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{{short description|Polish founder of Hasidic Judaism (1698–1760)}}
{{Infobox Rebbe
| title = Baal Shem Tov {{Other uses|Baal Shem}}
{{Infobox rebbe
| image =
| birth_name = Yisroel ben Eliezer
| caption =
| main_work = {{ubl|]|]|]}}
| term =
| predecessor =
| full name =רבי ישראל בן אליעזר Yisroel ben Eliezer
| image =
| main work = Keser Shem Tov<br />Shivchei HaBesht
| successor = ] (1704–1772)
| predecessor =(founder of ])
| spouse = Chana (only named in legends)
| successor =] of Mezritsh (1704-1772)
| children = {{ubl|Tsvi of Pinsk (1729–1779)|Udel (1720–1787)}}
| spouse1 =Chana
| dynasty =
| issue1 =Tsvi of Pinsk (1729-1800)<br />Udl (1720-1787)
| father = Eliezer
| spouse2 =
| issue2 = | mother = Sara (only named in legends)
| birth_date = 25 August 1698
| spouse3 =
| birth_place = ], ] (now Ukraine)
| issue3 =
| death_date = 22 May 1760
| dynastyname = Mezhbizh
| death_place = ], Kingdom of Poland (now Ukraine)
| father =Eliezer
| date of burial =
| mother =Sara
| place of burial = ]
| date of birth =c. 1698
| signature =
| place of birth =]
}}
| date of death =1760 (Sivan 5520)
| place of death =]
| date of burial =
| place of burial =]
|}}
Rabbi '''Yisroel (Israel) ben Eliezer''' (רבי ישראל בן אליעזר ‎ ], ] &ndash; ], ]) is considered to be the founder of ] (see also ]). He was born in ], to Eliezer and Sara in a small village that over the centuries has been part of ], ], ] and is now part of ]. He died in ], which had once been part of ], then ], ] and ], and is now in ].<ref></ref>


'''Israel ben Eliezer'''{{Efn|]: ישראל בן אליעזר. Also transliterated Yisroel, Yisrael.}} 1698<ref name=":0">According to a ] document from the "]", accepted only by ], he was born in October 1698. Some Hasidic traditions place his birth as early as 1690, while ] and other modern scholars argue for a date around 1700.</ref> –1760<ref>Hasidic sources give various dates around the year 1760. In his last documentary appearance, Israel was listed as a ] resident in a 1760 census.</ref>), known as the '''Baal Shem Tov''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|b|ɑː|l|_|ˈ|ʃ|ɛ|m|_|ˌ|t|ʊ|v|,_|ˌ|t|ʊ|f}};<ref>{{Citation |last=Jones |first=Daniel |title=English Pronouncing Dictionary |year=2003 |editor-last=Peter Roach |editor-last2=James Hartmann |editor-last3=Jane Setter |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=3-12-539683-2 |author-link=Daniel Jones (phonetician) |orig-year=1917}}</ref> {{langx|he|בעל שם טוב}}) or '''BeShT''' (בעש"ט), was a ] and healer who is regarded as the founder of ]. A ''baal shem tov'' is a "Master of the Good Name," that is, one able to work miracles using the secret name of God.<ref name="je">{{Jewish Encyclopedia|inline=1|title=BA'AL SHEM-ṬOB, ISRAEL B. ELIEZER|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2252-ba-al-shem-tob-israel-b-eliezer}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Rosman |first=Moshe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6m1vEAAAQBAJ |title=Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov |date=2013-06-20 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-909821-11-8 |page= |language=en}}</ref> Other sources explain his sobriquet as arising from a reputation of being a saintly, or superior, ], hence he was given the nickname Baal Shem Tov, that is, the ''"good ]''".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e78OAAAAYAAJ&dq=baal%20shem&pg=PA224 |title=History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, pgs 223-224 |author=Simon Dubnow |date=1916|publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m29PAQAAMAAJ&dq=baal%20shem%20tov&pg=PA137 |author=H. Sperling |date=1913 |title="Jewish Sectaries III: Chassidim" (The Jewish Review) p.137|publisher=G. Routledge and Sons, Limited }}</ref>
He was a ] ] ] who is better known to many religious ]s as "the holy Baal Shem" (''der heyliger baal shem'' in ]), or most commonly, the '''Baal Shem Tov''' (בעל שם טוב) . The title ''Baal Shem Tov'' is usually translated into English as "Master of the Good Name", with ''Tov'' ("Good") modifying ''Shem'' (" Name"), although it is more correctly understood as a combination of ''Baal Shem'' ("Master of the Name") and ''Tov'' (an honorific epithet to the man). The name ''Besht'' (בעש"ט) — the acronym from the words comprising that name, ''bet ayin shin tet''—is typically used in print rather than speech. The appellation "]" was not unique to Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer; however, it is Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer who is most closely identified as a "Baal Shem", as he was the founder of the spiritual movement of ].


Biographical information about the Baal Shem Tov comes from contemporary ] documents and from the largely legendary traditions about his life and behavior collected in the ''Praise of the Besht'' ({{Langx|he|שבחי הבעש"ט|Shivḥei haBesht}}).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH990020747990205171/NLI |title=Shivḥei haBesht |publisher=Israel Jaffe |year=1815 |location=Kopys}}</ref>
The little biographical information that is known about him is so interwoven with legends of miracles that in many cases it is hard to arrive at the historical facts. From the numerous legends connected with his birth it appears that his parents were poor, upright, and pious. When Israel ben Eliezer was orphaned, his community cared for him. At school, he distinguished himself only by his frequent disappearances, being always found in the lonely woods surrounding the place, rapturously enjoying the beauties of nature. Many of his disciples believed that he came from the ] tracing its lineage to the royal house of ], and by extension with the institution of the ].


A central tenet of the teachings associated with the Baal Shem Tov is the direct connection with ], "dvekut", which is infused in every human activity and every waking hour. Prayer is of supreme importance, along with the mystical significance of Hebrew letters and words.<ref>, ].</ref>
==Early life and marriage==
]
Besht's benefactors gave up the hope of him ever becoming a ], and made him a "helper", who took the children to and from school and rehearsed short benedictions and prayers with them. His sentimental nature, to which his later success was in great measure due, now stood him in good stead; for he could win children and attach them to him by explanations suited to their understanding. Later he became ''shammash'' (]) in the same community, and at about eighteen he married. When his young wife died he left the place, and after serving for a long time as helper in various small communities of ], he settled as a teacher at ] near ].


==Biography==
Because of his recognized honesty and his knowledge of ], he was chosen to act as ] and ] for people conducting suits against each other; and his services were brought into frequent requisition because the Jews had their own ] in Poland. In this avocation he succeeded in making so deep an impression upon the rich and learned ] that the latter promised Besht his daughter Chana in marriage. The man died, however, without telling his daughter of her betrothal; but when she heard of her father’s wishes, she did not hesitate to comply.
{{See also|Baal Shem Tov family tree}}


=== Birth ===
] thought to be hand-dug by the Baal Shem Tov himself. It still flows fresh water.]]
Israel was born about 1698 to a certain Eliezer.<ref name=":0" /> According to ''Shivḥei haBesht,''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shivchei HaBesht 1:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Shivchei_HaBesht.1.1 |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref><blockquote>Eliezer lived at the edge of ]. He and his wife were elderly. Once upon a time, they were captured and taken prisoner to a far-away land . . . Eliezer found his wife, who thankfully still lived, and the Besht was born when each was near 100 years old.</blockquote>According to other early Hasidic legends, he was born in "Okop" (probably ]), although ''Shivḥei haBesht'' only mentions him residing there as an adolescent, and only in a parenthetical insertion by the 1815 printer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shivchei HaBesht 2:2 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Shivchei_HaBesht.2.2 |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> Later legend names his mother Sarah.
Besht's wooing was characteristic. In the shabby clothes of a peasant he presented himself at Brody before ] (]), brother of the girl, and a recognized authority in the ] and the ]. Abraham Gershon was about to give him ], when Besht produced a letter from his pocket, showing that he was the designated bridegroom. Abraham Gershon tried in vain to dissuade his sister Chana from shaming their family by marrying him, but she regarded her father's will alone as authoritative.


=== Career ===
After his marriage Israel ben Eliezer did not remain long with his brother-in-law, who was ashamed of him (for he kept up the pretense of being an ignorant fellow); and he went to a village in the ] between Brody and Kassowa. His earthly possessions consisted of a horse given him by his brother-in-law. Israel ben Eliezer worked as a laborer, digging ] and ], which his wife delivered every week by wagonload to the surrounding villages, and from this they derived their entire support. But the magnificent scenery in this, the finest region of the Carpathians, and the possibility of enjoying it without the interruptions of city life, compensated him for his great privations. Israel ben Eliezer and Chana had two children: Udl and Zvi Hersh. Udl was born in 1720. Zvi Hersh was born some fifteen years later.
Solomon Isaac Halpern (1727<ref name=":2" /> or 1729<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=בלינסון |first=משה אליעזר |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uUKoJKvVas8C |title=שלמי אמוני ישראל: קובץ מאמרים לספרות לשוננו הקדושה |date=1901 |publisher=דפוס איסאקאוויטש ובעלינסאן |language=he}}</ref>-1791<ref>{{Cite book |last=לוינשטין |first=יוסף |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZF21By8R3-4C&pg=RA11-PT9 |title=כרם חמד לבית ישראל הוא ספר דור ודור ודורשיו: ... קובץ סדר זמן ושנות פטירת חכמי ומנהיגי ישראל בכל דור ... גם סדר היאר צייטין ... |date=1899 |publisher=דפוס שולדבערג ושותפו |language=he}}</ref>) records two anecdotes about his father Jacob (1698-1738), the rabbi of ], meeting "the renowned Israel Baal Shem, master of divine knowledge" which are apparently non-legendary, as Halpern was not a hasid, although he was only 9-11 when his father died. Israel performed a dream-quest and discovered that Jacob was the reincarnation of ]. These meetings necessarily occurred before 1738.<ref name="auto"/><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Scholem |first=Gershom |date=March 31, 1961 |title=The Historical Image of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov |url=https://www.academia.edu/44481841 |journal=Yiddisher Kemfer |language=yi |volume=42 |issue=1401}} This article has been reprinted in Hebrew many times.</ref>]
Polish census records show that a certain holy man lived in ] from 1740 to 1760, which was presumably Israel.<ref name=":1" /> In 1740 the census describes a "kabbalist," in 1742 and 1758 a "baal shem", and in 1760 a "baal shem doctor", perhaps a reference to the mystical healings Israel performs in legend.<ref name=":1" />


Meir Teomim (d. 1775) mentions in ''Meirat Einayim'' (printed 1782) that "I saw a letter from the Holy Land, written by the pious Rabbi Gershon to his brother-in-law, the renowned master of the Good Name, Rabbi Israel, may he live . . ." From the honorific "may he live", it seems that this book was composed in Israel's lifetime; this is the only time the Baal Shem Tov was mentioned by name before his death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heschel |first=Abraham Joshua |url=https://archive.org/details/circleofbaalshem0000hesc |title=The circle of the Baal Shem Tov : studies in Hasidism |date=1985 |publisher=Chicago : University of Chicago Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-226-32960-4}}</ref>
==Development as leader and challenges==
]The Besht's condition was bettered when he took a position as a ritual butcher in Kshilowice, near Iaslowice. He soon gave up this position in order to conduct a village tavern that his brother-in-law bought for him. During the many years that he lived in the woods and came into contact with the peasants, Israel ben Eliezer had learned how to use plants for healing purposes and to effect wonderful cures. In fact, his first appearance in public was that of an "ordinary" ]. He wrote ]s and prescribed cures.


