Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov

Title page of Shivchei HaBesht, first edition, Kopust, 5575 (1815)

Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov (שבחי הבעל שם טוב — "In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov"), commonly abbreviated as Shivchei HaBesht, is a collection of stories about the life and deeds of the founder of the Chassidic movement, Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov.

This work — the first anthology of Chassidic stories to be printed, appearing in the year 5575 (1815) — is not a systematic historical record or biography in the conventional sense, but rather a portrayal of the Baal Shem Tov's holiness and greatness.

Identity of the author and sources of the stories

The identity of the compiler of the collection is known from the title page of the second edition, the Berdichev edition, which states that

all these stories were engraved and spoken in truth by one who is holy, distinguished in Torah and fear of Heaven, the well-known chassid, the honored Rabbi Dov Ber son of the honored Rabbi Shmuel, the ritual slaughterer of the holy community of Linits, who was formerly the son-in-law of the late, well-known and distinguished honored Rabbi Alexander the ritual slaughterer, of blessed memory.

The author, R' Dov Ber son of R' Shmuel, the shochet u'bodek (ritual slaughterer and inspector) of Linits, was the son-in-law of R' Alexander the ritual slaughterer, who had served as the Baal Shem Tov's personal secretary for eight years — and who is the source for many of the stories in the collection. The town of Linits, where R' Dov Ber resided, lent additional authority to the work, as Gedalia of Linits, the author of Teshu'os Chen and one of the Baal Shem Tov's closest disciples, served there as rabbi and is the source for numerous traditions in the book (cited as "from the mouth of the rabbi of our community").

At the opening of most stories the source is indicated ("I heard"); various sources are cited for each story, and some stories derive from oral chains of transmission. Of the approximately two hundred and fifty stories in the collection, around one hundred originate with community rabbis; thirteen come from communal preachers; four were heard from Chassidic leaders; and many of the remaining stories also trace back to religious functionaries and communal figures such as ritual slaughterers and teachers. A small number of stories are first-hand accounts, and many others are second- or third-hand testimony.

According to the tradition of Chabad Chassidim, the author heard most of the stories from the Alter Rebbe — Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Chassidus.

General content and structure

The collection contains approximately two hundred and fifty stories of praise, recounting episodes from the life of the Baal Shem Tov — including significant events alongside anecdotes that illuminate his character — as well as sections devoted to secondary figures from his world. The collection is arranged more or less in chronological order, from the Baal Shem Tov's birth to his passing.

Two distinct sections can be identified within the book. The first is an ordered and structured Seder HishtalsheluS (account of the chain of transmission), shaped according to Chabad tradition. This section contains seventeen stories, covering the following subjects: the Baal Shem Tov's father; the Baal Shem Tov's birth and development; R' Adam Baal Shem; the transmission of R' Adam's writings to the Baal Shem Tov through R' Adam's son, and the relationship between them; the Baal Shem Tov and his brother-in-law Rabbi Avraham Gershon of Kitov; the Baal Shem Tov and the bandits; the Baal Shem Tov and the frog; and the Baal Shem Tov's self-revelation before two rabbis and his path to establishing the Chassidic community in Kutov. This section concludes with the printer's declaration: "Thus far I heard in the name of the Rebbe, of blessed memory, the order of the chain of transmission."

The second section — the writings of R' Dov Ber himself — contains over two hundred additional stories.

Purpose of the work

In the introduction to the book, the author sets out his motivations for committing these tales to writing, for the benefit of the Jewish people. He attests that the purpose of his life is to gather the stories of the Baal Shem Tov and his circle and commit them to writing: "The two years of my life that I have lived these years in my weakness are entirely so that I might write down these stories as a memorial." The title page of the first edition (the Kopust edition) declares that the book's purpose is "stories of wonders and awesome deeds of the glory, light of Israel and its holy one... the divine master R' Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory... and the many benefits that flow from these to inflame the hearts of people to serve the Blessed One." The title page of the Berdichev edition adds: "and the many benefits that flow from these stories are explained at length in the introduction. Thoughts will be aroused and hearts inflamed, as they set their eyes and hearts to understand and reflect upon every detail of these matters, to be with them and read from them all the days of their lives, so that they may learn to fear the Lord their G-d and serve their King with a whole heart."

In his introduction, the author mentions that he had wished to append a moral lesson (mussar haskel) to the end of each story, but ultimately set aside that plan. In an addition to the author's introduction, his son R' Yehuda Leib relates that his father charged him with the task of copying the manuscript and instructed him to add, alongside minor textual corrections, a teaching from Torah or from the words of the Sages at the end of each story — an instruction that was ultimately not carried out. In the few instances where such a moral lesson does appear at the end of a story in the collection, it is unknown whether it was written by the author or by his son.

