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Correspondence · Essential works

Igeret ha-Kodesh (Letter to Abraham Gershon of Kuty)

אגרת הקודש (אגרת הבעש״ט לר׳ גרשון מקוטוב)

Portada de la primera edición de Shivhei ha-Besht (Kopys, 1814–1815)
byBaal Shem Tov

Letter to his brother-in-law, who had emigrated to the Land of Israel, written shortly after 1750. It recounts the ascent of the soul on the New Year of 1746, in which the Besht reaches the palace of the Messiah and asks him when he will come ("when your teaching is publicised and your springs overflow outward"), a second ascent in 1749, his intercession during an epidemic and against ritual-murder accusations in Zasław and two other communities, and closes with instruction on prayer through the letters. It is the key document for his self-understanding as mystic and intercessor, and the origin of Hasidism's missionary drive.

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Editions and translations · 3

EnglishHebreo

Authorship note

It is the only text that most historians (Etkes, Rosman) consider written by the Besht himself. It is known in two versions: the one printed in 1781 at the end of Ben Porat Yosef, from the copy kept by Jacob Joseph of Polonne, and a longer one preserved in manuscript and published in the twentieth century; they differ in passages, not in substance. It is signed "Israel Besht of the holy community of Międzybóż".

Editions and translations

Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.

English

  • The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader (análisis y traducción parcial de la carta)

    Brandeis University Press, 2005

    Translation: Saadya Sternberg (trad. del libro de Etkes)

    ISBN 9781584654223

    Estudio que traduce y comenta las dos versiones de la carta.

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Hebreo

  • Ben Porat Yosef (al final: «Igeret me-ha-Besht»)

    Korets, 1781

    Primera impresión, en el libro de Jacob Joseph de Polonne.

  • Ben Porat Yosef — Baal Shem Tov's Letter (texto digital)

    Sefaria (ed. Eichen, Jerusalén, 2011), 2011

    Edición digital consultable en https://www.sefaria.org/Ben_Porat_Yosef%2C_Baal_Shem_Tov's_Letter

Other works by Baal Shem Tov

Sources

  • Israel Baal Shem Tov, Igeret ha-Kodesh (carta a Abraham Gershon de Kuty), impresa en Jacob Joseph de Polonne, Ben Porat Yosef, Korets, 1781; texto hebreo en Sefaria (ed. Eichen, Jerusalén, 2011).

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