THE TRADITION of there being thirty-six righteous individuals in the world whose righteousness is hidden is firmly rooted in rabbinic teachings, and stories of people whose deeds and righteousness are wondrous but unknown as such to their contemporaries have been told since early times. However, while the constituent elements of the mythological figure of the hidden righteous individual preceded hasidism, the term tsadik nistar or ‘hidden righteous/tsadik’ (not necessarily referring to a hasidic rabbi), with the emphasis on this person's anonymity, emerged along with the hasidic story. The first group of hasidic tales in Aaron of Apta's Keter shem tov speaks of a hasid and a tsadik, one who brings about rainfall by his righteousness, and the other who saves an entire city, with no mention of the adjective ‘hidden’ or the appellation ‘hidden tsadik’. Nor is here any mention of ‘hidden’ ones in the Hebrew version of Shivḥei habesht; however, the Yiddish version of the book relates that the Maggid of Mezirech revealed to R. Yehiel Mikhel of Zlotchev that his carriage-driver was a hidden tsadik, who had already merited a vision of the prophet Elijah.

The majority of hidden tsadik stories are relatively late. The lack of examples from the time of the Ba'al Shem Tov was presumably corrected upon the publication of the Kherson genizah. The letters in the genizah lead us to conclude that Adam Ba'al Shem Tov of Ropshits believed the Ba'al Shem Tov to be a concealed tsadik, and urged him to reveal himself; according to these letters, the Ba'al Shem Tov was in contact with various hidden tsadikim, and took steps to ensure their livelihood. These imaginary revelations were followed during the succeeding years by a plethora of stories, many of them related by R. Joseph Jacob Schneersohn, the Lubavitch Rebbe. Although no doubt should be cast on the authentic Habad stories that focus on the Ba'al Shem Tov, some of which were related by the Old Rebbe, it would seem that the more fanciful Habad stories about the Ba'al Shem Tov and the hidden tsadikim in his time were based in no small measure on the Kherson genizah.