Beyond these very scant sources, a few letters on theological subjects, attributed to Israel, were printed posthumously. Their authenticity is still debated by scholars. Nothing more can be gleaned of his biography from contemporary sources.<ref name=":1" />
After many trips in ] and ] as a Baal Shem, Besht, considering his following large enough and his authority established, decided (about 1740) to expound his teachings in the ] of ] and people, mostly from the spiritual elite, came to listen to him. Medzhybizh became the seat of the movement and of the ] Hasidic dynasty. His following gradually increased, and with it the dislike, not to say hostility, of the Talmudists. Nevertheless, Besht was supported at the beginning of his career by two prominent Talmudists, the brothers Meïr and Isaac Dov Margalios. Later he won over Rabbi ] to whose great authority as a Talmudist it was chiefly due that Besht's doctrines (though in an essentially altered form) were introduced into learned circles.


=== Death ===
]
He is last seen in the census as a resident of Medzhybizh in 1760. By 1763 another resided in the house, and Hasidic legends give various dates around 1760.<ref name=":1" />
Some direct historical evidence remains of the Besht during the days he lived in ]. Rosman discovered numerous legal documents that shed light on this period from the Polish Czartorysky noble family archives. The Besht's house is mentioned on several tax registers and his house is given tax-free status, thus indicating that he was well-known to the Polish Magnate as an important town resource. Several of the Besht's cohorts in his stories from Shivhei HaBesht also appear in Polish court records, notably, Wolf Kitses and David Purkes. Rosman contends that the Polish documents show the Besht and his followers were not outcasts or pariahs, rather they were part of the mainstream Jewish communal life and were themselves respected in the community. ] at the time was not some backwater village as some contended. Instead, it was a thriving, prosperous, and important community in the Czartorysky estate.


==Posthumously printed letters==
Other direct evidence includes the Besht's daily prayer book (siddur) with his handwritten personal notes in the margins that is owned by the Agudas Chabad Library in New York. Finally, his grave can be seen today in the old Jewish cemetery in Medzhybizh.
Several letters attributed to Israel or his associates have been printed since his death, and their authenticity is still debated by scholars. According to a letter supposedly from Besht's brother-in-law to the Besht himself—as interpreted by Rosman—the latter was a practitioner of prophecy, being able to see a messianic figure arrive in Jerusalem despite living far from the city; the brother-in-law claims to have inquired into the figure and discovered the Besht's vision to be true. This would support the belief that the Besht had the ability to see the souls of men, divining the messianic quality of the man despite only seeing him through a vision.
]]]


Rosman also describes another letter written by the brother-in-law which claims that the Besht could travel to heaven and commune with God. This view is derived from a series of titles given to the Besht, attributing various religious achievements to him such as understanding the mysteries of God.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Jay |first=Rosman Murray |title=Founder of Hasidism: a quest for the historical Ba'al Shem Tov |date=1996 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520916760 |location=Berkeley |oclc=44962956}}</ref>
==Disputes with the Frankists==
The antagonism between Talmudism and Hasidism was apparent to the representatives of each at Besht's first appearance; but the open breach did not come about until later. In fact, Besht took sides with the Talmudists in the disputes with Frankists (]'s followers). It was only in keeping with Besht's character that he felt keenly upon the acceptance of ] by the Frankists, for it is related that he said: "As long as a diseased limb is connected with the body, there is hope that it may be saved; but, once amputated, it is gone, and there is no hope." The excitement consequent upon the Frankist movement undermined his health, and he died shortly after the ] of many Frankists to ].


==His legacy== ==Legacy==
]
Israel ben Eliezer left no books; for the ] commentary on Ps. cvii., ascribed to him (], 1804), ''Sefer mi-Rabbi Yisrael Ba'al Shem-tov,'' is hardly genuine. In order to get at his teachings, it is therefore necessary to turn to his utterances as given in the works of the old ]. But since Hasidism, immediately after the death of its founder, was divided into various parties, each claiming for itself the authority of Besht, the utmost of caution is necessary in judging as to the authenticity of utterances ascribed to Besht.
] (c. 1915). This building, which was never used by Israel (he preferred an alternate minyan),<ref name=":1" /> burned during ]. Today a replica attracts tourists to Medzhybizh under the name "Baal Shem Tov Shul".<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 4, 2018 |title=The Historic Baal Shem Tov Shul In Medzhybizh, Ukraine |url=https://www.creativejewishmom.com/2018/05/the-historic-baal-shem-tov-shul-in-medzhybizh-ukraine.html |website=Creative Jewish Mom}}</ref> A second replica opened in 2022 as a community synagogue in ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sharona |date=2022-08-02 |title=Living Higher: Issue 922 - Mishpacha Magazine |url=https://mishpacha.com/living-higher-issue-922/ |access-date=2024-09-26 |language=en-US}}</ref>]]
] ] in the ]. Chabad claims that this siddur was used by Israel.]]
Israel ben Eliezer left no books; the ] commentary on Psalm 107, ascribed to him (], 1804), ''Sefer miRabbi Yisrael Baal Shem-tov,'' is not genuine. Therefore, the only record of his teachings is in his utterances as recorded in the works of his disciples (]). Most are found in the works of Jacob Joseph of Polnoy. But since Hasidism, immediately after the death of its founder, was divided into various parties, each claiming for itself the authority of Besht, the utmost of caution is necessary for judging as to the authenticity of utterances ascribed to Besht.<ref name="je" />


Jacob Joseph quotes over eight hundred teachings of Israel in his books. Jacob Joseph sometimes states that he's not sure if a quote is the "exact" words of the Baal Shem Tov, apparently implying that other quotes are verbatim.
Chapin and Weinstock contend that the Besht was essentially the right person, in the right place, at the right time. Eighteenth century ] was an ideal place to foster a sea-change in Jewish thinking. It had been depopulated one generation earlier due to the ] Massacres. A Turkish occupation of ] occurred within the Besht's lifetime and along with it the influence within this frontier territory of ] and his latter day spiritual descendants such as Malach and ]. Once the Polish Magnates regained control from the Turks, ] essentially went through an economic boom. The Magnates were benevolent to the economic benefits the Jews provided and encouraged Jewish resettlement to help protect the frontier from future invasions. Thus, the Jewish community itself was essentially starting over. Within this context, the Jews of ] were open to new ideas. The Besht's refreshing new approaches to Judaism were welcome, expanding with little resistance in a community hungry for change.
{{Judaism}}


The later developments of Hasidism are unintelligible without consideration of Besht's reputed opinions concerning man's proper relation with the universe. True worship of God consists of the cleaving to, and the unification with, God. He is supposed to have said, "the ideal of man is to be a revelation himself, clearly to recognize himself as a manifestation of God." Mysticism, then, is not the Kabbalah, which everyone may learn, but that sense of true oneness, which is usually as strange, unintelligible, and incomprehensible to mankind as dancing is to a dove. However, the man who is capable of this feeling is endowed with a genuine intuition, and it is the perception of such a man which is called prophecy, according to the degree of his insight. From this it results, in the first place, that the ideal man may lay claim to authority equal, in a certain sense, to the authority of the Prophets.<ref name="je" /> This focus on oneness and personal revelation help earn his mystical interpretation of Judaism the title of ].
==Elements of Besht's doctrines==
The foundation-stone of Hasidism as laid by Besht is a strongly marked ] conception of God. He declared the whole universe, mind and matter, to be a manifestation of the Divine Being; that this manifestation is not an emanation from God, as is the conception of the Kabbalah by ], for nothing can be separated from God: all things are rather forms in which God reveals Himself. When man speaks, said Besht, he should remember that his speech is an element of life, and that life itself is a manifestation of God. Even evil exists in God. This seeming contradiction is explained on the ground that evil is not bad in itself, but only in its relation to man. It is wrong to look with desire upon a woman; but it is divine to admire her beauty: it is wrong only insofar as man does not regard beauty as a manifestation of God, but misconceives it, and thinks of it in reference to himself. Nevertheless, ] is nothing positive, but is identical with the imperfections of human deeds and thought. Whoever does not believe that God resides in all things, but separates God and them in his thoughts, has not the right conception of God. It is equally fallacious to think of a creation in time: creation, that is, God's activity, has no end. God is ever active in the changes of nature: in fact, it is in these changes that God's continuous creativeness consists.


A second and more important result of the doctrine is that through his oneness with God, man forms a connecting link between the Creator and creation. Thus, slightly modifying the Bible verse, ] {{bibleverse-nb|hab|2:4|JPS}}, Israel is quoted, "The righteous can vivify by his faith." His followers enlarged upon this idea and consistently deduced from it the source of divine mercy, of blessings, of life; and that therefore, if one loves him, one may partake of God's mercy.<ref name="je" />
This panentheism would have been ignored, had Besht not been a man of the people. He gave his metaphysical conception of God an eminently practical significance.


On the opposite side of the coin, the Baal Shem Tov is said to have warned the Hasidim:
The first result of his principles was a remarkable optimism. Since God is immanent in all things, all things must possess something good in which God manifests Himself as the source of good. For this reason, the Besht taught, every man must be considered good, and his sins must be explained, not condemned. One of his favorite sayings was that no man has sunk too low to be able to raise himself to God. Naturally, then, it was his chief endeavor to convince sinners that God stood as near to them as to the righteous, and that their misdeeds were chiefly the consequences of their folly.
:] is still alive today ... Every time you experience a worry or doubt about how God is running the world—that's Amalek launching an attack against your soul. We must wipe Amalek out of our hearts whenever—and wherever—he attacks so that we can serve God with complete joy.


