Sefer Baal Shem Tov al HaTorahבעל שם טוב
Medzhybizh (Ukraine) · 1750
בש
Baal Shem Tov
Baal Shem Tov
1698 CE–1760 CE · Hasidic · Okopy (Podolia)
Founder of the Hasidic movement in 18th-century Ukraine. Israel ben Eliezer (the 'Baal Shem Tov,' 'Master of the Good Name') taught that simple sincere devotion, joy, and the recognition of God's presence in every detail of life are the heart of Jewish spirituality. His teachings, preserved by his disciples, transformed Eastern European Jewry and gave rise to all subsequent Hasidic dynasties.
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Stop 1 of 51698–1712Born
Okopy (Podolia)Podolia
What they did here
Born in Okopy, by tradition in 1698 (the historian Moshe Rosman dates it c. 1700). Orphaned young, he was cared for by the local community. Shivchei HaBesht tells that the mystic Rabbi Adam Baal Shem, before his death, charged his son to bring his secret writings to the boy in Okopy; the son came, and the two studied them together.
About Okopy (Podolia)
Okopy (Okop), a village in Podolia on the historic Polish-Wallachian frontier (today in western Ukraine), is traditionally identified as the birthplace, in 1698, of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov, founder of the chasidic movement.
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Baal Shem Tov’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
Works(2)
Keter Shem Tovכתר שם טוב
Medzhybizh (Ukraine) · 1877
Related figuresדמDegel Machaneh EphraimDDov BerפקPinchas of KoretzמעMenachem Nachum of ChernobylSuggested by shared subject matter, not a documented teaching relationship.