Weekly Story: Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms, Germany

Weekly Story: Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms, Germany

I was asked by a former student, being that Shavuos is the Yahrzeit of the Baal Shem Tov, if I can write something of the historical background of the era before the Baal Shem Tov revealed himself and began teaching his students Chassidus. Thinking it over, I decided to write the following historical background.

Prof. Jonathan Meir, who teaches samurai descendants in Tokyo about Kabbalah and Hasidism, claims that Jewish studies are flourishing outside of Israel • In his books, he analyzes how historical Jewish figures became myths that may or may not have been real