It may be said of Hasidism that there is no other Jewish sect in which the founder is as important as his doctrines. Israel himself is still the real center for the Hasidim; his teachings have almost sunk into oblivion. As ] ("''Studies in Judaism''," p.&nbsp;4) observes: "To the Hasidim, Baal-Shem ... was the incarnation of a theory, and his whole life the revelation of a system."<ref name="je" />
Another important result of his doctrines, which was of great practical importance, was his denial that ] is pleasing to God. "Whoever maintains that this life is worthless is in error: it is worth a great deal; only one must know how to use it properly." From the very beginning Besht fought against that contempt for the world which, through the influence of ]'s Kabbalah, had almost become a dogma among the Jews. He considered care of the body as necessary as care of the soul; since matter is also a manifestation of God, and must not be considered as hostile or opposed to Him.


Chapin and Weinstock contend that the Besht was essentially the right person, in the right place, at the right time. 18th century ] was an ideal place to foster a seachange in Jewish thinking. It had been depopulated one generation earlier due to the ] Massacres. A Turkish occupation of Podolia occurred within the Besht's lifetime and along with it the influence within this frontier territory of ] and his latter-day spiritual descendants such as Malach and ]. Once the Polish Magnates regained control from the Turks, Podolia underwent an economic boom. The Magnates valued the economic benefits the Jews provided, and encouraged Jewish resettlement to help protect the frontier from future invasions. Thus, the Jewish community itself was essentially starting over.
In connection with his struggle against asceticism, it is natural that he should have fought also against the strictness and the sanctimoniousness that had gradually developed from the strict Talmudic standpoint. Not that Besht required the abrogation of any religious ceremonies or of a single observance. His target was the great importance which the Talmudic view attaches to the fulfillment of a law, while almost entirely disregarding sentiment or the growth of man's inner life. While the rabbis of his day considered the study of the Talmud as the most important religious activity, Besht laid all the stress on ]. "All that I have achieved," he once remarked, "I have achieved not through study, but through prayer". Prayer, however, is not merely petitioning God to grant a request, nor even necessarily speaking to God, but rather ("cleaving", ''dvekut'')&mdash; the glorious feeling of 'Oneness with God Almighty', the state of the soul wherein a man or woman gives up their consciousness of separate existence, and join their own selves to the Eternal Being of God Supreme. Such a state produces indescribable bliss, which is the foremost fruit of the true worship of God.


== Notable students ==
==Opposition to Lurianic Kabbalah==
The Baal Shem Tov directly imparted his teachings to his students, some of whom founded their own Hasidic dynasties.
It is remarkable that Besht, whose starting point was the same as that of Isaac Luria's Kabbalah arrived at seemingly opposite results. His conception of God was panentheistic; while the school of Luria laid the greatest stress upon the principle of ]. Later Hasidic works spent much effort in reconciling these views. The Besht's fight against asceticism was directed more against the school from which it sprang than against pure Talmudism. His teachings concerning "joy" (''simcha'') were especially opposed to asceticism. The followers of Luria considered weeping an indispensable accompaniment to prayer; while Besht considered unrestrained weeping and feelings of sorrow to be wholly objectionable. The sinner who repents of his sin should not become distraught over the past, but should rejoice over the Heavenly Voice, over the Divine Power, working within him and enabling him to recognize the true in admitting his sin. The function of joy in prayer is paralleled by glowing enthusiasm and ecstasy ("to become inflamed", ''hitlahavut'') in every act of worship. Fear of God is only an initiatory step to real worship, which must spring from a love of God and a surrender of self to Him. In his enthusiasm, man will not think either of this life or of the next: the feeling of union with God is in itself a means and an end. Enthusiasm, however, demands progress, not the mere fulfillment of the Law's precepts in a daily routine which becomes deadening: true religion consists in an ever-growing recognition of God.


* ] (1710–1784)
==Influence on Hasidism==
* ] of ] (~1685–1788)
The later developments of Hasidism are unintelligible without consideration of Besht's opinion concerning man's proper relation with the universe. True worship of God, as above explained, consists in, the cleaving to, and the unification with, God. To use his own words, "the ideal of man is to be a revelation himself, clearly to recognize himself as a manifestation of God." Mysticism, he said, is not the Kabbalah, which everyone may learn; but that sense of true oneness, which is usually as strange, unintelligible, and incomprehensible to mankind as dancing is to a dove. However, the man who is capable of this feeling is endowed with a genuine intuition, and it is the perception of such a man which is called prophecy, according to the degree of his insight. From this it results, in the first place, that the ideal man may lay claim to authority equal, in a certain sense, to the authority of the Prophets. This focus on oneness and personal revelation helps earn his mystical interpretation of Judaism the title of pantheism.
* ] (1704–1772)
* ] of ] (1730–1797) founder of the ]
* ] (]), brother-in-law of The Baal Shem Tov (1701–1761); descendant (possibly the grandson) of ] ("the ShACh") (1625–1663)
* ] (1748–1800) (his grandson)
* ] (1753–1811) (his grandson)
* Meir Hagadol of ] (1703–1773)
* ] (d. 1765)


== Legends ==
A second and more important result of the doctrine is that through his oneness with God, man forms a connecting link between the Creator and creation. Thus, slightly modifying the Bible verse, Hab. ii. 4, Besht said, "The righteous can vivify by his faith." Besht's followers enlarged upon this idea and consistently deduced from it the source of divine mercy, of blessings, of life; and that therefore, if one love him, one may partake of God's mercy.
Hasidim soon filled volumes with fantastical legends about his life. These volumes, especially ''Shivḥei haBesht'' (1815), are presumed to contain a small historical kernel, but scholars continue to debate which passages are credible.


* The opening legend of ''Shivḥei haBesht'' tells that his father, Eliezer, was seized during an attack, carried from his home in ], and sold as a slave to a prince. On account of his wisdom, he found favor with the prince, who gave him to the king to be his minister. During an expedition undertaken by the king, when other counsel failed, and all were disheartened, Eliezer's advice was accepted; and the result was a successful battle of decisive importance. Eliezer was made a ] and afterward ], and the king gave him the daughter of the viceroy in marriage. But being mindful of his duty as a Jew and as he was already married, he married the princess only in name. After being questioned for a long time as to his strange conduct, he confessed to the princess that he was a Jew, who loaded him with costly presents and helped him escape to his own country.<ref name="je" /> On the way, the prophet ] is said to have appeared to Eliezer and said: "On account of thy piety and steadfastness, thou wilt have a son who will lighten the eyes of all Israel; and Israel shall be his name because in him shall be fulfilled the verse (] {{bibleverse-nb|isaiah|49:3|JPS}}): 'Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.'" Eliezer and his wife Sarah, however, reached old age childless and had given up all hope of ever having a child. But when they were nearly a hundred years old, the promised son (Besht) was born.<ref name="je" />
On the opposite side of the coin, the Baal Shem Tov warned the Hasidim:
:] is still alive today.…Every time you experience a worry or doubt about how God is running the world&mdash;that's Amalek launching an attack against your soul. We must wipe Amalek out of our hearts whenever&mdash;and wherever&mdash;he attacks so that we can serve God with complete joy.


* In 1703, Israel became an orphan, and was adopted by the Jewish community of ]. After the conclusion of his studies at the local ''],'' he would often wander into the fields and forests that surrounded the village.
Though Besht may not be held responsible for the later conceptions, there is no doubt that his self-reliance was an important factor in winning adherents. It may be said of Hasidism that there is no other Jewish sect in which the founder is as important as his doctrines. Besht himself is still the real center for the chasidim; his teachings have almost sunk into oblivion. As Schechter ("Studies in Judaism," p. 4) finely observes: "To the Hasidim, Ba'al-Shem …was the incarnation of a theory, and his whole life the revelation of a system."
* In 1710, he finished ''cheder'' and became an assistant to a '']'' (instructor in ''cheder'').
* In 1711 at the age of 13/14 he entered the "Chaburas Machane Yisroel", a group of hidden ] led by ]. Adam introduced him to Kabbalah.<ref name="ref53259096">{{Cite web |title=לקוטי דבורים – חלק ג – שניאורסון, יוסף יצחק, 1880–1950 |url=http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?sits=1&req=39166&st=%u05D9%u05D5%u05D0%u05DC%20%u05D1%u05E2%u05DC%20%u05E9%u05DD |access-date=2014-02-10 |publisher=hebrewbooks.org |page=39}}</ref>
* Sometime in 1712 Israel became a '']'' (]) of the local synagogue.
* He was hired as a teacher's assistant in the ''cheders'' of the small villages through which they passed. He later related that he took great pleasure in accompanying the children to and from school, using this opportunity to recite prayers with them and tell them Torah stories. The ] would later say, "If only we kissed a Torah scroll with the same love that my master kissed the children when he took them to cheder as a teacher's assistant!"<ref>''Hayom Yom'', Tammuz 16.</ref>
* He had visions in which the prophet ] would appear to him.<ref name="Golding">{{Cite web |last=Golding |first=Peretz |title=The Baal Shem Tov—A Brief Biography – Jewish History |url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1208507/jewish/Biography.htm |access-date=2013-03-12 |publisher=Chabad.org}}</ref>
* In 1716 Israel married, but soon his wife died and he went on travelling throughout ]. After serving for a long time as a helper in various small communities of ], he settled as a '']'' at Tluste.
* Israel became the leader of this movement at the age of 18.<ref>{{Cite web |title=לקוטי דבורים - חלק ג - שניאורסון, יוסף יצחק, 1880-1950 |url=http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req%3D39166%26st%3D%D7%99%D7%95%D7%90%D7%9C+%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%9C+%D7%A9%D7%9D%26pgnum%3D42%26hilite%3De38977fb-dc8d-4e65-80bb-20ee1d6178cf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140217142603/http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=39166&st=%D7%99%D7%95%D7%90%D7%9C+%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%9C+%D7%A9%D7%9D&pgnum=42&hilite=e38977fb-dc8d-4e65-80bb-20ee1d6178cf |archive-date=2014-02-17 |access-date=2014-02-17 |page=42}}</ref> Caring for the Jewish poor, the group of Tzadikim encouraged Jews to move to agrarian lifestyles as alternatives to the chronic poverty of city Jews. In continuation of this policy, they decided that they needed to look after the educational needs of the children living in small farm communities. If a suitable teacher could not be sourced they themselves would provide one, and therefore Israel became a teacher's assistant. He later commented "The most joyous time in my life was teaching the small children how to say Modeh Ani, Shema Yisrael and Kametz Alef Ah".<ref>{{Cite web |title=לקוטי דבורים - חלק ג - שניאורסון, יוסף יצחק, 1880-1950 |url=http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req%3D39166%26st%3D%D7%99%D7%95%D7%90%D7%9C+%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%9C+%D7%A9%D7%9D%26pgnum%3D43%26hilite%3De38977fb-dc8d-4e65-80bb-20ee1d6178cf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140217142542/http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=39166&st=%D7%99%D7%95%D7%90%D7%9C+%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%9C+%D7%A9%D7%9D&pgnum=43&hilite=e38977fb-dc8d-4e65-80bb-20ee1d6178cf |archive-date=2014-02-17 |access-date=2014-02-17 |page=43}}</ref>
* He was chosen by people conducting suits against each other to act as their ] and ]. His services were brought into frequent requisition because the Jews had their own ] in Poland.
* He is said to have made such an impression on ] of ] that the latter promised Israel his daughter Channah in marriage. The man died, however, without telling his daughter of her betrothal; but when she heard of her father's wishes, she agreed to comply with them.<ref name="je" /> After their marriage, the couple moved to a village in the ] between ] and ],<ref name="je" /> where their only income was from his work digging ] and ], which his wife delivered to surrounding villages. The couple had two children: Udl (born in 1720) and Zvi Hersh. A maternal great-grandson of Israel and his wife was ] whose paternal ancestry came from (according to Hasidic tradition), the ]'s family descended ] from the Babylonian Exilarchs (during the era of the ]) and therefore also from the ].<ref>See , by Chaim Freedman, published in ''Avotaynu'' Vol 22 No 1, Spring 2006</ref>


