Today is the birthday of the Baal Shem Tov (b.1698), one of the greatest luminaries of the Jewish people – who began one of the most radical movements in Jewish history.

The Baal Shem Tov's Home in Medziboz

The movement that the Baal Shem Tov began became known as the “Chasidic” movement, from the Hebrew word “Chasid” meaning pious, righteous, invigorated and alive.

The time of the Baal Shem Tov’s birth and later revelation of his teachings came during a time to the Jewish people when the Jewish people were dejected from a false Messiah in Shabtai Tzvi, were beaten down with endless pogroms and attacks – but even more so from the lack of studying and experiencing the deeper realms of Judaism. The learned were few and even fewer were those who merited immersing themselves in the Kabbalah, inner dimension of Judaism, leaving the Jewish people as a whole missing out on the true experience, life and potential of Judaism – something that lingers especially today.

The Baal Shem Tov came in the early 1700s to spread the message that every Jew is not only royal and holy – but that every Jew is a small Messiah, and through their life they can bring about redemption. We must be in love with God, in love with the world and in love with Torah.

But how can a person come to to live this love? The Baal Shem Tov taught that inherently we are already in love, we just need to be in tune with that love. That comes about through passionate prayer and the study of the inner dimension of Torah, the Kabbalah and later Chasidic works.

Painting of the Baal Shem Tov and his followers going on one of countless mystical and magical tours

His teachings essentially were that every Jew is a master and every human being is deeply connected to God, they merely need to uncover it. Every Jew is a spiritual giant with an absolutely unique mission to spread their light to the world - and that we can tap into that hidden potential through powerful prayer with God and tasting the mystical secrets of Judaism.

Among the many stories about the Baal Shem Tov’s life are about his time spent in isolated prayer and communication with God in the Carpathian mountains. His later followers, and most especially his great grandson Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, said that going out to the woods and nature to speak to God in our own language is the secret to spiritual growth for every Jew and every human being.

The Carpathian Mountains, where hundreds of years ago the Baal Shem Tovwent out to speak with God

In Judaism there is a teaching that the day that a person dies and is born is a time where the person’s essence is revealed, and most especially their teachings to the world. Then may we tap into the Baal Shem Tov’s revolutionary teachings by going out today and everyday to a place of nature to speak to God, thanking God for having given us such a beautiful life, and asking to fully tap into our soul’s potential to reveal to the world that which we were meant to in this lifetime.