The Encyclopedia of World Religions

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Little is actually known about the Baal Shem Tov’s life. He is said to have worked wonders such as healing through a special name of G OD . The Baal Shem Tov is important today because of the religious movement he is said to have started. In his day normative J UDAISM in eastern Europe stressed a detailed study of T ORAH and a strict observance of Jewish RITUALS and a Jewish way of life. For the Baal Shem Tov, this form of prac tice distracted people from their highest purpose, communion with God. God’s light, he said, was all-pervasive. Therefore, communion with God could and should be had in all of life. The means to such communion included singing, danc ing, and emotion-filled prayer. From these roots Hasidism grew. Babel, Tower of The way the B IBLE explains the multitude of languages that human beings speak. According to Genesis 11, the inhabitants of the Earth decided to build a tower to reach to the HEAV ENS . The kind of tower that the writer seems to have had in mind is the ziggurat. Ziggurats were huge pyramids, built in several steps or paral lel layers. On top of them Mesopotamians placed temples to their gods ( see M ESOPOTAMIAN RELIGIONS ). They were a typical form of religious ARCHITECTURE in ancient Mesopotamia. As Genesis tells the story, the god YHWH (“the Lord”) was worried about what great things human beings might be able to accomplish. So he created the various languages. Because the build ers could no longer communicate, they could not complete the tower. This disruption can be seen as

Baal The most important god of the ancient Canaanites. The B IBLE records conflicts between the priests of Baal and prophets of the Israelite god YHWH (“the Lord”). Texts from ancient Ugarit dis covered in the 20th century present the god in a more positive light. Baal is actually a general word meaning “lord.” In religious contexts, the specific lord in question is usually the Canaanite god of rain, dew, and fertile fields ( see C ANAANITE RELIGION ). This god is said to ride on the clouds. He is also called “Prince Baal.” In Semitic languages, the phrase is Baal zebul. From it the N EW T ESTAMENT derived the term “Beelzebul” (e.g., Matthew 10.25; Mark 3.22; Luke 11.15, 18–19). But it used the term simply to refer to the chief demon; any reference to the Canaanite god had been lost. Baal was the king of the gods, a position that he took from the god of the sea, Yamm. The Canaan ites worshipped him as present in many local sanc tuaries. As a result, some texts speak of Baals in the plural. The Canaanites also thought that Baal fought with the god of death, Mot. The outcome of this struggle determined whether successive peri ods of seven years would be fertile or barren. Baal Shem Tov ( c. 1700–1760) the popular name of Israel ben Eliezer He was a Ukrainian Jew whom many consider to have founded H ASIDISM . “Baal Shem Tov” means “Master of the Good Name.” It refers to the miraculous powers that Israel ben Eliezer allegedly possessed. He is also known as the “Besht.” This term is an acronym, made from the first letters of Baal Shem Tov.

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