History of the book and its editions

The manuscript of R' Dov Ber of Linits was copied several times before it was first printed in 5575 (1815), apparently in the first half of the Hebrew year (between mid-Cheshvan and mid-Nisan), in Kopust in White Russia (in Belarusian and Russian: Копысь; today in the Vitebsk region of Belarus), by the Chabad printer R' Yisrael Yafe, who printed the edition from one of the manuscript's copies rather than from the original manuscript itself.

Although the approbation of the rabbi of Kopust for the printing of the book forbade its reprinting for the following six years, two additional editions appeared in that very same year, 5575 (1815): one in Berdichev and one in Laszczów — testifying to the great demand the book had already generated. The approbations at the opening of these editions explain why the rabbis permitted their publication (and overrode the prohibition of the first edition). In the approbation to the Berdichev edition, printed by the publisher R' Shmuel Segal, R' Meir, the Maggid of Zelov, argued that the first edition contained passages that could be spiritually harmful to readers not equipped to grasp their depth, and that it would have been better had they not been printed. Indeed, that edition omitted passages from two stories — from an anonymous source — that had appeared on the final page of the first edition, replacing them with a different brief story. The Berdichev edition also incorporates a number of textual variants which, for the most part (though not always), correct erroneous readings or printing errors from the first edition. The book subsequently appeared in many further editions.

In the very year of the first printing, a Yiddish translation was published in Ostrog. The differences between the Yiddish translation and the Hebrew book have prompted scholarly debate over whether the Yiddish version is based on the printed Hebrew text or on a different — and possibly earlier — Hebrew source. Scholars Chana Shmeruk, Avraham Ya'ari, and Avraham Rubinstein maintained that the differences between the two versions are substantial enough to indicate that they represent two distinct textual traditions. Yehoshua Mondshine and, following him, Emmanuel Etkes argued that the differences stem from the Yiddish version being a freer rendering for popular audiences — since the intended readership of the Yiddish work differed from that of the Hebrew original, consisting primarily of women and those less learned.

The printed text has preserved corruptions resulting from copying errors, omissions of entire sentences, and textual emendations — not always improvements — introduced by the printer and possibly the typesetter as well.

In the early 1980s, two young students at 770 Eastern Parkway came across an ancient book accompanied by a handwritten manuscript. After consulting with Rabbi Shalom Dovber Levin of the Agudas Chassidei Chabad Library, who determined that the manuscript was indeed from the well-known Shivchei HaBesht (and noted that it might resolve many apparent contradictions between stories as they had been printed until then, as it appeared to be the oldest extant manuscript of Shivchei HaBesht), the students decided to present it as a gift to the Rebbe, and brought it to the secretariat of the Rebbe. The book is today held in the Agudas Chassidei Chabad Library, and is sometimes displayed in the library's exhibition on the Baal Shem Tov.

In 5742 (1982), shortly after the manuscript arrived at the Agudas Chassidei Chabad Library, Mondshine published it in hardcover under the title Shivchei HaBesht Kesav Yad ("Shivchei HaBesht: Manuscript Edition") — a photographic reproduction of the handwritten manuscript that the two students had brought to the Rebbe. The manuscript helps clarify obscure passages in the printed text.

The attitude of the Chabad Rebbes toward the book

Some of the stories were heard by the author from the Alter Rebbe, and some were heard from Chassidim who in turn had heard them from the Alter Rebbe; moreover, it is clear from the book that the Alter Rebbe also explained the content of the stories. For this reason, our Rebbeim, the Nesi'im — the Chabad Rebbes — regarded the book as a whole as reliable.

Of one story, the Tzemach Tzedek wrote: "It seems to me this is the precise language of my grandfather" — and the Rebbe cited this comment of the Tzemach Tzedek on several occasions.

It is a received tradition from the Tzemach Tzedek that what is written in Shivchei HaBesht is true. When one of the Tzemach Tzedek's daughters-in-law fell ill, he instructed that Shivchei HaBesht be read aloud to her — and she recovered.

Further reading

• Shivchei HaBesht Kesav Yad (Shivchei HaBesht: Manuscript Edition). An early manuscript of Shivchei HaBesht from the Lubavitch Library. Edited by Yehoshua Mondshine. Heichal Publications, Jerusalem, 5742 (1982).

External links

• Second edition of 5575 (1815) on HebrewBooks.org
• Mondshine edition, 5742 (1982), on HebrewBooks.org