The Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer zy"a, Mezhibuzh
The Baal Shem Tov zy"a
הבעל שם טוב הקדוש
Upcoming yahrzeit: 11 June 2027 (first day of Shavuos) (5787)
The Hebrew date is 6 Sivan 5520, the first day of Shavuos. Hebcal converts that day to 21 May 1760. Some later summaries give 22 May; this page follows the Hebrew date and the conversion.
Send a kvittel to this keverBiography
The Baal Shem Tov zy"a, Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer, is the founder of Chasidus. The traditional year of his birth is 5458 (1698), in Okopy (Okopy Świętej Trójcy), and the traditional year is the one the sources use, though an exact civil birthday is not recorded in a contemporary document. He later lived and taught in Mezhibuzh (Medzhybizh).
His foremost talmid was the Maggid of Mezritch, Rabbi Dov Ber, who spread the derech to the next dor. Another leading talmid, Reb Yaakov Yosef of Polonne, printed the first Chasidic sefer, Toldos Yaakov Yosef. The stories known as Shivchei HaBesht were gathered and printed more than fifty years after his petirah (1814/1815). They are a precious mesorah, and they are stories; this page does not treat every episode as a documented historical fact.
In a famous letter, the Igeres HaKodesh, written to his brother-in-law Rabbi Gershon of Kitov, he describes an aliyas neshama and the words that the wellsprings should be spread outward. He was niftar on the first day of Shavuos, 6 Sivan 5520 (21 May 1760), and he rests in the ohel in Mezhibuzh. A shliach brings your kvittel to that tziyun and sends back a photograph.
Historical background
Mezhibuzh was a town in Podolia, then in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, later in the Russian Empire, and today in Ukraine. The Baal Shem Tov’s ohel and the nearby shul have been damaged, neglected, and restored more than once, including under Soviet rule and in the years since. The rebuilt ohel is the tziyun to which kvittlach are brought today.
Before & after
Who came before
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Who came after
- The Maggid of Mezritch zy"a — His foremost talmid, who spread Chasidus to the next dor.
- Reb Nachman of Breslov zy"a — A great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov; his kever is in Uman.
In his dor
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Sources
The facts on this page come from the earlier site and from the sources listed here. Where the sources are not one shittah, it is written in the text.
Send a kvittel
Send a kvittel to The Baal Shem Tov zy"a
Write the names and your bakashah. The kvittel will be brought to this kever. A pidyon of eighteen dollars or more goes with it; you choose the amount, and you will be taken to a secure payment page. The shliach receives the kvittel only once the pidyon is received.