Founder of Hasidism A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov

Name: Founder of Hasidism A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov
Price: 79.23 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780520201910

ISBN-10: 0520201914

ISBN-13: 9780520201910

Edition: 1997

Authors: Moshe Rosman

List price: $68.95

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This book goes farther than any previous work in uncovering the historical Israel ben Eliezer--known as the Ba'al Shem Tov, or the Besht--the eighteenth-century Polish-Jewish mystic who profoundly influenced the shape of modern Judaism. As the progenitor of Hasidism, the Ba'al Shem Tov is one of the key figures in Jewish history; to understand him is to understand an essential element of modern Jewish life and religion. Because evidence about his life is scanty and equivocal, the Besht has long eluded historians and biographers. Much of what is believed about him is based on stories compiled more than a generation after his death, many of which serve to mythologize rather than describe…

Book details

List price: $68.95
Copyright year: 1997
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication date: 6/25/1996
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 316
Size: 6.25" wide x 9.50" long x 1.10" tall
Weight: 1.408
Language: English



Acknowledgments


Note to the Reader


Introduction



Ba'al Shem Tov



Hasidism before Hasidism



A Country in Decline?



Miedzyboz: A Place in Time and Space



The Contentions of Life



The Holy Epistle



More Besht Correspondence



Testimonies



Life Stories



Light from the Archives



A Person of His Time



From the Historical Besht to the Usable Besht: The Image of the Ba'al Shem Tov in Early Habad


Notes


Bibliography


Index