The Baal Shem Tov The founder of Hasidism is shrouded in legend
and mystery. Reprinted with permission from The Jewish Religion:
A Companion, published by Oxford University Press. Baal Shem
Tov, “Master of the Good Name,” was the title given to Israel
ben Eliezer (1698‑1760), founder of the Hasidic movement
(Hasidism). The title (often abbreviated to Besht, after its
initial letters) refers to the use, as in the Kabbalah, of
various combinations of divine names (“names of God”) in order
to effect miraculous cures. Like other miracle workers of the
time, the Besht was first known as a practitioner of white
magic, but this aspect of his life is usually played down by the
Hasidim, who prefer his role as spiritual master and guide to
predominate. The life of the Besht is so surrounded by legends
that some historians doubted his existence. The legendary
biography Shivhey HaBesht (Praises of the Besht) was not
published until around fifty years after his death, by which
time numerous legends had proliferated, and i