* Israel later took a position as a ] (ritual butcher) in ], near ], which he soon gave up in order to manage a village tavern that his brother-in-law bought for him. His first appearance in public was that of an ordinary ], a faith-healer who wrote ]s and prescribed cures,<ref name="je" /><ref>John M. Efron, ''Medicine and the German Jews: A History'', ], p. 91:<br />"Israel ben Eliezer Baal Shem-Tov (1700–1760), the founder of Hasidism, was in fact a faith healer and amulet writer"</ref><ref>https://www.worldhistory.org/Kabbalah/<br />"Hasidism or Hasidic Judaism was ostensibly founded by an 18th-century CE itinerant mystic and faith-healer who came to be called the Baal Shem Tov"</ref> functioning as a type of shaman.<ref>] Encyclopedia: https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/baal_shem_tov:<br />"(Yisra’el ben Eli‘ezer, 'the Besht'; ca. 1700–1760), healer, miracle worker, and religious mystic... founder of the modern Hasidic movement... in the 1730s, Yisra’el began using the title ''ba‘al shem'' or ''ba‘al shem tov'' (... meaning that he was a 'master of God's name,' which he could manipulate for theurgic purposes), denoting his skills as a healer—one Polish source refers to him as ''ba‘al shem doctor''—and his general qualifications as a shaman, a figure who could mediate between this world and the divine spheres in an effort to help people solve their... problems."</ref><ref>https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/psychedelic-summit-madison-margolin: "The Baal Shem Tov, himself, the father of the Hasidic movement, was said to be a medicine man, an herbalist, and shaman of sorts, who would go around with his enchanted pipe, providing healing to people."</ref>
==Characteristics==
* After many trips in ] and ] as a Baal Shem, Israel, considering his following large enough and his authority established, decided about 1740 to expound his teachings in the ] (Jewish village) of ] and people, mostly from the spiritual elite, came to listen to him. Medzhybizh became the seat of the movement and of the ]. His following gradually increased and with it the hostility of the Talmudists. Israel was supported at the beginning of his career by two prominent Talmudists, the brothers Meïr (] of ] and later ]a, and author of ''Meir Netivim'' (a work of halachic responsa) and other works) and Isaac Dov Margalios. Later he won over recognized rabbinic authorities who became his disciples and attested to his scholarship. These include ], rabbi of ]; Dovid Halperin, rabbi of Ostroha; Israel of ], author of ''Tiferet Yisrael''; Yoseph Heilperin of Slosowitz; and ]. It is chiefly due to the latter that Israel's doctrines (though in an essentially altered form) were introduced into learned Jewish religious circles.<ref name="je" />
Besht did not combat the practice of rabbinical Judaism; it was the spirit of the practice which he opposed. His teachings being the result not of speculation, but of a deep, religious temperament, he laid stress upon a religious spirit, and not upon the forms of religion. Though he considered the Law to be holy and inviolable, he held that one's entire life should be a service of God, and that this would constitute true worship of Him.
* Israel undertook journeys in which he is recorded as effecting cures and expelling demons and evil spirits (]). Later Hasidic tradition, however, downplayed the importance of these healing and magical practices, concentrating on his teachings, his charm, magnetism, and ecstatic personality.<ref>ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10, p. 744, Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson]</ref>
* The "Agudas Ohalei Tzadikim"<ref>{{Cite web |title=OHALEI TZADIKIM- About Us |url=http://www.otzadikim.com/AboutUs.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430214832/http://www.otzadikim.com/AboutUs.aspx |archive-date=2009-04-30 |access-date=2009-09-06}}</ref> organization (based in Israel) has restored many graves of ] (]im) in Ukraine, including the Baal Shem Tov's. A guesthouse and synagogue are located next to the ] of Baal Shem Tov, and the Baal Shem Tov's synagogue in the village proper has been painstakingly restored. Both synagogues are used by the many visitors from all over the world.
* Israel took sides with the Talmudists in their disputes against the Frankists (]'s cultist movement which regarded Frank as the ], modelled after ].) After the mass conversion of the Frankists, the Baal Shem Tov allegedly said that as long as a diseased limb is connected with the body, there is hope that it may be saved; but, once amputated, it is gone, and there is no hope.<ref>The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader, Immanuel Etke, UPNE, 2012 - Biography & Autobiography, p. 95</ref> It is alleged that he died out of grief that the Frankists left Judaism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Macijeko |first=Pawel |title=The Mixed Multitude |date=2011}}</ref>
* The Besht was a mystic who claimed to have achieved '']'' ("adhesion"), meaning that his soul could ascend to heaven and speak with any soul there, and intervene between humans and God. His followers believed that had the ability to protect the Jewish community from plague and persecution.<ref>Comparative Perspectives on Judaisms and Jewish Identities, Stephen Sharot, Wayne State University Press, 2011, p. 59</ref>
* According to legend, he ate '']'' every ] because the word was similar to the world ''farfalen'' which means "wiped out, over and finished". He considered the noodles a symbol marking the beginning of a new week.<ref>Jewish Soul Food: Traditional Fare and What it Means, Carol Ungar, Brandeis University Press, 2005, p. 25</ref>
* It was believed the Besht was a great medical practitioner with vast knowledge regarding salves, balms, and similar medicants. Some aspects of his medical practice are said to have been mystic in nature, though the degree to which this is the case is not agreed upon. Some claim{{Like whom?|date=January 2019}} that the Besht could only heal others through prayer, but others describe other mystical methods.<ref name=":3" />
* Besht did not combat ], but the spirit of its practice. His teachings being the result of a deep, religious temperament, he stressed the spirit. Though he considered the Law to be holy and inviolable, and he emphasized the importance of Torah-study, he held that one's entire life should be a service of God.<ref name="je" /> Hasidic legend tells of a woman whom her relatives sought to kill on account of her shameful life, but who was saved in body and soul by Besht. The story is said to be characteristic of Besht's activity in healing those in need of relief. More important to him than prayer was a friendly relationship with sinners. Unselfishness and high-minded benevolence are a motif in the legends about him.<ref name="je" /> Besht's methods of teaching differed from those of his opponents. He directed many satirical remarks at them, a characteristic one being his designation of the typical Talmudist of his day as "a man who through a sheer study of the Law has no time to think about God". Besht is reported to have illustrated his views of asceticism by the following parable:
*:A thief once tried to break into a house, the owner of which, crying out, frightened the thief away. The same thief soon afterward broke into the house of a very strong man, who, on seeing him enter, kept quite still. When the thief had come near enough, the man caught him and put him in prison, thus depriving him of all opportunity to do further harm.<ref name="je" /> Besht held a firm conviction that God had entrusted him with a special mission to spread his doctrines. He believed that he had heavenly visions revealing this mission to him. For him, every intuition was a ], and divine messages were daily occurrences.<ref name="je" /> An example of the power of his spiritual vision is found at the beginning of his grandson's work, ''Degel'', where he writes that his grandfather wrote to ] who lived in Israel, asking him why he was not in Israel that particular ].


==Confusion with Baal Shem of London==
Since every act in life is a manifestation of God, and must perforce be divine, it is man's duty so to live that the things called "earthly" may also become noble and pure, that is, divine. Besht tried to realize his ideal in his own career. His life provided the best example for his disciples; and his relationships with the innkeepers (a number of whom he raised to a higher level) furnished a silent but effective protest against the practice of the rabbis, who, in their inexorable sense of strict righteousness, would have no dealings with people fallen morally. The Hasidim tell of a woman whom her relatives sought to kill on account of her shameful life, but who was saved in body and soul by Besht. The story may be a myth, but it is characteristic of Besht's activity in healing those in greatest need of relief. More important to him than prayer was a friendly relationship with sinners; though the former constituted an essential factor in the religious life. The story of Besht's career affords many examples of unselfishness and high-minded benevolence. And while these qualities equally characterize a number of the rabbis of his day, his distinguishing traits were a merciful judgment of others, fearlessness combined with dislike of strife, and a boundless joy in life.
] (the Baal Shem of London)]]
A portrait by ] often mistaken for the Baal Shem Tov is really a portrait of Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk, who was known as the ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ba'al Shem Tov |url=http://www.tovste.info/Personalities/BaalShemTov.php |access-date=October 28, 2014 |website=tovste.info |postscript=;}}<br>{{Cite web |date=March 15, 2006 |title=The Ba'al Shem <s>Tov</s> |url=http://onthemainline.blogspot.com/2006/03/baal-shem-tov.html |access-date=October 28, 2014 |website=onthemainline}}</ref>


==In popular culture==
Moreover, Besht's methods of teaching differed essentially from those of his opponents and contributed not a little to his success. There are many satirical remarks directed against his opponents, an especially characteristic one being his designation of the typical Talmudist of his day as "a man who through sheer study of the Law has no time to think about God." Besht illustrated his views of asceticism by the following parable:
In 2019, the American funk quartet ] released an instrumental single named "The Baal Shem Tov" in honor of the rabbi.<ref>{{Cite web |last=The Fearless Flyers |title=The Baal Shem Tov |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkNmVSHckno |access-date=26 April 2019 |website=YouTube |date=25 April 2019 |publisher=Vulf Records}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Deflin |first=Kendall |date=25 April 2019 |title=The Fearless Flyers Release New Single, "The Baal Shem Tov" Featuring Joey Dosik |url=https://liveforlivemusic.com/news/fearless-flyers-baal-shem-tov/ |access-date=26 April 2019 |website=Live for Live Music |publisher=L4LM}}</ref>
:A thief once tried to break into a house, the owner of which, crying out, frightened the thief away. The same thief soon afterward broke into the house of a very strong man, who, on seeing him enter, kept quite still. When the thief had come near enough, the man caught him and put him in prison, thus depriving him of all opportunity to do further harm.


