Baal Shem Tov הבעל שם טוב
founder of Hasidism
Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer was born in 5458 in a small town in Podolia, was orphaned early, worked as a teacher's assistant and a synagogue watchman, and spent years in the Carpathians concealing what he knew. Around 5494 he revealed himself; people called him the Baal Shem Tov, "master of the good Name".
His teaching is simple and overturning. "There is no place empty of Him"—therefore one may serve through any act: work, food, conversation. Joy matters more than sorrow, and despondency is the worst enemy. Prayer with the heart is worth more than learning without it. Every Jew, however simple, is directly bound to the Creator, and the tzaddik is not a lord but one who lifts others.
This landed in a world crushed by the Khmelnytsky massacres and the collapse of Shabbetai Tzvi, where the learned elite had drifted from the poor majority. A circle of students formed around him—the Maggid of Mezritch, and Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, who recorded his teachings.
He wrote almost nothing himself.
On the timeline
Places
Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- Toldot Yaakov Yosef — the first printed chasidic book, transmitting his words
- Keter Shem Tov — the collection of his teachings
- Shivchei HaBesht — the accounts of him recorded by his disciples
Documents of the period
- Iggeret HaKodesh (the Baal Shem Tov’s letter) — the letter to his brother-in-law about the ascent of the soul — his own text
Basis: documents and evidence.