Ba‘al Shem Tov

Polish religious leader

• Born: August 27, 1698
• Birthplace: Okup, Podolia (now in Ukraine)
• Died: May 23, 1760
• Place of death: Probably near Medzhibozh, Podolia (now in Ukraine)

Baՙal Shem Tov brought Eastern European Jewry out of a long period of decay and spread a rejuvenated religious outlook through society. He founded the modern Hasidic branch of Judaism.

Early Life

Baՙal Shem Tov (BAY-uhl shehm tawv), which means “master of the good name,” was born Israel ben Eliezer in the village of Okup in Polish Ukraine. One of the strongholds of Judaism from the Middle Ages, the region was filled with Jewish schools, community organizations, and businesses. Israel’s parents were poor and elderly, and they died when he was a young child. Some sources report that Eliezer was an infant when his parents died, but at least one scholar believes he was old enough to be influenced by his father’s dying words: “Fear nothing, because God will take care of all.”

The boy had a strikingly exuberant spirit, and even though he was taken under the wing of community leaders, he made his own way from an early age. Eliezer sporadically attended elementary school and spent many hours wandering in the nearby forests and studying nature; by night, he studied the mystical texts of the Kabbala. At age twelve, Eliezer was made an assistant to the schoolmaster, and later he became a synagogue attendant. Even as a boy, he was known for his warm, magnetic personality and for his study of Judaism.

Although Eliezer was married at eighteen, his bride died almost immediately after the ceremony, and the young widower commenced a life of wandering. He worked in Halicz as a school assistant before settling in the Ukrainian village of Blust, near Brody, as a teacher. In his personal habits, Israel showed the utmost simplicity.

His second marriage was fraught with conflict before it began. Eliezer was betrothed to Hannah, the daughter of a leading citizen in a nearby town, but her father died before the wedding. Hannah’s brother, who disliked Israel’s rough appearance and seemingly limited prospects, opposed the marriage. By now, however, Hannah had fallen in love with her fiancé, and the couple were married and left Brody, taking only a few belongings. Later, when Hannah’s brother became aware of Baՙal Shem Tov’s powers of healing and spirituality, he repented of his harsh treatment and helped the couple financially.

In their early married life, Eliezer and his wife settled in the Carpathian Mountains, where she helped support him as he performed menial labor and returned to the forest to learn everything he could about plants, the themes of nature, and the relationship between God and the mind.

Life’s Work

The work of Baՙal Shem Tov evolved from his study of nature and what he perceived as God’s relationship to the natural world and to humans. The troubled times in which he lived, moreover, directed his studies toward helping peasants. Ultimately, Baՙal Shem Tov sparked a popular revival of Judaism.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Judaism flourished in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland. The Jewish population in the region grew tenfold, from fifty thousand to one-half million, between 1500 and 1650. Jews enjoyed vibrant educational and social institutions and were accorded some measure of self-government. In the mid-1600’s, however, anti-Jewish violence killed 100,000 people and destroyed seven hundred communities.

After this devastating blow, Jewish institutions were crippled, and mystical strains of the religion gained popularity over the more formal and structured Talmudic study. The asceticism of the earlier scholar Isaac Luria, which emphasized self-mortification as the way to know God, took hold. There was little in formal Talmudic Judaism to appeal to the needs of the dispirited masses. This was a time of deep pessimism and superstition for the Jews of Eastern Europe.

During this period, amulets came into widespread use as talismans to ward off evil spirits and to invite beneficent ones. A person who produced these amulets was called a baՙal shem, meaning that he manipulated the letters of God’s name to produce potent phrases. Eliezer became a baՙal shem of such renown that the adjective tov, or “good,” was added to his name, and he became popularly known as Baՙal Shem Tov. Yet he was more than merely a baՙal shem.

As Baՙal Shem Tov took to the forests in his twenties, he became a skilled herbalist and was known throughout the area as a sort of homeopathic doctor. His wit and charm combined with his healing skills drew throngs of people to him for help. Not only could he cure their physical ailments, but he also offered psychological counseling. His followers included Jewish and gentile peasants, members of the nobility, and some religious leaders.

While wandering by himself in the Carpathian Mountains, Baՙal Shem Tov had formulated a pantheistic outlook: He believed that God was present in all living things and that even the struggle with Satan could be found within the godliness of the natural world. From this belief, he discerned that it was possible for a true communion with God to spring from the close relation between God’s creations and the actions of everyday human life. This kind of communion, in observing the minutiae of Jewish law and in performing necessary tasks, was the basis of modern Hasidism. It constituted a valuable and sincere form of prayer.

Baՙal Shem Tov wanted this kind of modest yet constant religious observance to be joyful, which meant an end to asceticism and unhealthy self-denial as ways to know God and the beginning of dancing and singing in prayerful practice. He wanted Jews’ spiritual ardor to be buttressed with good health habits. A sound body and a rested soul would be ready to begin again each day a new cycle of observance and communion with God. Since he wanted those who had gone astray to have an easy path to repentance, he was considerably more lenient than many Jewish leaders in treating human frailties.