Singer ]'s song Baal Shem Tov on the album '']'' is named after him.
Not by fleeing from earthly enjoyments through fear is the soul's power assured, but by holding the passions under control.


He was portrayed by ] in the Ukrainian film ''Dovbush'' (2023).
Much of Besht's success was also due to his firm conviction that God had entrusted him with a special mission to spread his doctrines. In his enthusiasm and ecstasy he believed that he often had heavenly visions revealing his mission to him. In fact, for him every intuition was a divine revelation; and divine messages were daily occurrences.


== Gallery ==
Besht is quite naturally one of the most interesting figures in modern Jewish history. As a man of the people and for the people, it is not strange that he should have been honored and glorified in story and in tradition. Of the many narratives that cluster about him, the following are given as the most characteristic:
<gallery>
File:Baal Shem Tov's shul restored.jpg|A replica of the old synagogue of ], which was never used by Israel, attracts tourists (August 4, 2008).
File:Ohel Baal Shem Tov.jpg|Ohel of Baal Shem Tov; August 4, 2008
File:Guesthouse and synagogue at Ohel Baal Shem Tov.jpg|New guesthouse and synagogue next to Ohel of Baal Shem Tov (work in progress); August 4, 2008
</gallery>


==In legend== ==See also==
* ]
In chasidic tradition, there’s a saying, “Someone who believes in all the stories of the Baal Shem Tov and the other mystics and holy men is a fool; someone who doesn’t believe them is a heretic.”<ref>http://www.meaningfullife.com/torah/concepts/Miracles/Miracles_-_with_Ken_Woodward.php</ref>
* ]
* ]
* ]


==References==
About his parentage, legend tells that his father, Eliezer, whose wife was still living, was seized during an attack (by the ] perhaps), carried from his home in ], and sold as a slave to a prince. On account of his wisdom, he found favor with the prince, who gave him to the king to be his minister. During an expedition undertaken by the king, when other counsel failed, and all were disheartened, Eliezer's advice was accepted; and the result was a successful battle of decisive importance. Eliezer was made a ] and afterward ], and the king gave him the daughter of the viceroy in marriage. But, being mindful of his duty as a Jew and as the husband of a Jewess in Wallachia, he married the princess only in name. After being questioned for a long time as to his strange conduct, he confessed his race to the princess, who loaded him with costly presents and aided him to escape to his own country.
{{Notelist}}{{Reflist}}


== Further reading==
On the way, the prophet ] appeared to Eliezer and said: "On account of thy piety and steadfastness, thou wilt have a son who will lighten the eyes of all Israel; and Israel shall be his name, because in him shall be fulfilled the verse (] xlix. 3): 'Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.'" Eliezer and his wife Sarah, however, reached old age childless and had given up all hope of ever having a child. But when they were nearly a hundred years old, the promised son (Besht) was born.
The chief source for the Besht's biography is ]’s ''Shivchei ha-Besht'', Kopys, 1814, and frequently republished, and traditions recorded in the works of various Hasidic dynasties — especially by the leaders of the ] movement.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}


*], '']''
Besht's parents died soon after his birth; bequeathing to him only the deathbed exhortation of Eliezer, "Always believe that God is with you, and fear nothing." Besht ever remained true to this injunction. Thus, on one occasion, when he was escorting schoolchildren to synagogue, a wolf was seen, to the terror of old and young, so that the children were kept at home. But Besht, faithful to the bequest of his father, knew no fear; and, on the second appearance of the wolf, he assailed it so vigorously as to cause it to turn and flee. Now, says the legend, this wolf was ] (or, in some versions, a ] inspired by Satan). Satan had been very much perturbed when he saw that the prayers of the children reached God, who took more delight in the childish songs from their pure hearts than in the hymns of the ]s in the ]; and it was for this reason that Satan tried to put a stop to Besht's training the children in prayers and taking them to synagogue. From this time on, successful struggles with Satan, ]s, and all manner of ]s were daily occurrences with Besht.
*''Likutim Yekarim'' (''Likut'') — a collection of Hasidic doctrines
*The works of Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch
* ], guidelines, doctrines and instructions for religio-ethical conduct
*Keter Shem Tov, an anthology of his teachings, compiled mainly from the works of ] and ].
*''Sefer Baal Shem Tov'', a two-volume anthology of his teachings compiled from over 200 Hasidic texts, and constituting the most comprehensive collection.


] and ] are anthologies and have been reprinted numerous times. Both texts have now appeared in annotated editions with corrections of the texts. (] 1975, fifth revised edition 1998; ] 2004, second print 2008.) These new editions were edited by ] who also added analytical introductions, notes of sources and cross-references, commentaries, supplements and indices, and were published by the Chabad publishing house ] in Brooklyn NY.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}
===Miracles===
At this time, too, according to chasidic tradition, he learned how to work miracles with the name of God. The following is an instance: In ], where Besht stopped on his intended journey to the ], he was received with unusual hospitality by a worthy couple who were childless. In return for their kindness Besht, when departing, promised them that they should be blessed with a son, and rendered this possible by the utterance of the Sacred Name. Now, to do this is a great sin; and scarcely had the words of the incantation passed Besht's lips when he heard a voice from the heavens declaring that he had forfeited thereby his share in HaOlam HaBa (The World To Come). Instead of feeling unhappy over such a fate, Besht called out joyfully: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, for Thy mercy! Now indeed can I serve Thee out of pure love, since I may not expect reward in the future world!" This proof of his true love for God won pardon for his sin, though at the expense of severe punishment.


*], ''Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov'', {{ISBN|978-0826417725}}, Bloomsbury Academic, NY, 2005 (420 pp).
==Spiritual legacy==
* Etkes, Immanuel, ''The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader'' (The Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry) Hardcover – December 21, 2004
The following chart shows some of the teacher-student relationships that helped spread chasidic thought throughout the Jewish world, starting from the Baal Shem Tov.
*Dubnow, ''Yevreiskaya Istoria'', ii. 426–431
*'''R. Yisroel Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760)'''
*idem, in ''Voskhod'', viii. Nos. 5–10
**], grandson of The Baal Shem Tov (1757-1811)
*], ''Gesch. der Juden'', 2d ed., xi. 94–98, 546–554
***''Dynasty of ]''
**R. Jacob Joseph of ] (1710-1784)
**R. ] of ] (1680-1775)
**R. Yechiel Michl of ] (1721-1786)
***R. Moshe of Zhvil (?-1831)
****''Dynasty of ]''
***R. Mordechai of Neshchiz (1742-1800)
****''Dynasty of Neshchiz/Novominsk''
**R. ] of Mezrich (1704-1772)
***''Dynasties of ]/Chortkov/Boyan''
***R. ] of ] (1717-1786)
****R. ] of ] (1748-1825)
*****''Dynasty of Apta/Zinkov/Mezhbizh/Kopiczynitz''
****R. Yitzchak Ayzik Taub of ] (1751-1821)
*****''Dynasty of ]''
***R. Shmuel Shmelke of ] (1726-1778)
****R. Moshe Leib of Sassov (1745-1807)
*****''Dynasty of ]''
*****R. Menachem Mendel Hager of Kossov (1768-1825)
******''Dynasty of ]/]
***R. ] (1745-1813)
****''Dynasty of ]''
***R. ] of ] (1740-1810)
***R. Aaron of ] (1736-1772)
****''Dynasty of ]
***R. Yaakov Yitzchak Horowitz of ] (1745-1815)
****R. Naftali Tzvi Horowitz of ] (1760-1827)
*****''Dynasty of ]''
****R. ] of ] (1759-1841)
*****''Dynasty of ]''
****R. Tzvi Elimelech Shapira of Dinov (1783-1841)
*****''Dynasty of ]''
*****''Dynasty of Dinov/Bluzhov''
****R. ] of ] (1779-1855)
*****''Dynasty of ]''
****R. Yechezkel Taub of ] (1755-1856)
*****''Dynasty of ]''
****R. Simcha Binem of Prshis'che (1767-1827)
*****R. ] of ] (1787-1859)
*****R. ] of ] (1799-1866)
******''Dynasty of ]''
*****R. Yitzchak Kalish of ] (1779-1848)
******''Dynasty of ]''
*****R. Shraga Feivel of ] (?-1848)
******''Dynasty of ]''
****R. Naftali of Ropshitz (1760-1827)
*****R. ] of ] (1793-1876)
******''Dynasty of ]/]''
**R. Pinchas of ] (1728-1790)
**R. ] of ] (1730-1797)
***R. ]
****''Dynasty of ]/]/Talne/Rachmistrivke/Cherkass
**R. Leib of ] (1725-1812)
**R. Avraham Gershon of Kitov, brother-in-law of The Baal Shem Tov (1701-1761)

==Abbreviated Family Tree==
The following chart shows a simplified family tree. Asterisks denote important Chasidic spiritual leaders.

*'''R. Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760)''' = Chana
**Udel (1720-1787) = R. Yechiel Mikhl Ashkenazi
***Feiga = R. Simcha
****R. ] of ]* (1772-1810)
****R. Israel "The Dead"
***R. Moshe Chaim Ephraim of ] (1740-1800)
***R. ] of ]* (1757-1811) = Sima Chisha
**R. Zvi (1729-1800) = Malcha
***R. Dov Baer of ]
***R. Aaron of Titiov (?-1829)
****Sima Chisha = R. ] of ]* (1757-1811)
****R. Hershl of ]
****R. Avrohom of Skvira
***R. Israel "The Silent"
***Sheina Rachel = R. Moshe Zeev Auerbach of ] (?-1839)
****Naftoli Tzvi of Tsfas (d. 1864)

==Bibliography==
The chief source for Besht's biography is Baer (Dob) b. Samuel's ''Shivchei ha-Besht'', Kopys, 1814, and frequently republished.
*

For Besht's methods of teaching, the following works are especially valuable:
*Jacob Joseph ha-Kohen, Toledot Ya'akov Yosef
*Likutim (Likut)... a collection of Hasidic doctrines
*The works of Ber of Mezritsh
*Keser Shem Tov

