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386 Ba'al Shem-Tob

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Baalbek

seeing him enter, kept quite still. When the thief had come near enough, the man caught him and put him in prison, thus depriving him of all opportunity to do lurther harm."

Not by

fleeing from earthly enjoyments through the soul's power assured, but by holding the passions under control. Much of Besht's success was also due to his firm conviction that God had entrusted him with a special mission to spread his doctrines. In his enthusiasm and ecstasy he believed that he often had heavenly visions revealing his mission to him. In fact, for him every intuition was a divine revelation; and divine messages were daily occurrences. Accustomed, through the influence of the Cabala, to use mystic language, Besht frequently said with emphasis that his teacher was Ahijah of Shiloh, the prophet

fear

is

who

at God's bidding undertook to briDg about

the breach between Judah and Israel. Besht was fully aware of the opposition between himself and rabbinical Judaism. And just as Ahijah's struggle with Judah ended in the victory of the golden calves, so Besht's endeavors for reform ended in the later Hasidism, a degeneration far worse than the Talmudic-rabbinic Judaism against which he had contended. Besht is quite naturally one of the most interesting figures in modern Jewish legend. As a man of the people and for the people, it is not strange that he should have been honored and glorified in story and in tradition. Of the many narratives that cluster about him, the following are given as the most characteristic

tion.

386

Thus, on one occasion, when he was escorting

school-children to synagogue, a wolf was seen, to the terror of old and young, so that the children were kept at home. But Besht, faithful to the be-

quest of his father, knew no fear; and, on the second appearance of the wolf, he assailed it so vigorously as Now, says the legend, to cause it to turn and flee. Satan had been very much this wolf was Satan. perturbed when he saw that the prayers of the children reached God, who took more delight in the childish songs from their pure hearts than in the

hymns

of the Levites in the Temple; and it was for Satan tried to put a stop to Besht's

this reason that

training the children in prayers and taking them to synagogue. From this time on, successful struggles with Satan, demons, and all manner of evil spirits

were daily occurrences with Besht. At this time, too, he learned how to work miracles with the name of God. The following is an instance In Constantinople, where Besht stopped on his intended journey to Palestine, he was received with unusual hospitality by a worthy couple His who were childless. In return for Miracles, their kindness Besht, when departing, promised them that they should be blessed with a son, and rendered this possible by the utterance of the Sacred Name. Now, to do this was a great sin and scarcely had the words of the incantation passed Besht's lips when he heard a voice in heaven declaring that he had forfeited thereby his

share in the future life. Instead of feeling unhappy over such a fate, Besht called out joyfully " Blessed art Thou, O Lord, for Thy mercy Now indeed can I serve Thee out of pure love, since I may not expect reward in the future world " This proof of his true love for God won pardon for his sin, though at the expense of severe punishment. Besht's miraculous power was so great that he did not fear even the brigands who lived in the mountains, but dwelt care-free in their vicinity. Once, when wandering about, deeply immersed in thought, he climbed a steep mountain and, without noticing where he was going, reached a very dangerous spot. Besht thought that his end had come, for he felt himself slipping toward a deep precipice; but suddenly the opposite cliff approached and closed up the gap. The robbers, who were looking on at a distance, doubted no longer that he was a man endowed with divine power. Bibliography: The chiel source for Besht's hiography is Baer (Dob) b. Samuel's Shibhe lia-Besht, Kopys, 1814, and

About Eliezer,

his parentage, legend tells that his father,

whose wife was

In Legend,

!

was

seized during an attack (by the Tatars?), carried from his home in Wallachia, and sold still

living,

as a slave to a prince.

On

account of

wisdom he found favor with the prince, who gave him to the king to be his minister. During an expedition undertaken by the king, when his

and all were disheartened, was accepted; and the result was a successful battle of decisive importance. Eliezer was made a general and afterward prime minister, and the king gave him the daughter of the vice-king other

counsel

failed,

Eliezer's. advice

But, being mindful of his ("|^Dp HJEM3) in marriage. duty as a Jew and as the husband of a Jewess in Wallachia, he married the princess only in name. After being questioned for a long time as to his strange conduct, he confessed his race to the princess, who loaded him with costly presents and

aided him to escape to his own country. On the way, the prophet Elijah appeared to Eliezer and said " On account of thy piety and steadfastness, thou wilt have a son who will lighten the eyes of all Israel and Israel shall be his name, because in him shall be Thou art my servfulfilled the verse (Isa. xlix. 3) Eliezer ant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. " and his wife, however, reached old age childless and had given up all hope of ever having a child. But when the}' were nearly a hundred years old, the promised son (Besht) was born. Besht's parents died soon after his birth benueathing to him onty the death-bed exhortation of Eliezer, "Always believe that God is with thee, and fear nothing." Besht ever remained true to this injunc'



'



!

frequently republished. For Besht's methods of teaching, the following works are especially valuable Jacob Joseph haKohen, Toledot Ya'ahob Yofef IAhUmHm [Likkute'] Yekarim, a collection of Hasidie doctrines the works of Baer of Meseritz. Critical'works on the subject are: Dubnow, Yevreishaya Istoria, ii. 426-431; idem, in Voskhod, viii. Nos. 5-10; Gr&tz, Gesch. der Juden, 2d ed.,xi. 94-98,546554 Jost, Gesch. des Judenthurns und Seiner Sehten, iii. 185 et seq.; A. Kabana, Rahfri Yisrael Ba'al Shem, Jitomir, 1900; D. Kohan, in Ha-Shahar, v. 500-504, 553-554; Rodkinson, Toledot Ba'ale Shem-Tbb, Kflnigsberg, 1876 Schechter, Studies in Judaism, 1896, pp. 1-45; Zweifel, Shalom 'aJpp. a









.

Frumkin, 'Adat Zaddikim, Lemberg, 1860, 1865 (?); Zangwill, Dreamers of the Ghetto, pp. 321-288 (Action). k. L. G.

BAAL-TAMAR

A

place near Gibeah, mentioned in the account of the battle between the Benjamites and the other Israelites (Judges xx. 33). Eusebius (" Onomastica Sacra," 238, § 75) knew Baal: