Baal Shem
Employing various methods, Baalei Shem are claimed to heal, enact miracles,[1] perform exorcisms,[2] treat various health issues, curb epidemics, protect people from disaster due to fire, robbery or the evil eye, foresee the future, decipher dreams, and bless those who sought his powers.
[1] Herbal folk remedies, amulets, contemporary medical cures as well as magical and mystical solutions were used in accordance with traditional Kabbalistic teachings as well as adapted Lurianic guidelines in the Middle Ages.
[11] Baalei Shem were seen as miracle workers who could bring about cures and healing, in addition to mystical powers that allowed them to foresee or interpret events and personalities.
In Jewish society, the practical theurgic role of Baalei Shem among the common folk was a mystical institution, contrasted with the more theosophical and ecstatic Kabbalistic study circles, which were isolated from the populace.
The Baal Shem, the communal maggid preacher and the mokhiakh (מוֹכִיחַ/preacher) of penitence were seen as lower level unofficial Jewish intelligentsia, below contract rabbis and study Kabbalists.
[12] While a few people received the title of Baal Shem among Eastern and Central European Ashkenazi Jewry, the designation is most well known in reference to the founder of Hasidic Judaism.
[13] He disavowed traditional Jewish practice and theology by encouraging mixing with non-Jews and asserting the sacredness of everyday corporal existence.
Unlike past mystical circles, they innovated with the use of their psychic heavenly intercession abilities to work on behalf of the common Jewish populace.
From the legendary hagiography of the BeShT as one who bridged elite mysticism with deep social concern, and from his leading disciples, Hasidism rapidly grew into a populist revival movement.
[citation needed] Beginning with Hasidic Judaism in the late 17th century, the role mystical tzadik was established to conceptualize a follower's connection to God.
[citation needed] As doctrine coalesced in writing from the 1780s, Jacob Joseph of Polonne, Dov Ber of Mezeritch, Elimelech of Lizhensk, Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin and others shaped Hasidic views of the tzadik, whose task is to awaken and draw down the flow of divine blessing to the spiritual and material needs of the community and individual common folk.
[citation needed] The activity of Baalei Shem among the community, as well as the influence of Kabbalistic ideas, contributed to the popular belief in Tzadikim Nistarim.
The new mystical role of the Hasidic tzadik leader replaced Baal Shem activity among the populace, combining the Practical Kabbalist and maggid, the itinerant preacher.
From the legendary hagiography of the Baal Shem Tov as one who bridged elite mysticism with deep social concern, and from his leading disciples, Hasidism rapidly grew into a populist revival movement.
As doctrine coalesced in writing from the 1780s, Jacob Joseph of Polonne, Dov Ber of Mezeritch, Elimelech of Lizhensk, Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin and others shaped Hasidic views of the tzadik, whose task is to awaken and draw down the flow of divine blessing to the spiritual and material needs of the community and individual common folk.
When a great sage writes Holy Names, without pronouncing them, on parchment and puts it into a container which is worn by the recipient, it can possess healing and spiritual powers.
Not yet differentiated, their overlapping roles caused one Baal Shem to write a prayer of protection against these physicians: Preserve me from enmity and quarrels; and may envy between me and others disappear.
(Toledot Adam, Zolkiev, 1720)[26] In his autobiography, Salomon Maimon, an 18th-century Lithuanian Jewish philosopher, referenced a Ba'al Shem that was both insightful and appropriately learned in medical science enabling him to compete with physicians.