At age thirty-six, Baՙal Shem Tov emerged from his long period of solitary study to share his wisdom. By 1740, he had established his home and spiritual community in Medzhibozh, a town in the frontier region of Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania, where he was to live the rest of his life. Baՙal Shem Tov made a good living providing amulets and advice, and his inspirational stories and parables were the treasured source of a rich oral legacy. His voluminous correspondence required the help of two secretaries. Among the adherents who came to his new spiritual community were some of the rabbis who were to spread Hasidism, including Rabbi Jacob Joseph, Rabbi Dov Baer of Merzeritz, and Rabbi Pinchas.

Hasidism, by definition, were pious disciples, and Baՙal Shem Tov was the zaddik, their master. Through his ordination of visiting cantors, prayer leaders, rabbis, and lay followers, Hasidism spread like a wave through Jewish society. The religion was now accessible to everyone, unlike the rigid and rationalist system of Talmudic study that heretofore had been held up as the pinnacle of Jewish observance. Baՙal Shem Tov did not oppose formal Talmudic study himself but said that he had no time for such a luxury. These teachings of Baՙal Shem Tov were not met with universal approval: The Hasidic communities that spread through the region were opposed by some orthodox scholars.

During a journey to a theological debate in 1759, Baՙal Shem Tov fell ill, and he died a short time later. The Hasidic movement, however, gained strength after his death, and by 1780, Hasidism so threatened the orthodox leaders that the movement was excommunicated by Jewish civil authority.

Baՙal Shem Tov left little written record, no more than a few letters, and his legacy was based on oral tales passed down among his disciples. It was not until 1814-1815 that Shivhei ha-Besht (In Praise of the Baՙal Shem Tov, 1970) was published by his followers. After this came a wider body of literature that further propelled the growth of Hasidism.

Significance

Baՙal Shem Tov began a populist movement that revitalized Polish Jewry, a movement that would last two hundred years, until the Holocaust forced its remnants to the New World. The large, vibrant Hasidic community in Brooklyn, New York, for example, is a sign that the underlying theme of joyful daily observance still holds great appeal among Jews. Despite the brutal dislocation of the Polish Jews in the twentieth century, the oral legacy begun by Baՙal Shem Tov’s first disciples has remained unbroken to the present. The pattern of early Hasidism, with a local spiritual leader surrounded by a community of disciples, has endured.

Some of the herbal remedies discovered by Baՙal Shem Tov have survived in modern medicine. His treatments of insanity and melancholy relied on influencing the mind rather than inflicting punishment, anticipating modern psychiatric practices. The patterns of song and dance that formed in Hasidism may be discerned in contemporary popular culture, although some of the earlier gesticulation and conjuring have faded.

Although he lived simply, Baՙal Shem Tov did not despise riches. In one of his tales, he takes into account the sad family history of a rich man for whom eating was a form of revenge against anti-Semitic violence. Baՙal Shem Tov explains that sincere prayers from such a person may be more pleasing to God than the supplications of a person prideful of his or her own poverty and asceticism. In the same vein, Baՙal Shem Tov was not reluctant to proclaim the importance of a zaddik, or righteous master, in spreading his message. He was mindful of his critics and supplied ample justification to protect his appeal.

Bibliography

Blumenthal, David R. Understanding Jewish Mysticism. Vol. 2. New York: Ktav, 1982. Explores the evolution of Hasidism in its daily rituals, stories, prayers, community relations, and modern Hasidic lore. Contains unusual instructions for mystic spells. The text of a short tale about Baՙal Shem Tov is included with comments.

Etkes, Immanuel. The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader. Translated by Saadya Sternberg. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2004. English translation of a Hebrew biography. Etkes attempts to refute claims that Baՙal Shem Tov was a childlike mystic, wandering the fields in prayer and engaging in acts of piety. Instead, he maintains that Baՙal Shem Tov did not intend to found a religious movement.

Heschel, Abraham J. The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov: Studies in Hasidism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985. A testament to the growth of Hasidic studies, this historical work explores the beginnings of Hasidism through the lives of Baՙal Shem Tov’s philosophical circle.

Klepfisz, Herszel. Culture and Compassion: The Spirit of Polish Jewry from Hasidism to the Holocaust. New York: Ktav, 1983. Written by one of the foremost scholars of Hasidism. Klepfisz traces his own descent from the original disciples of the Hasidic movement. A warm, personal look at the spiritual life of the Polish Jews.

Noveck, Simon. Creators of the Jewish Experience. Washington, D.C.: B’nai B’rith Books, 1985. The chapter on seminal Jewish theologians places the life of Baՙal Shem Tov in the relatively modern role of guiding the religion in new directions. Succinct biographical selections.

Rosman, Murray Jay. Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Baՙal Shem Tov. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. Rosman bases his biography upon the accounts of Baՙal Shem Tov or contemporary eyewitnesses to separate the truth about the origins of Hasidism from the legends.

Seltzer, Robert M. Jewish People, Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History. New York: Macmillan, 1980. A major reference work on the roots of Judaism from earliest times. Contains a concise definition of Hasidism and is valuable in explaining the early fractures in the movement. Contains illustrations, numerous clear maps, and a detailed bibliography.

Weiss, Joseph. Studies in Eastern European Jewish Mysticism. Edited by David Goldstein. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Detailed analysis of Hasidic teachings and the lives of the early followers. A tightly woven vessel for some of the historical riches of Hasidism.