The Legend of the Baal-Shem

These twenty captivating stories about the founder of the Hasidic faith, Israel ben Eliezer, called the Baal-Shem or Master of God's Name, provide a profound and charming account of the genesis of Hasidism, still Judaism's most important religious movement. Prefaced by an explanation of the life and principles of the Hasidim, tales such as The Werewolf, and The Heavenly Journey tell of the Baal-Shem's life in early eighteenth-century Podolia and Wolhynia, and of the birth of his revelatory faith, founded on active love, joy and private longing for God. Initially scorned by the Rabbinical establishment, the Baal-Shem's intense piety and fierce spiritual honesty ultimately made him a figure of devotion amongst commoners, peasants and visionaries. As a delicate and moving portrayal not only of the power of the Baal-Shem's mystical faith, but also of Eastern European Jewish daily life, The Legend of the Baal-Shem is an ideal introduction to Hasidic religious thought, and to Martin Buber's own influential philosophy of love and mutual human understanding.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Spiritual. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.