Baal Shem Tov

Israel ben Eliezer (According to a forged document from the "Kherson Geniza", accepted only by Chabad, 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. –1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov (; ) or BeShT (), 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, Baal Shem "miracle-worker", hence he was given the nickname Baal Shem ''Tov'', the "good Baal Shem".

Biographical information about the Baal Shem Tov comes from contemporary documents from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the legendary traditions about his life and behavior collected in the ''Praise of the Besht'' ().

A central tenet of the teachings associated with the Baal Shem Tov is devekut, a direct connection with the divine, 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

Birth

Israel was born about 1700 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 non-legendary, as Halpern was not a hasid, although he was only between 9 and 11 when his father died. The Baal Shem Tov performed a dream quest and discovered Jacob was the reincarnation of Isaac Alfasi, a famous Maghrebi scholar. These meetings necessarily occurred before 1738. This article has been reprinted in Hebrew many times.
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", the last being perhaps testimony to Israel's thaumaturgical practice.

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 scholars still debate their authenticity. According to a letter supposedly from Besht's brother-in-law to Israel 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 could see the souls of men, divining the messianic quality of him despite only seeing him through a vision.

Rosman also describes another letter the brother-in-law wrote, 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

Israel ben Eliezer left no books; a kabbalistic commentary on Psalm 107, ascribed to him (Zhytomyr, 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. Since Hasidism, immediately after the death of its founder, was divided into various parties, each claiming for itself the authority of Besht, the utmost caution is necessary for judging 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 unsure if a quote is the "exact" words of the Baal Shem Tov, 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 cleaving to and unifying 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. That sense of true oneness, which is usually as strange, unintelligible, and incomprehensible to mankind as dancing is to a dove. However, someone capable of this feeling is endowed with a genuine intuition, and the perception of such a man is 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.

The doctrine's second and more important result is that man forms a connecting link between the Creator and creation through his oneness with God. Thus, slightly modifying the Bible vers
Habbakuk 2:
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, blessings, and life; therefore, one may partake of God's mercy if one loves him.

On the opposite side of the coin, Israel is said to have warned his followers that " 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 crucial as his doctrines. Israel himself is still the real center for the Hasidim; his teachings have almost sunk into oblivion. As Solomon 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. The 18th century Podolia was ideal for fostering a sea change in Jewish thinking. It had been depopulated one generation earlier due to the pogroms of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. The Ottoman occupation of Podolia occurred within Israel's lifetime, and along with it, the influence within this frontier territory of Sabbatai Zevi and his latter-day spiritual descendants such as Chaim Malach and Jacob Frank. Once the Magnates of Poland and Lithuania regained control of Podolia, it underwent an economic boom. The Magnates valued the financial 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 dynasties.

* Jacob Joseph of Polonne (1710–1784)
* Ze'ev Wolf Kitzes of Medzhybizh (~1685–1788)
* Dov Ber of Mezeritch (1704–1772)
* Nachum Twerski of Chernobyl (1730–1797) founder of the Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty
* Abraham Gershon of Kitov ( Kuty), brother-in-law of The Baal Shem Tov (1701–1761); descendant (possibly the grandson) of Shabbatai HaKohen (1625–1663)
* Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov (1748–1800) (his grandson)
* Boruch of Medzhybizh (1753–1811) (his grandson)
* Meir Hagadol of Premishlan (1703–1773)
* Nachman of Horodenka (d. 1765)

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.'" However, Eliezer and his wife Sarah 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, Israel, was born.

* In 1703, Israel became an orphan and was adopted by the Jewish community of Tluste. After completing his studies at the local ḥeder, he often wandered into the village's fields and forests.
* In 1710, he finished ''cheder'' and became an assistant to a melamed (''ḥeder'' teacher).
* In 1711, at the age of 13/14, he joined the '' ḥaburat Machane Yisroel'', a group of secret tzadikim led by Adam Baal Shem. Adam introduced him to Kabbalah.
* Sometime in 1712 Israel became the shammash ( sexton) of the local synagogue.
* He was hired as a teacher's assistant in the heders of the small villages they passed through. 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. Dov Ber of Mezeritch would later say, "If only we kissed a Torah scroll with the same love that my master he Baal Shem Tovkissed the children when he took them to heder as a teacher's assistant!"
* He had visions in which the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite would appear to him.
* In 1716, Israel married, but soon after, his wife died, and he traveled throughout Eastern Galicia. After serving for a long time as a helper in various small communities of West Ukraine, he settled as a melamed in 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. Continuing this policy, they decided 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 would provide one, so 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 Kamatz 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 Exilarchs of the geonic era and therefore also from the Davidic line.