Critical works on the subject are:
*Dubnow, ''Yevreiskaya Istoria'', ii. 426&ndash;431
*idem, in ''Voskhod'', viii. Nos. 5&ndash;10
*], ''Gesch. der Juden'', 2d ed., xi. 94&ndash;98, 546&ndash;554
*Jost, ''Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten'', iii. 185 et seq. *Jost, ''Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten'', iii. 185 et seq.
*A. Kahana, ''Rabbi Yisrael Ba'al Shem'', Jitomir, 1900 *A. Kahana, ''Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem'', Jitomir, 1900
*D. Kohan, in ''Ha-Sh.'' ;ar, v. 500&ndash;504, 553&ndash;554 *D. Kohan, in ''Ha-Sh.'' ;ar, v. 500–504, 553–554
*Rodkinson, ''Toledot Ba'ale Shem-Tov'';ob, Königsberg, 1876 *Rodkinson, ''Toledot Baale Shem-Tov'';ob, Königsberg, 1876
*Schechter, ''Studies in Judaism'', 1896, pp. 1&ndash;45 *Schechter, ''Studies in Judaism'', 1896, pp.&nbsp;1–45
*Zweifel, ''Shalom 'al-Yisrael'', i.&ndash;iii. *Zweifel, ''Shalom ’al-Yisrael'', i.–iii.
*], ''Keter Kehunah'', pp. 80&ndash;103 *], ''Keter Kehunah'', pp.&nbsp;80–103
*Frumkin, 'Adat ...;..Hasidim, Lemberg, 1860, 1865 (?) *Frumkin, ''’Adat Ẓaddiḳim'', Lemberg, 1860, 1865 (?)
*], ''Dreamers of the Ghetto'', pp. 221&ndash;288 (fiction). *], ''Dreamers of the Ghetto'', pp.&nbsp;221–288 (fiction).
*Chapin, David A. and Weinstock, Ben, The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in Eastern Europe, Volume 1. ISBN 0-595-00666-3 iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2000. *Chapin, David A. and Weinstock, Ben, The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in ], Volume 1. {{ISBN|0-595-00666-3}} iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2000.
*Rabinowicz, Tzvi M. ''The Encyclopedia of Hasidism'': ISBN 1-56821-123-6 Jason Aronson, Inc., 1996. *Rabinowicz, Tzvi M. ''The Encyclopedia of Hasidism'': {{ISBN|1-56821-123-6}} ], Inc., 1996.
*Rosman, Moshe, ''Founder of Hasidism'': ISBN 0-520-20191-4 Univ. of Calif. Press, 1996. *Rosman, Moshe, ''Founder of Hasidism'': {{ISBN|0-520-20191-4}} Univ. of Calif. Press, 1996. ()
*Rosman, Moshe, "Miedzyboz and Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov", ''Zion'', Vol. 52, No. 2, 1987, p. 177-89. Reprinted within ''Essential Papers on Hasidism'' ed, G.D. Hundert ISBN 0-814-73470-7, New York, 1991. *Rosman, Moshe, "Miedzyboz and Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov", ''Zion'', Vol. 52, No. 2, 1987, p.&nbsp;177-89. Reprinted within ''Essential Papers on Hasidism'' ed, G.D. Hundert {{ISBN|0-8147-3470-7}}, New York, 1991.
*], ''Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov'', Liebermann, Toronto 1961

*], '''' (annotated English translation with an introduction on the history and impact of this work and the controversy it evoked in the battle between Hasidism and its opponents), Kehot, Brooklyn NY 1998. Full text provided online
*{{JewishEncyclopedia}}
*], ''The Mystical Dimension'', 3 volumes, Kehot, Brooklyn NY 1990 (2nd ed. 1995)

* Sears, David, ''The Path of the Baal Shem Tov: Early Chasidic Teachings and Customs'' Jason Aronson, Queens NY 1997 {{ISBN|1-56821-972-5}}
{{Portalpar|Kabbalah|Tree_of_life_wk_02.jpg}}
*Singer, Isaac Bashevis, "''Reaches of Heaven: A Story of the Baal Shem Tov''", Faber, 1982

==References==
<References />


==External links== ==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*More assumptions and thesis
{{Commons category}}
*
*
*
*
* - The Testament of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov translated to English
* — The Testament of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov translated to English
* on chabad.org * on chabad.org
* from Routledge Publishing * {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926232834/http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415236614/resources/maps/map49.jpg |date=2009-09-26 }} from Routledge Publishing
* *
* *
*{{YouTube|id=GjwJFC4wYPg&list=UUeNr6gwqin_7e_atjVnJcCQ&index=1&feature=plcp|title=Video Lecture on the Ba'al Shem Tov}} by Dr. ]
* The book "Kesser Shem Tov" by Kehot Publications; as well as a poster and plaque titled "Kesser Shem Tov".
*
*
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117094757/https://dbs.bh.org.il/luminary/ben-eliezer-israel-baal-shem-tov-besht |date=2019-11-17 }}

===Baal Shem Tov stories=== ===Baal Shem Tov stories===
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Latest revision as of 17:51, 20 December 2024

Polish founder of Hasidic Judaism (1698–1760) For other uses, see Baal Shem.
Baal Shem Tov
Personal life
BornYisroel ben Eliezer
25 August 1698
Okopy Świętej Trójcy, Kingdom of Poland (now Ukraine)
Died22 May 1760
Międzybóż, Kingdom of Poland (now Ukraine)
SpouseChana (only named in legends)
Children
  • Tsvi of Pinsk (1729–1779)
  • Udel (1720–1787)
Parents
  • Eliezer (father)
  • Sara (only named in legends) (mother)
Religious life
ReligionJudaism
Jewish leader
SuccessorDov Ber of Mezeritch (1704–1772)

Israel ben Eliezer 1698 –1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov (/ˌbɑːl ˈʃɛm ˌtʊv, ˌtʊf/; Hebrew: בעל שם טוב) or BeShT (בעש"ט), was a Jewish mystic and healer who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. A baal shem tov is a "Master of the Good Name," that is, one able to work miracles using the secret name of God. Other sources explain his sobriquet as arising from a reputation of being a saintly, or superior, miracle-worker, hence he was given the nickname Baal Shem Tov, that is, the "good Baal Shem".

Biographical information about the Baal Shem Tov comes from contemporary Polish documents and from the largely legendary traditions about his life and behavior collected in the Praise of the Besht (Hebrew: שבחי הבעש"ט, romanized: Shivḥei haBesht).

A central tenet of the teachings associated with the Baal Shem Tov is the direct connection with the divine, "dvekut", which is infused in every human activity and every waking hour. Prayer is of supreme importance, along with the mystical significance of Hebrew letters and words.

Biography

See also: Baal Shem Tov family tree

Birth

Israel was born about 1698 to a certain Eliezer. According to Shivḥei haBesht,

Eliezer lived at the edge of Wallachia. He and his wife were elderly. Once upon a time, they were captured and taken prisoner to a far-away land . . . Eliezer found his wife, who thankfully still lived, and the Besht was born when each was near 100 years old.

According to other early Hasidic legends, he was born in "Okop" (probably Okopy, Ternopil Oblast), although Shivḥei haBesht only mentions him residing there as an adolescent, and only in a parenthetical insertion by the 1815 printer. Later legend names his mother Sarah.

Career

Solomon Isaac Halpern (1727 or 1729-1791) records two anecdotes about his father Jacob (1698-1738), the rabbi of Zhvanets, meeting "the renowned Israel Baal Shem, master of divine knowledge" which are apparently non-legendary, as Halpern was not a hasid, although he was only 9-11 when his father died. Israel performed a dream-quest and discovered that Jacob was the reincarnation of Isaac Alfasi. These meetings necessarily occurred before 1738.

1758 Polish tax census of Medzhybizh showing "Balsam" in house #95

Polish census records show that a certain holy man lived in Medzhybizh from 1740 to 1760, which was presumably Israel. In 1740 the census describes a "kabbalist," in 1742 and 1758 a "baal shem", and in 1760 a "baal shem doctor", perhaps a reference to the mystical healings Israel performs in legend.

Meir Teomim (d. 1775) mentions in Meirat Einayim (printed 1782) that "I saw a letter from the Holy Land, written by the pious Rabbi Gershon to his brother-in-law, the renowned master of the Good Name, Rabbi Israel, may he live . . ." From the honorific "may he live", it seems that this book was composed in Israel's lifetime; this is the only time the Baal Shem Tov was mentioned by name before his death.

Beyond these very scant sources, a few letters on theological subjects, attributed to Israel, were printed posthumously. Their authenticity is still debated by scholars. Nothing more can be gleaned of his biography from contemporary sources.

Death

He is last seen in the census as a resident of Medzhybizh in 1760. By 1763 another resided in the house, and Hasidic legends give various dates around 1760.

Posthumously printed letters

Several letters attributed to Israel or his associates have been printed since his death, and their authenticity is still debated by scholars. According to a letter supposedly from Besht's brother-in-law to the Besht himself—as interpreted by Rosman—the latter was a practitioner of prophecy, being able to see a messianic figure arrive in Jerusalem despite living far from the city; the brother-in-law claims to have inquired into the figure and discovered the Besht's vision to be true. This would support the belief that the Besht had the ability to see the souls of men, divining the messianic quality of the man despite only seeing him through a vision.

Rosman also describes another letter written by the brother-in-law which claims that the Besht could travel to heaven and commune with God. This view is derived from a series of titles given to the Besht, attributing various religious achievements to him such as understanding the mysteries of God.

Legacy

Monument to the Baal Shem Tov in Medzhybizh (before restoration in 2006–2008), inscribed רבי ישראל בעל שם טוב
The old synagogue of Medzhybizh (c. 1915). This building, which was never used by Israel (he preferred an alternate minyan), burned during World War II. Today a replica attracts tourists to Medzhybizh under the name "Baal Shem Tov Shul". A second replica opened in 2022 as a community synagogue in Wesley Hills, NY.
An 18th-century Kabbalistic siddur in the Chabad library. Chabad claims that this siddur was used by Israel.

Israel ben Eliezer left no books; the Kabbalistic commentary on Psalm 107, ascribed to him (Zhitomir, 1804), Sefer miRabbi Yisrael Baal Shem-tov, is not genuine. Therefore, the only record of his teachings is in his utterances as recorded in the works of his disciples (Hasidim). Most are found in the works of Jacob Joseph of Polnoy. But since Hasidism, immediately after the death of its founder, was divided into various parties, each claiming for itself the authority of Besht, the utmost of caution is necessary for judging as to the authenticity of utterances ascribed to Besht.

Jacob Joseph quotes over eight hundred teachings of Israel in his books. Jacob Joseph sometimes states that he's not sure if a quote is the "exact" words of the Baal Shem Tov, apparently implying that other quotes are verbatim.

