Rabbi Yisrael the son of Eliezer (1700-1760), popularly known as the Baal Shem Tov (Besht), was born in Okopy, Ukraine. His father, an honest and God fearing man, died when he was very young. The community considered itself obligated to provide him with an education and entrusted him to a teacher. With time, he became the shamash (sexton) of the synagogue where he spent the nighttime hours stodying Kabbalah. He married when he was eighteen years old, but his wife died a short time after their marriage. He wandered from place to place and settled in the area of Brody where he became the teacher of young children. With his honesty and wisdom, he also attracted the Jews of the region who utilized him to arbitrate their disputes. His personality impressed one of the local people, Efraim of Kuty. He became close to him and he even promised his daughter Channah's hand in marriage. R. Efraim died a short time later and his son, R. Avraham Gershon tried to convince Channah not to marry him but she chose to marry him despite her brother's objection. Yisrael wanted to spare his brother-in-law R. Avraham Gershon (1761), who was a noted scholar, any embarrassment, so he left Kuty with his wife and settled in the Carpathian Mountains. There, the couple lived in isolation and earned a meager living. Yisrael spent his time in prayer and meditation. While learning the healing powers of the various wild herbs, he tried his hand in assorted activities. He was a shochet, an innkeeper, wrote prescriptions and amulets, and spoke to the masses of people about the fear of God and the love of Torah. The family eventually moved to Medzhibozh. He not only attracted the simple people, but also over time both the educated and scholars drew towards him. However, only when he won the heart of R. Dov Ber (the family later used the surname Friedman), the Magid of Miedzyrzec [Mezritsh] (1704-1773), did his movement, Chasidism, begin to succeed and Medzhibozh became its center. The Baal Shem Tov brought to the Chasidic movement his experience of many years in the knowledge of nature in the wild and especially human nature.
It should be stated that with the development of a new movement, before it adopts standards of behavior and norms of practice, its fringes invariably attract those who toss aside any restraint, a mixed bag of people hitching a ride on the movement's wagon. We learn of this through a letter sent by R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady to R. Avraham of Kalisk in 1805 (Gross 1984) in which he reviews the poor rapport between them that began in 1772 when they went to meet with the Magid of Miedzyrzec. Among others he states:
"I went with him [R. Avraham, Y.K.] together to the room of our esteemed rabbi, may he rest in peace, and my eyes saw and my ears heard that he [the Magid of Miedzyrzec, Y.K.] spoke harshly about his poor leadership of our followers in Russia...where their conversation of the entire day was characterized by foolishness and clowning, mocking and scornful of all those who learn and making fun of them in all kinds of unrestrained ways. They are constantly leaping with their heads down and their feet up in the city markets and streets, and the name of Heaven is profaned in the eyes of the gentiles. They also engage in all other kinds of inanities in the streets of Kalisk. In the winter of 5532/1772, after the debate that took place in Shklov, he found no solution to this. The sages of the holy community of Shklov wrote to inform the late Gaon of Vilna, influencing him to, God forbid, consider them as rebellious [against God] applying the law of heresy for contemptuousness to scholars [B.T. Sanhedrin 99b, Y.K.], and concerning the tumbling with the feet in the air, he said that it was like Pe'or [B.T. Sanhedrin 70b, meaning the ritual of idolatry at Baal Pe'or, Y. K.]. They then wrote from Vilna to Brody and published there a vicious pamphlet that summer. This caused incredible distress for all the Chasidic leaders in Volhyn who could then no longer return to their homes. They all gathered in the holy community of Rovno at that time to consult with our holy rabbi of blessed memory..."
https://www.jewishgen.org/rabbinic/journal/hasidic1.htm
HIS SEGULOS:
Segula For Hatzlacha
The Apta Rav used to say: when you speak and tell stories about the Ba’al Shem Tov, it is a segula for hatzlocha; about the Rebbe Rav Boruch, it is a segula for Yiras Shomayim! (Margenisa Dvei Rabbonon, page 131)
