I. Etkes

Israel ben Eliezer (c. 1700 −1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov (; Hebrew: בעל שם טוב) or BeShT (בעש״ט), was a Jewish mystic and healer regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. A baal shem tov is a "Master of the Good Name"—that is, one able to work miracles using a secret name of God. Other sources explain his sobriquet as arising from a reputation of being a saintly, or superior, Baal Shem ('miracle-worker'); hence, he was given the nickname Baal Shem Tov (the "good Baal Shem"). Biographical…