom God gives knowledge (binah) is enabled to retreat within himself directing his thought to his Creator also while in the company of other men." Dynow thus reformulates Naḥmanides ' thesis (commentary on Deuteronomy 11:20).

R. Zevi Hirsch ben Abraham Ashkenazi (Hakham Zevi, 1660–1718), rabbi and halakhist. Both his father, R. Jacob Sak, a renowned scholar, and his maternal grandfather, R. Ephraim b. Jacob ha-Kohen , had escaped from Vilna to Moravia during the 1655 Cossack uprising. It was there that Ashkenazi studied under them as a youth. He wrote his first responsa in 1676, about the time he was sent to the yeshivah of Elijah Covo in Salonika to study the Sephardi scholars' method of study. During his stay in Salonika (1676–78?) and Belgrade (1679), he adopted Sephardi customs and manners and, despite his Ashkenazi origin, assumed the title "ḥakham," the Sephardi title for a rabbi, and also the name "Ashkenazi." In 1680 he returned to Ofen and continued his studies. After his wife and daughter were killed during the siege of Ofen by the Imperial army of Leopold I, R. Ashkenazi escaped to Sarajevo where he was appointed ḥakham of the Sephardi community. His parents were taken prisoner by a Brandenburg regiment after the fall of Ofen and ransomed by Jews in Berlin. It seems that only much later Ashkenazi received the news that his parents were alive. He arrived in Berlin via Venice and Prague in 1689. There he married the daughter of Meshullam Zalman Neumark-Mirels, the av bet din of the "Three Communities" of Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbeck. He later moved to Altona where for 18 years he devoted himself to teaching in the Klaus, which was founded for him by leading members of the congregation. On the death of his father-in-law (1707), he was elected rabbi of Hamburg and Wandsbeck, although he shared the position at Altona with R. Moses Rothenburg. It was eventually a violent controversy on a halakhic question between them which compelled him to resign his position in all three communities in 1709. He continued to act as the head of the yeshivah in the Altona klaus until invited to serve as rabbi of the Ashkenazi community in Amsterdam in 1710. There, Ashkenazi's relations were initially excellent. His responsa, published in Amsterdam in 1712, were highly regarded by the rabbis of the Portuguese (Sephardi) community there, and he was on intimate terms with the Sephardi rabbi, R. Solomon Ayllon . This relationship, however, deteriorated with the arrival in Amsterdam of Nehemiah Ḥayon , the emissary of Shabbetai Ẓevi , who sought the help of the local Portuguese community in circulating his writings. Having been asked by the Portuguese elders (who did not rely on Ayllon) to rule on the matter, Ashkenazi and R. Moses Ḥagiz – who was then in Amsterdam as a rabbinical emissary from Jerusalem – decided against Ḥayon and his writings and later excommunicated him. In revenge for not having been consulted about Ḥayyon's writings, R. Ayllon managed to transform the issue into one of supremacy of the old Portuguese community over the newcomers' Ashkenazi community. As a result of his opponents' incessant personal attacks, Ashkenazi finally resigned his position in Amsterdam in 1714. After a brief stay in London (at the invitation of the Sephardi community), and a short sojourn in Emden, he proceeded to Poland and settled in Opatow. From there he was invited once more to Hamburg to take part in a complicated lawsuit. In the beginning of 1718 he was appointed rabbi of Lemberg, but he died there after a few months.