The Baal Shem Tov: Difference between revisions

'''Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov''', also known by the acronym '''Besht''', is considered the founder of the Chassidic movement and its philosophy, from which all Chassidic courts derived. Before revealing himself as a mystic leader, the Baal Shem Tov headed a secret fellowship of hidden mystics.

The Baal Shem Tov was born on August 21 1698 (18 Elul 5458). He passed away on May 21, 1760 (6 Sivan 5520). He is buried in Medzhybizh, in present-day Ukraine.

In 1648 (5408), fifty years before the birth of the Baal Shem Tov, the great Khmelnytsky Uprising took place. It was a rebellion of the Cossacks against the ruling class, during which murderous pogroms against Jews destroyed entire communities. These events are known as ''Gzerot Tach VeTat'', an acronym for the Hebrew years [5]408–[5]409.

As a result of the horrible pogroms, the spiritual and material situation of the Jews was in great decline. Chassidic teachings refer to this period as “the fainting,” similar to a man who lost consciousness and fell into a deep sleep. Rabbi Pinchas Koritzer, a Chassidic scholar, said that the Baal Shem Tov’s soul descended into the world to awaken the souls of Israel from their state of unconsciousness.  

The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that in the same way that a person's first name is called to awaken him when he faints because the name comes from the essence of the soul, so too, when the soul's essence awakens, he himself comes to life. Before the Baal Shem Tov was revealed as a leader, the Jewish people were sunk into unconsciousness and the Almighty sent down the soul of the Besht (with the powerful name Israel) to awaken the essence of the soul of the people and rouse them from their sleep.