The later developments of Hasidism are unintelligible without consideration of Besht's reputed opinions concerning man's proper relation with the universe. True worship of God consists of the cleaving to, and the unification with, God. He is supposed to have said, "the ideal of man is to be a revelation himself, clearly to recognize himself as a manifestation of God." Mysticism, then, is not the Kabbalah, which everyone may learn, but that sense of true oneness, which is usually as strange, unintelligible, and incomprehensible to mankind as dancing is to a dove. However, the man who is capable of this feeling is endowed with a genuine intuition, and it is the perception of such a man which is called prophecy, according to the degree of his insight. From this it results, in the first place, that the ideal man may lay claim to authority equal, in a certain sense, to the authority of the Prophets. This focus on oneness and personal revelation help earn his mystical interpretation of Judaism the title of Panentheism.

A second and more important result of the doctrine is that through his oneness with God, man forms a connecting link between the Creator and creation. Thus, slightly modifying the Bible verse, Hab. 2:4, Israel is quoted, "The righteous can vivify by his faith." His followers enlarged upon this idea and consistently deduced from it the source of divine mercy, of blessings, of life; and that therefore, if one loves him, one may partake of God's mercy.

On the opposite side of the coin, the Baal Shem Tov is said to have warned the Hasidim:

Amalek is still alive today ... Every time you experience a worry or doubt about how God is running the world—that's Amalek launching an attack against your soul. We must wipe Amalek out of our hearts whenever—and wherever—he attacks so that we can serve God with complete joy.

It may be said of Hasidism that there is no other Jewish sect in which the founder is as important as his doctrines. Israel himself is still the real center for the Hasidim; his teachings have almost sunk into oblivion. As Schechter ("Studies in Judaism," p. 4) observes: "To the Hasidim, Baal-Shem ... was the incarnation of a theory, and his whole life the revelation of a system."

Chapin and Weinstock contend that the Besht was essentially the right person, in the right place, at the right time. 18th century Podolia was an ideal place to foster a seachange in Jewish thinking. It had been depopulated one generation earlier due to the Khmelnitsky Massacres. A Turkish occupation of Podolia occurred within the Besht's lifetime and along with it the influence within this frontier territory of Sabbatai Zevi and his latter-day spiritual descendants such as Malach and Jacob Frank. Once the Polish Magnates regained control from the Turks, Podolia underwent an economic boom. The Magnates valued the economic benefits the Jews provided, and encouraged Jewish resettlement to help protect the frontier from future invasions. Thus, the Jewish community itself was essentially starting over.

Notable students

The Baal Shem Tov directly imparted his teachings to his students, some of whom founded their own Hasidic dynasties.

Legends

Hasidim soon filled volumes with fantastical legends about his life. These volumes, especially Shivḥei haBesht (1815), are presumed to contain a small historical kernel, but scholars continue to debate which passages are credible.

  • The opening legend of Shivḥei haBesht tells that his father, Eliezer, was seized during an attack, carried from his home in Wallachia, and sold as a slave to a prince. On account of his wisdom, he found favor with the prince, who gave him to the king to be his minister. During an expedition undertaken by the king, when other counsel failed, and all were disheartened, Eliezer's advice was accepted; and the result was a successful battle of decisive importance. Eliezer was made a general and afterward prime minister, and the king gave him the daughter of the viceroy in marriage. But being mindful of his duty as a Jew and as he was already married, he married the princess only in name. After being questioned for a long time as to his strange conduct, he confessed to the princess that he was a Jew, who loaded him with costly presents and helped him escape to his own country. On the way, the prophet Elijah is said to have appeared to Eliezer and said: "On account of thy piety and steadfastness, thou wilt have a son who will lighten the eyes of all Israel; and Israel shall be his name because in him shall be fulfilled the verse (Isaiah 49:3): 'Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.'" Eliezer and his wife Sarah, however, reached old age childless and had given up all hope of ever having a child. But when they were nearly a hundred years old, the promised son (Besht) was born.
  • In 1703, Israel became an orphan, and was adopted by the Jewish community of Tluste. After the conclusion of his studies at the local cheder, he would often wander into the fields and forests that surrounded the village.
  • In 1710, he finished cheder and became an assistant to a melamed (instructor in cheder).
  • In 1711 at the age of 13/14 he entered the "Chaburas Machane Yisroel", a group of hidden tzaddikim led by Adam Baal Shem. Adam introduced him to Kabbalah.
  • Sometime in 1712 Israel became a shammash (sexton) of the local synagogue.
  • He was hired as a teacher's assistant in the cheders of the small villages through which they passed. He later related that he took great pleasure in accompanying the children to and from school, using this opportunity to recite prayers with them and tell them Torah stories. The Mezritcher Maggid would later say, "If only we kissed a Torah scroll with the same love that my master kissed the children when he took them to cheder as a teacher's assistant!"
  • He had visions in which the prophet Achiya Hashiloni would appear to him.
  • In 1716 Israel married, but soon his wife died and he went on travelling throughout Eastern Galicia. After serving for a long time as a helper in various small communities of West Ukraine, he settled as a melamed at Tluste.
  • Israel became the leader of this movement at the age of 18. Caring for the Jewish poor, the group of Tzadikim encouraged Jews to move to agrarian lifestyles as alternatives to the chronic poverty of city Jews. In continuation of this policy, they decided that they needed to look after the educational needs of the children living in small farm communities. If a suitable teacher could not be sourced they themselves would provide one, and therefore Israel became a teacher's assistant. He later commented "The most joyous time in my life was teaching the small children how to say Modeh Ani, Shema Yisrael and Kametz Alef Ah".
  • He was chosen by people conducting suits against each other to act as their arbitrator and mediator. His services were brought into frequent requisition because the Jews had their own civil courts in Poland.
  • He is said to have made such an impression on Ephraim of Brody that the latter promised Israel his daughter Channah in marriage. The man died, however, without telling his daughter of her betrothal; but when she heard of her father's wishes, she agreed to comply with them. After their marriage, the couple moved to a village in the Carpathians between Kuty and Kassowa, where their only income was from his work digging clay and lime, which his wife delivered to surrounding villages. The couple had two children: Udl (born in 1720) and Zvi Hersh. A maternal great-grandson of Israel and his wife was Nachman of Breslov whose paternal ancestry came from (according to Hasidic tradition), the Maharal's family descended patrilineally from the Babylonian Exilarchs (during the era of the geonim) and therefore also from the Davidic dynasty.
  • Israel later took a position as a shohet (ritual butcher) in Kshilowice, near Iaslowice, which he soon gave up in order to manage a village tavern that his brother-in-law bought for him. His first appearance in public was that of an ordinary Baal Shem, a faith-healer who wrote amulets and prescribed cures, functioning as a type of shaman.
  • After many trips in Podolia and Volhynia as a Baal Shem, Israel, considering his following large enough and his authority established, decided about 1740 to expound his teachings in the shtetl (Jewish village) of Medzhybizh and people, mostly from the spiritual elite, came to listen to him. Medzhybizh became the seat of the movement and of the Medzybizh Hasidic dynasty. His following gradually increased and with it the hostility of the Talmudists. Israel was supported at the beginning of his career by two prominent Talmudists, the brothers Meïr (chief rabbi of Lemberg and later Ostroha, and author of Meir Netivim (a work of halachic responsa) and other works) and Isaac Dov Margalios. Later he won over recognized rabbinic authorities who became his disciples and attested to his scholarship. These include Yaakov Yosef Hakohen, rabbi of Polnoy; Dovid Halperin, rabbi of Ostroha; Israel of Satinov, author of Tiferet Yisrael; Yoseph Heilperin of Slosowitz; and Dov Ber of Mezrich. It is chiefly due to the latter that Israel's doctrines (though in an essentially altered form) were introduced into learned Jewish religious circles.
  • Israel undertook journeys in which he is recorded as effecting cures and expelling demons and evil spirits (shedim). Later Hasidic tradition, however, downplayed the importance of these healing and magical practices, concentrating on his teachings, his charm, magnetism, and ecstatic personality.
  • The "Agudas Ohalei Tzadikim" organization (based in Israel) has restored many graves of Tzadikim (Ohelim) in Ukraine, including the Baal Shem Tov's. A guesthouse and synagogue are located next to the Ohel of Baal Shem Tov, and the Baal Shem Tov's synagogue in the village proper has been painstakingly restored. Both synagogues are used by the many visitors from all over the world.
  • Israel took sides with the Talmudists in their disputes against the Frankists (Jacob Frank's cultist movement which regarded Frank as the Messiah, modelled after Sabbatai Zevi.) After the mass conversion of the Frankists, the Baal Shem Tov allegedly said that as long as a diseased limb is connected with the body, there is hope that it may be saved; but, once amputated, it is gone, and there is no hope. It is alleged that he died out of grief that the Frankists left Judaism.
  • The Besht was a mystic who claimed to have achieved devekut ("adhesion"), meaning that his soul could ascend to heaven and speak with any soul there, and intervene between humans and God. His followers believed that had the ability to protect the Jewish community from plague and persecution.
  • According to legend, he ate farfel every Friday night because the word was similar to the world farfalen which means "wiped out, over and finished". He considered the noodles a symbol marking the beginning of a new week.
  • It was believed the Besht was a great medical practitioner with vast knowledge regarding salves, balms, and similar medicants. Some aspects of his medical practice are said to have been mystic in nature, though the degree to which this is the case is not agreed upon. Some claim that the Besht could only heal others through prayer, but others describe other mystical methods.
  • Besht did not combat rabbinical Judaism, but the spirit of its practice. His teachings being the result of a deep, religious temperament, he stressed the spirit. Though he considered the Law to be holy and inviolable, and he emphasized the importance of Torah-study, he held that one's entire life should be a service of God. Hasidic legend tells of a woman whom her relatives sought to kill on account of her shameful life, but who was saved in body and soul by Besht. The story is said to be characteristic of Besht's activity in healing those in need of relief. More important to him than prayer was a friendly relationship with sinners. Unselfishness and high-minded benevolence are a motif in the legends about him. Besht's methods of teaching differed from those of his opponents. He directed many satirical remarks at them, a characteristic one being his designation of the typical Talmudist of his day as "a man who through a sheer study of the Law has no time to think about God". Besht is reported to have illustrated his views of asceticism by the following parable:
    A thief once tried to break into a house, the owner of which, crying out, frightened the thief away. The same thief soon afterward broke into the house of a very strong man, who, on seeing him enter, kept quite still. When the thief had come near enough, the man caught him and put him in prison, thus depriving him of all opportunity to do further harm. Besht held a firm conviction that God had entrusted him with a special mission to spread his doctrines. He believed that he had heavenly visions revealing this mission to him. For him, every intuition was a divine revelation, and divine messages were daily occurrences. An example of the power of his spiritual vision is found at the beginning of his grandson's work, Degel, where he writes that his grandfather wrote to Gershon Kitover who lived in Israel, asking him why he was not in Israel that particular Shabbos.

