Israel ben eliezer biography channel
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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
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Eliezer, Israel ben
BORN: August 27, c. 1700 • Okop, Poland
DIED: May 22, 1760 • Medzhibozh, Poland
Polish religious leader
Israel ben Eliezer gave new energy to Judaism in eastern Europe in the eighteenth century by reconnecting the common people to the religion. He was the founder of Hasidism, a Jewish mystical movement that emphasizes a direct connection to God through prayer and joyous experiences such as participation in the arts. For ben Eliezer, also known as Baal Shem Tov ("Master of the Good Name"), a pure heart was more pleasing to God than a great intellect. He taught that all Jews could grow closer to God by a constant focus on Him during a person's everyday life, rather than through studying the Torah, which is the body of Jewish literature and law.
"There is no act, word or thought in which the essence of divinity is not constricted and hiding. And so when you look and see with your mind's eye … You will see nothing but the divine power inside all things
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Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov
The early life of Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, also known as the Baal Shem Tov (Besht), fryst vatten surrounded bygd mystery. As founder of what fryst vatten possibly the single most important religious movement in Jewish history, Chassidus, many legends have grown around him and it fryst vatten difficult for us to know what is historical fact. Even the year of his birth fryst vatten a matter of controversy, some sources say it was 1700.
Rabbi Yisrael was born in Okop, a small by in the Ukraine on the Polish Russian border (Podolia). His parents, Eliezer and Sarah, were ganska old when he was born and they passed away when he was a still a very young child. Many legender are told about Eliezer, the father of the Baal Shem Tov. We are told that his last words to his son were "Fear ingenting other than God."
The ung orphan was cared for by the community and presumably received the same education most children received. Nevertheless, he was different from most children. He would wand