The Personality of the Baal Shem Tov

B"H

I already mentioned before that after all the time passing by, many original teachings of the Baal Shem Tov (approx. 1700 – 1760) either got lost or were changed / interpreted differently by his followers. Thus today, we don't know many of the Baal Shem Tov's (Besht) teaching anymore. He himself never wrote down anything and all literature we have was written by his followers. Mostly by the Besht's favourite student, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonnoye (Polna). It was Rabbi Yaakov Yosef (died in 1782) collecting all the teachings and thesis of the Besht and publish them afterwards in several books. The same with the famous "Stories of the Baal Shem Tov – The Shivtei HaBesht".

According to the Israeli Chassidut researcher Gedaliah Nigal, many other Chassidut researcher always make the same mistake:
Claiming that in order to get to know the personality of the Besht or analyze his character, you need to study the "Shivtei HaBesht". Hardly anyone is taking into consideration that these stories were told by different people and thus are mostly not too reliable. At least not regarding the Besht's character.

Furthermore, the author Tzvi M. Rabinowicz expresses his doubts in his book "Encyclopedia of Hasidism": Did the Prophet Ahijah the Shilonite really transmit the Oral Law to the Besht, as Rabbi Yaakov Yosef claimed ? When Rabbi Yaakov Yosef once wrote to his brother – in – law that the Besht referred to Ahijah as his mentor who taught him the way of moderating Heavenly judgments. This particular statement was only made after the death of the Baal Shem Tov and Rabinowicz suspects that Rabbi Yaakov Yosef introduced Ahijah into chassidic mythology in order to enhance the reputation of the Besht.