baʿal shem

baʿal shem, in Judaism, title bestowed upon men who reputedly worked wonders and effected cures through secret knowledge of the ineffable names of God. Benjamin ben Zerah (11th century) was one of several Jewish poets to employ the mystical names of God in his works, thereby demonstrating a belief in the efficacy of the holy name long before certain rabbis and Kabbalists (followers of esoteric Jewish mysticism) were popularly called baʿale shem. During the 17th and 18th centuries there appears to have been a proliferation of baʿale shem in eastern Europe. Traveling the countryside, these men were said to have performed cures by means of herbs, folk remedies, and the tetragrammaton (four Hebrew letters signifying the ineffable name of God). They also inscribed amulets with the names of God to assist in their cures and were reported to have been especially efficacious in exorcising demons. Because the baʿale shem of this period, especially in Poland and Germany, combined faith healing with practical Kabbala (use of sacred formulas and amulets), they frequently clashed with physicians, against whom they competed. They were, moreover, constantly ridiculed both by rabbinic authorities and by followers of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskala).

Preeminent among the baʿale shem was Israel ben Eliezer, commonly called Baʿal Shem Ṭov (or simply the Beshṭ), founder of the social and religious movement known as Ḥasidism. He was not, like many others, merely a magician or exorcist but an effective religious leader whose message won a large and lasting following.