Editing Hasidic Judaism (section)

===Israel ben Eliezer===
{{Main|Baal Shem Tov}}
[[File:Besht Signature.jpg|thumb|right|Israel ben Eliezer's autograph]]
[[Israel ben Eliezer]] (ca. 1698–1760), known as the ''Baal Shem Tov'' ("Master of the ''Good'' Name", [[acronym]]: "Besht"), is considered the founder of Hasidism. Supposedly born south of the [[Prut]], in the northern frontier of [[Moldavia]], he earned a reputation as a [[Baal Shem]], "Master of the Name". These were common folk healers who employed mysticism, amulets and incantations as their trade. Little is known for certain about Israel ben Eliezer. Though not a scholar, he was sufficiently learned to become notable in the communal hall of study and marry into the rabbinic elite, his wife being the divorced sister of a rabbi; in his later years, he became wealthy and famous, as attested by contemporary chronicles. Apart from that, most information about him is derived from Hasidic hagiographic accounts. These claim that as a boy he was recognized by one "Rabbi Adam Baal Shem Tov" who entrusted him with great secrets of the [[Torah]], passed in his illustrious family for centuries; that the Besht later spent a decade in the [[Carpathian Mountains]] as a hermit, where he was visited by the Biblical prophet [[Ahijah the Shilonite]] who taught him more; and that at the age of thirty-six, he was granted heavenly permission to reveal himself as a great kabbalist and miracle worker.

By the 1740s, it is verified that he relocated to the town of [[Medzhybizh]] and became recognized and popular in [[Podolia]] and beyond. It is well attested that he emphasized several known kabbalistic concepts, formulating his own teachings to some degree. The Besht stressed the immanence of God and His presence in the material world, and that therefore, physical acts, such as eating, have an actual influence on the spiritual sphere and may serve to hasten the achievement of communion with the divine (''devekut''). He was known to pray ecstatically and with great [[kavanah|intention]], in order to provide channels for the [[Ohr|divine light]] to flow into the Earthly realm. The Besht stressed the importance of joy and contentment in the worship of God, rather than the abstinence and self-mortification deemed essential to becoming a pious mystic, and of fervent and vigorous prayer as a means of spiritual elation instead of severe asceticism,<ref name="Ros1"/> but many of his immediate disciples reverted in part to the older doctrines, especially in disavowing sexual pleasure even in marital relations.<ref>[[David Biale]], ''The Lust for Asceticism in the Ha-sidic Movement'', in: Jonathan Magonet, ''Jewish Explorations of Sexuality''. Oxford University Press (1995). pp. 53–55.</ref>

In that, the "Besht" laid the foundation for a popular movement, offering a far less rigorous course for the masses to gain a significant religious experience. And yet, he remained the guide of a small society of elitists, in the tradition of former kabbalists, and never led a large public as his successors did. While many later figures cited him as the inspiration behind the full-fledged Hasidic doctrine, the Besht himself did not practice it in his lifetime.<ref name="Ros1">Moshe Rosman, ''[https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Baal_Shem_Tov Ba‘al Shem Tov]'', [[The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe]].</ref>