Confusion with Baal Shem of London

Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk (the Baal Shem of London)

A portrait by John Singleton Copley often mistaken for the Baal Shem Tov is really a portrait of Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk, who was known as the Baal Shem of London.

In popular culture

In 2019, the American funk quartet The Fearless Flyers released an instrumental single named "The Baal Shem Tov" in honor of the rabbi.

Singer Matisyahu's song Baal Shem Tov on the album Spark Seeker is named after him.

He was portrayed by Luzer Twersky in the Ukrainian film Dovbush (2023).

Gallery

  • A replica of the old synagogue of Medzhybizh, which was never used by Israel, attracts tourists (August 4, 2008). A replica of the old synagogue of Medzhybizh, which was never used by Israel, attracts tourists (August 4, 2008).
  • Ohel of Baal Shem Tov; August 4, 2008 Ohel of Baal Shem Tov; August 4, 2008
  • New guesthouse and synagogue next to Ohel of Baal Shem Tov (work in progress); August 4, 2008 New guesthouse and synagogue next to Ohel of Baal Shem Tov (work in progress); August 4, 2008

See also

References

  1. Hebrew: ישראל בן אליעזר. Also transliterated Yisroel, Yisrael.
  1. ^ According to a forged document from the "Kherson Geniza", accepted only by Habad Hasidim, he was born in October 1698. Some Hasidic traditions place his birth as early as 1690, while Simon Dubnow and other modern scholars argue for a date around 1700.
  2. Hasidic sources give various dates around the year 1760. In his last documentary appearance, Israel was listed as a Medzhybizh resident in a 1760 census.
  3. Jones, Daniel (2003) , Peter Roach; James Hartmann; Jane Setter (eds.), English Pronouncing Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 3-12-539683-2
  4. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "BA'AL SHEM-ṬOB, ISRAEL B. ELIEZER". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  5. ^ Rosman, Moshe (2013-06-20). Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-909821-11-8.
  6. Simon Dubnow (1916). History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, pgs 223-224. Jewish Publication Society of America.
  7. H. Sperling (1913). "Jewish Sectaries III: Chassidim" (The Jewish Review) p.137. G. Routledge and Sons, Limited.
  8. Shivḥei haBesht. Kopys: Israel Jaffe. 1815.
  9. The brilliance of the Baal Shem Tov now in English, Haaretz.
  10. "Shivchei HaBesht 1:1". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  11. "Shivchei HaBesht 2:2". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  12. ^ Scholem, Gershom (March 31, 1961). "The Historical Image of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov". Yiddisher Kemfer (in Yiddish). 42 (1401). This article has been reprinted in Hebrew many times.
  13. ^ בלינסון, משה אליעזר (1901). שלמי אמוני ישראל: קובץ מאמרים לספרות לשוננו הקדושה (in Hebrew). דפוס איסאקאוויטש ובעלינסאן.
  14. לוינשטין, יוסף (1899). כרם חמד לבית ישראל הוא ספר דור ודור ודורשיו: ... קובץ סדר זמן ושנות פטירת חכמי ומנהיגי ישראל בכל דור ... גם סדר היאר צייטין ... (in Hebrew). דפוס שולדבערג ושותפו.
  15. Heschel, Abraham Joshua (1985). The circle of the Baal Shem Tov : studies in Hasidism. Internet Archive. Chicago : University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-32960-4.
  16. ^ Jay, Rosman Murray (1996). Founder of Hasidism: a quest for the historical Ba'al Shem Tov. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520916760. OCLC 44962956.
  17. "The Historic Baal Shem Tov Shul In Medzhybizh, Ukraine". Creative Jewish Mom. May 4, 2018.
  18. Sharona (2022-08-02). "Living Higher: Issue 922 - Mishpacha Magazine". Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  19. "לקוטי דבורים – חלק ג – שניאורסון, יוסף יצחק, 1880–1950". hebrewbooks.org. p. 39. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  20. Hayom Yom, Tammuz 16.
  21. Golding, Peretz. "The Baal Shem Tov—A Brief Biography – Jewish History". Chabad.org. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  22. "לקוטי דבורים - חלק ג - שניאורסון, יוסף יצחק, 1880-1950". p. 42. Archived from the original on 2014-02-17. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  23. "לקוטי דבורים - חלק ג - שניאורסון, יוסף יצחק, 1880-1950". p. 43. Archived from the original on 2014-02-17. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  24. See The Maharal of Prague's Descent from King David, by Chaim Freedman, published in Avotaynu Vol 22 No 1, Spring 2006
  25. John M. Efron, Medicine and the German Jews: A History, Yale University Press, p. 91:
    "Israel ben Eliezer Baal Shem-Tov (1700–1760), the founder of Hasidism, was in fact a faith healer and amulet writer"
  26. https://www.worldhistory.org/Kabbalah/
    "Hasidism or Hasidic Judaism was ostensibly founded by an 18th-century CE itinerant mystic and faith-healer who came to be called the Baal Shem Tov"
  27. YIVO Encyclopedia: https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/baal_shem_tov:
    "(Yisra’el ben Eli‘ezer, 'the Besht'; ca. 1700–1760), healer, miracle worker, and religious mystic... founder of the modern Hasidic movement... in the 1730s, Yisra’el began using the title ba‘al shem or ba‘al shem tov (... meaning that he was a 'master of God's name,' which he could manipulate for theurgic purposes), denoting his skills as a healer—one Polish source refers to him as ba‘al shem doctor—and his general qualifications as a shaman, a figure who could mediate between this world and the divine spheres in an effort to help people solve their... problems."
  28. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/psychedelic-summit-madison-margolin: "The Baal Shem Tov, himself, the father of the Hasidic movement, was said to be a medicine man, an herbalist, and shaman of sorts, who would go around with his enchanted pipe, providing healing to people."
  29. ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 10, p. 744, Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson]
  30. "OHALEI TZADIKIM- About Us". Archived from the original on 2009-04-30. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  31. The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader, Immanuel Etke, UPNE, 2012 - Biography & Autobiography, p. 95
  32. Macijeko, Pawel (2011). The Mixed Multitude.
  33. Comparative Perspectives on Judaisms and Jewish Identities, Stephen Sharot, Wayne State University Press, 2011, p. 59
  34. Jewish Soul Food: Traditional Fare and What it Means, Carol Ungar, Brandeis University Press, 2005, p. 25
  35. "Ba'al Shem Tov". tovste.info. Retrieved October 28, 2014;
    "The Ba'al Shem Tov". onthemainline. March 15, 2006. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  36. The Fearless Flyers (25 April 2019). "The Baal Shem Tov". YouTube. Vulf Records. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  37. Deflin, Kendall (25 April 2019). "The Fearless Flyers Release New Single, "The Baal Shem Tov" Featuring Joey Dosik". Live for Live Music. L4LM. Retrieved 26 April 2019.

Further reading

The chief source for the Besht's biography is Ber (Dov) ben Shmuel’s Shivchei ha-Besht, Kopys, 1814, and frequently republished, and traditions recorded in the works of various Hasidic dynasties — especially by the leaders of the Chabad movement.

  • Jacob Joseph ha-Kohen, Toldot Yaakov Yosef
  • Likutim Yekarim (Likut) — a collection of Hasidic doctrines
  • The works of Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch
  • Tzava’at HaRivash, guidelines, doctrines and instructions for religio-ethical conduct
  • Keter Shem Tov, an anthology of his teachings, compiled mainly from the works of Jacob Joseph of Polonne and Likutim Yekarim.
  • Sefer Baal Shem Tov, a two-volume anthology of his teachings compiled from over 200 Hasidic texts, and constituting the most comprehensive collection.

Tzava’at HaRivash and Keter Shem Tov are anthologies and have been reprinted numerous times. Both texts have now appeared in annotated editions with corrections of the texts. (Tzva’at HaRivash 1975, fifth revised edition 1998; Keter Shem Tov - Hashalem 2004, second print 2008.) These new editions were edited by Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet who also added analytical introductions, notes of sources and cross-references, commentaries, supplements and indices, and were published by the Chabad publishing house Kehot in Brooklyn NY.

  • Buxbaum, Yitzhak, Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov, ISBN 978-0826417725, Bloomsbury Academic, NY, 2005 (420 pp).
  • Etkes, Immanuel, The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader (The Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry) Hardcover – December 21, 2004
  • Dubnow, Yevreiskaya Istoria, ii. 426–431
  • idem, in Voskhod, viii. Nos. 5–10
  • Heinrich Grätz, Gesch. der Juden, 2d ed., xi. 94–98, 546–554
  • Jost, Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten, iii. 185 et seq.
  • A. Kahana, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem, Jitomir, 1900
  • D. Kohan, in Ha-Sh. ;ar, v. 500–504, 553–554
  • Rodkinson, Toledot Baale Shem-Tov;ob, Königsberg, 1876
  • Schechter, Studies in Judaism, 1896, pp. 1–45
  • Zweifel, Shalom ’al-Yisrael, i.–iii.
  • Zederbaum, Keter Kehunah, pp. 80–103
  • Frumkin, ’Adat Ẓaddiḳim, Lemberg, 1860, 1865 (?)
  • Israel Zangwill, Dreamers of the Ghetto, pp. 221–288 (fiction).
  • Chapin, David A. and Weinstock, Ben, The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in Eastern Europe, Volume 1. ISBN 0-595-00666-3 iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2000.
  • Rabinowicz, Tzvi M. The Encyclopedia of Hasidism: ISBN 1-56821-123-6 Jason Aronson, Inc., 1996.
  • Rosman, Moshe, Founder of Hasidism: ISBN 0-520-20191-4 Univ. of Calif. Press, 1996. (Founder of Hasidism by Moshe Rosman)
  • Rosman, Moshe, "Miedzyboz and Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov", Zion, Vol. 52, No. 2, 1987, p. 177-89. Reprinted within Essential Papers on Hasidism ed, G.D. Hundert ISBN 0-8147-3470-7, New York, 1991.
  • Schochet, Jacob Immanuel, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, Liebermann, Toronto 1961
  • Schochet, Jacob Immanuel, Tzava’at Harivash — The Testament of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (annotated English translation with an introduction on the history and impact of this work and the controversy it evoked in the battle between Hasidism and its opponents), Kehot, Brooklyn NY 1998. Full text provided online
  • Schochet, Jacob Immanuel, The Mystical Dimension, 3 volumes, Kehot, Brooklyn NY 1990 (2nd ed. 1995)
  • Sears, David, The Path of the Baal Shem Tov: Early Chasidic Teachings and Customs Jason Aronson, Queens NY 1997 ISBN 1-56821-972-5
  • Singer, Isaac Bashevis, "Reaches of Heaven: A Story of the Baal Shem Tov", Faber, 1982

External links

Baal Shem Tov stories

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