Chassidic stories baal shem tov biography
Chassidic stories baal shem tov biography
Chassidic stories baal shem tov biography full...
Baal Shem Tov
Polish founder of Hasidic Judaism (1698–1760)
For other uses, see Baal Shem.
Israel ben Eliezer[a] (c. 1700[1] –1760[2]), known as the Baal Shem Tov (;[3]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.[4][5] 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".[6][7]
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).[8]
A central tenet o