page_title: Baal Shem
section_title: Recorded Baalei Shem
hierarchical_section_title: Baal Shem / Recorded Baalei Shem
caption_attribution_description: Wegweiser zum Grab des Seckel Löb Wormser, Michelstadt
context_page_description: A Baal Shem was a historical Jewish practitioner of Practical Kabbalah. Employing the names of God, angels, Satan and other spirits, a Baal Shem could heal, enact miracles, perform exorcisms, treat various health issues, curb epidemics, protect people from disaster due to fire, robbery or the evil eye, foresee the future, decipher dreams, and bless those who sought his powers.
  In Judiasm, similar figures arbitrated between earthly realities and spiritual realms since before the establishment of Talmudic Judaism in the 3rd century. However, it wasn't until the sixteenth century that these figures were called Baalei Shem. Herbal folk remedies, amulets, contemporary medical cures as well as magical and mystical solutions were used in accordance with traditional Kabbalistic teachings as well as adapted Lurianic guidelines in the Middle Ages.
  Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer was a Polish rabbi and mystical healer known as the Baal Shem Tov. His teachings imbued the esoteric usage of practical Kabbalah of Baalei Shem into a spiritual movement, Hasidic Judaism.
context_section_description: A rare group of people have been recorded as holding the title Baal Shem. The first recorded person to receive the title was Eliyahu of Chelm.
  Other Baalei Shem (besides the above) include:
  Elchanan, rabbi in Vienna, 17th century
  Elijah Loans (1555-1636)
  Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms
  Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk of London (1708-1782)
  Gedaliah of Worms, an eminent Talmudist (died between 1622 and 1624)
  Joel (I) b. Isaac Heilprin of Zamość, student of Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms and Rabbi Yoel Sirkis, mid 17th century
  Joel (II) b. Uri Heilprin, grandson of Joel (I), beginning of the 18th century
  Selig of Lublin, beginning of the 18th century
  Wolf, lived in Poland, beginning of the 18th century
  Sekl Loeb Wormser (1768-1846), the Baal Shem of Michelstadt, still known in Germany under that name
  Adam Baal Shem, student of Yoel Baal Shem (I) of Zamość, teacher or colleague of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov
  Binyamin Binush, author of Amtahat Binyamin (published 1716)
  Hirsch Fraenkel (end of 17th century and 1st half of 18th century), rabbi in several German communities including Heidelberg and Ansbach
  Yosef of Jerusalem (visited Pinchas Kantzelnbogen in 1720)
  Naphtali Cohen of Poznań
caption: Signpost for the grave of Sekl Loeb Wormser (1768-1847), Baal Shem of Michelstadt, Germany
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