Baal Shem

Baal Shem (Hebrew plural: Baalei Shem) in Hebrew meaning "Master of the Name", refers to the historical Jewish role of select rabbis with knowledge of using Names of God in Judaism for Practical Kabbalah healing and blessing. The unofficial title was given by others who recognise or benefit from the Baal Shem's ability to perform wonderous deeds, and emerged in the Middle Ages, continuing until the early-Modern era. Baal Shem were seen as miracle workers who could bring about cures and healing, as well having mystical powers to foresee or interpret events and personalities. They were considered to have a "direct line" to Heaven evoking God's mercies and compassion on suffering human beings. In Jewish mysticism, the Practical Kabbalah theurgic role of Baal Shem among the common folk was one mystical institution, contrasted with the theosophic and ecstatic roles of elite Kabbalistic study circles, who were more isolated from the populance. The communal Maggid preacher had an intermediate-level role between the Rabbinic legal and mystical elite and the common folk.

A few people received the title of Baal Shem among Eastern and Central European Ashkenazi Jewry. The name is most well known in reference to the founder of Hasidic Judaism, the Baal Shem Tov ("Master of the Good Name")-Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1760) in the Ukraine. However, this connotation is misleading. The Baal Shem Tov started public life as a traditional Baal Shem practical mystic, but with his founding of Hasidism, introduced a different, new way into mystical thought and practice. His role is popularly distinguished from the role of other, predominantly earlier, Baal Shem by the addition of Tov-Good to the title. Hasidism popularised formerly esoteric Kabbalah into a social mysticism movement. The new mystical role of the Hasidic Rebbe leader replaced the Baal Shem institution in Hasidism, combining Kabbalistic study with Maggid communal teaching, and displacing Practical Kabbalistic theurgic methods with a new doctrine of the righteous Tzadik as Divine channel of blessing.

The activity of Baal Shem among the community as well as the influence of Kabbalistic ideas, contributed to the popular belief in Tzadikim Nistarim (Concealed Righteous). Hasidic tradition records Eliyahu Baal Shem in the 16th century, founding a "Nistarim" mystical brotherhood to offer physical and spiritual encouragement to the Jewish populance, from which Hasidism later emerged.