His father was unmarried and lived in Krakow for 30 years away from the public eye.
[2] The child was named after Eliyahu the prophet, after the latter told him that he would illuminate and help downtrodden Jews.
[3] At the age of 13, his father died and he left his mother to study and teach in different countries.
[6] He was in Worms for 30 years before he was forced to leave by Rabbi Pinchas Zelig of Speyer, as he was opposed to the study and dissemination of the Zohar which was published in 1558 in Mantua, Italy.
[7] Eliyahu Baal Shem held a Yeshivah in Worms, which moved to Chelm in Poland, then to Prague.