Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
The eighteenth-century Polish-Jewish mystic, Israel ben Eliezer - known as the Ba'al Shem Tov, or the Besht - is one of the key figures in Jewish history. As the progenitor of Hasidism and the perceived spokesman for the warm, humane side of Jewish religious observance, he profoundly influenced the shape of modern Judaism. To understand the Besht is to understand an essential element in the making of modern Jewish life.
The Ba'al Shem Tov is an elusive subject for historians because documentary evidence about his life is scanty and equivocal. Much of what is believed about him is based on stories that were compiled in Shivhei Ha-Besht (In Praise of the Besht) more than a generation after his death. Human forgetfulness and the hagiographic objectives of the storytellers and the editors have assured that many of these stories serve more to mythologize than to describe the Besht.
Rosman's study casts a bright new light on the traditional stories about the Besht, confirming and augmenting some, challenging others. Most important, it overturns the widespread belief that the Ba'al Shem Tov was a religious revolutionary and a rebel against the clerical and communal establishment. Rosman finds, on the contrary, that the Besht was quite representative of the existing social, religious, and political order, a holy man who conformed to expected patterns of behavior.
The evidence indicates that he made moderate changes, which led eventually to the development of Hasidism's mature institutions.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
Previews available in: English
Subjects
Hasidism, Ba'al shem tov, approximately 1700-1760, Hasidim, Rabbis, Ukraine, biography, Biography, History, Baʻal Shem Ṭov, approximately 1700-1760, Hasidim -- Ukraine -- Biography, Rabbis -- Ukraine -- Biography, Hasidism -- History -- 18th century, Europe - history of judaism, Jewish history - europe - general & miscellaneous, Judaism - history, Rabbis - biography, Judaism - biography, Rabbinate, Hasidim - biographyShowing 4 featured editions. View all 4 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1
Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov
2013, Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, The
in English
1906764441 9781906764449
|
eeee
|
2
Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov
2013, Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, The
in English
190982111X 9781909821118
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3
Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov
1996, University of California Press
in English
052091676X 9780520916760
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
4
Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov (Contraversions ; 5)
June 25, 1996, University of California Press
Hardcover
in English
0520201914 9780520201910
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
First Sentence
"Scholarly biographical descriptions of Israel ben Eliezer contain a few points on which there is at least a consensus."
Classifications
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?History
- Created April 29, 2008
- 12 revisions
Wikipedia citation
×CloseCopy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help?
July 31, 2024 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
December 19, 2023 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
May 18, 2023 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
June 17, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |