Sarah (The mother of The Baal Shem Tov)
Rebbetzin Sarah was the mother of the Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement.
Biography[edit | edit source]
Sarah was born around 1608,[1] and married Rabbi Eliezer. After their marriage, the couple settled near the border ruins of a town that had been destroyed in war, near the town of Tlust in the region of Wallachia.[2] Though they were wealthy, the couple devoted most of their means to hachnasat orchim (hospitality to guests). Rabbi Eliezer earned his livelihood selling bread, while Sarah worked as a seamstress — a craft for which she accepted no payment.[3]
According to the account recorded in Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov, raiders once attacked the town and took Rabbi Eliezer captive, while Sarah was working at the time as a midwife. After Rabbi Eliezer endured a series of ordeals, the two were eventually reunited and resumed their life together.[4]
For many years the couple had no children. According to one account in Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov, they merited a son in their old age as a reward for Rabbi Eliezer's having declined the position of viceroy rather than marry the king's daughter.[4] A second account relates that the couple was blessed with a son after they welcomed a guest who arrived on Shabbos — a guest who was later revealed to have been Elijah the Prophet.[5]
Neither parent lived long after the birth of their son. Rabbi Eliezer passed away shortly after the child was born, and Sarah followed not long afterward, at the age of ninety.[5]
Sarah was buried in the Jewish cemetery of Tlust. In 5500 (1740), the Baal Shem Tov erected a tombstone at the site. During the Holocaust, the location of her grave was lost. It was later identified through the testimony of elderly townspeople who remembered the site. In 5769 (2009), the organization Ohalei Tzaddikim ("Tents of the Righteous") erected a new monument at the location.[6]
Although Sarah passed away while the Baal Shem Tov was still young, Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov records an episode from his childhood in which he came into conflict with a sorceress, who turned to the Baal Shem Tov's mother and warned her that if her son continued to disturb her, she would harm him.[7] Some scholars maintain that the woman referred to in this story as the Baal Shem Tov's mother was not Sarah but rather his stepmother, who raised him after both his parents had died.[8]
Family[edit | edit source]
- Her son, the Baal Shem Tov — founder of the Chassidic movement
Further Reading[edit | edit source]
- Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov, 5777 (2017), pp. 29–33
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ This dating is based on the account that her son, the Baal Shem Tov, was born when she was nearly ninety years old.
- ↑ Sefer HaSichos 5696 (1936), p. 130.
- ↑ Ruderman, p. 26.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov, 5750 (1990), pp. 49–51.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Sefer HaSichos 5701 (1941), pp. 43–44.
- ↑ Tlust: The Grave of Marat Sarah, Mother of the Baal Shem Tov, Located (Hebrew), at the Ohalei Tzaddikim website.
- ↑ Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov, §86.
- ↑ Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov, 5777 (2017), p. 130, note 240.