* Israel later took a position as a shohet (ritual butcher) in Kshilowice, near Iaslowice, which he soon gave up 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,
* 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 of Medzhybizh and people, mainly from the spiritual elite, came to listen to him. Medzhybizh became the seat of the movement and of the Mezhbizh. 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, who were Chief Rabbis of Lemberg and later Ostroh, and author of ''Meir Netivim'' 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 Jacob Joseph of Polonne; Dovid Halperin, rabbi of Ostroha; Israel of Sataniv, author of ''Tiferet Yisrael''; Yoseph Heilperin of Slosowitz; and Dov Ber of Mezeritch. 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 shedim (evil spirits). Later Hasidic tradition downplayed the importance of these healing and magical practices, concentrating on his teachings, 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 Frankism, a Sabbataeanist movement. After the mass conversion of the Frankists to Christianity, 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, meaning that his soul could ascend to heaven, speak with any soul there, and intervene between humans and God. His followers believed that could protect the Jewish community from plague and persecution.
* According to legend, he ate '' farfel'' every Shabbat evening, because the word is similar to the Yiddish word ''farfaln'' "wiped out, over, 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 medicaments. Some aspects of his medical practice are said to have been mystic, 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.
* Israel did not oppose traditional Jewish practices, but the spirit behind them. His teachings resulted from a deep, religious temperament; he stressed the spirit. Though he considered halakha to be holy and inviolable, and he emphasized the importance of Torah-study, he held that one's entire life should be service to 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 characteristic of Besht's activity in healing those needing 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:

Israel 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 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 Abraham Gershon of Kitov, who lived in Ottoman Palestine, asking him why he was not there that particular Shabbat.

Misattributed images

A portrait by John Singleton Copley, often mistaken for the Baal Shem Tov, is a portrait of Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk, who was known as "the Baal Shem of London". Another popular image is in fact , the Gradeitzer Rebbe.

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).

The Israeli author Yochi Brandes authored the novel ''Adele'', which explores the life of Baal Shem Tov from the perspective of his daughter, Adele (Udel).

Gallery

File:Baal Shem Tov's shul restored.jpg, A replica of the old synagogue of Medzhybizh, 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

See also

* List of Hasidic dynasties
* Hasidim and Mitnagdim
* Tzavaat HaRivash
* Baal Shem Tov family tree

References

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'', , 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. iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2000.
*Rabinowicz, Tzvi M. ''The Encyclopedia of Hasidism'': Jason Aronson, Inc., 1996.
*Rosman, Moshe, ''Founder of Hasidism'': 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 , 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
*Singer, Isaac Bashevis, "''Reaches of Heaven: A Story of the Baal Shem Tov''", Faber, 1982

External links

The Baal Shem Tov FoundationBrief biographyTzava’at Harivash
— The Testament of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov translated to English
Baal Shem Tov minisite
on chabad.org
Map of the Baal Shem Tov and his disciple's travels
from Routledge Publishing
Thirty Six Aphorisms of the Baal Shem TovJewish Encyclopedia article
* by Dr. Henry Abramson

History of Jewish Community in Medzhibozh

Grave of the Baal Shem Tov in Medzhibozh (video)

Beit Hatfutsot: Heroes - Trailblazers of the Jewish People

Baal Shem Tov stories

Baal Shem Tov Foundation Story Room
*
Baal Shem Tov Foundation — Library

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Baal Shem
1698 births
1760 deaths
People from Ternopil Oblast
18th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire
Hasidic rebbes
Panentheists
Kabbalists
Polish Hasidic rabbis
Shochtim
18th-century rabbis
Faith healers