This is a mind-blowing post…

A few months ago, I was going through old missionary papers from 200 years ago, and I found a curious story introducing the readers to the ‘chassidim’.

It included a fantastic story of how the Baal Shem Tov’s father, R’ Eliezer, became the Minister of War for a far away country, and all sorts of stuff like that.

Where are these missionaries getting this stuff?! I wondered to myself.

After all, I’m a chassid, and I had never heard anything like this.

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Last week, while I was looking back at that family tree for ‘Bustenai’ – which is turning into more and more of a rabbit hole, as apparently Bustenai was also the ancestor of the Prophet Mohammed, and his descendants also began the Bah’ai faith – I saw that someone had put other strange ‘snippets’ up on the notes page.

The same page where I found the same information linking Jacob Frank to the ‘Badd Rebbes, and everyone back to the Maharal of Prague.

This time, it was about the Baal Shem Tov, R’ Israel ben Eliezer.

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First, it said this:

section 13.5: another-line

(102c) Mendel Lieb, father of

(103) Haim, father of

(104) Eliezer, general, father of

(105) Yisrael, a.k.a. Baal Shem Tov (d1760), father of

(106) Dov Ber [Dover] (d1772), father of

(107) Schneur, father of

(108) Nachman (d1811), father of

(109) Israel “of Rushin” (d1850)

(110) issue

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Let’s be clear, I don’t know how factual this stuff is, at all.

There has been so much deliberate distortion in the family trees of certain people, at this stage everything is just educated guesses, and trying to slot more pieces of the puzzle in, as they become available.

So with the caveat in mind, let’s explore further.

This surprising family tree says that ‘Israel of Ruzhin’ was the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov.

It gives the Baal Shem Tov another son in addition to Adel and Tzvi – and suggests that son is none other than the Maggid of Mezeritch, Dov Ber, who dies in 1772.

While this doesn’t sound like ANYTHING I’ve been taught about chassidic genealogy, and could just be rubbish – the sad fact is that there is very little extant information about the Maggid of Mezeritch’s genealogy.

He apparently just appeared out of the mist, like so many of our leaders did:

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The Maggid of Mezeritch is meant to be the great-grandfather of Israel of Ruzhin in ‘official history’, but via the Maggid’s son ‘Avraham HaMalach’, and then R’ Shalom Shachne of Probisht, who did exist, as Rebbe Nachman writes about him, and R Natan Sternhartz went to him before he discovered Rabbenu.

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That said, we’ve also established here on more than one occasion that the story of ‘Moshe Tzvi of Savran’ overlaps to an enormous degree with that of ‘Israel of Ruzhin’.

The main difference being that ‘Moshe Tzvi of Savran’ is said to have died in Russian prison the exact same year that ‘Israel of Ruzhin’ managed to bribe his way out of prison, and over the border to Moldova. Where he popped up with a brand new identify, aka ‘Israel of Ruzhin’.

So, who really knows.

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Next, back on the Bustenai notes, it says this:

article: another miscellaneous descent-line

(101) “The Maharal of Prague” (above)

(102c) Mendel Lieb, whose brothers were Betzalel Loewe, and Shmuel Zvi

(103) Haim

(104) Eliezer, a general

Sarah [his 2nd =]

(105) Yisroel, aka Baal Shem Tov

2 Channah [Anne]

(106b) Adil (dau), sister of (106a) Zvi

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It was the bit that said ‘Eliezer, a general’ about the Baal Shem Tov’s dad, that really got me wondering whether after all, there might not be some truth in this otherwise apparently ‘wrong’ family tree, as well as some truth in that fantastic missionary account of the Baal Shem Tov’s parentage.

This is where I got to, by Friday last.

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On Shabbat, my husband randomly opened the Baal Shem Tov stories book we bought two trips ago, on that crazy excursion to Medzhibozh that made us almost miss our plane.

To my utter shock, he starts reading me something about the Baal Shem Tov’s dad being a Minister of War for some king…

Hold up, wait a minute! What are you reading?!

It turns out, the book has a section about the Baal Shem Tov’s parentage, that we just didn’t even know about.

It’s in Hebrew, so let me give you my extremely free, and precis’d translation of what it says entitled Toldot Chai Ha Baal Shem Tov, beginning page 387.

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The Baal Shem Tov was born in a small house in the city of Okup, next to the border of the State of Valhaii.

The BESHT’s father, R Eliezer, was kadosh, and one of the 36 hidden tzaddikim, and used to entertain a lot of guests. In his old age, bandits fell upon the city, and they kidnapped R’ Eiiezer. His wife fled to another city, and supported herself by becoming a midwife.

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R Eliezer was sold by the bandits to a distant land, where there were no Jews.

It was forbidden for Jews to live there, and in order not to endanger himself, R Eliezer hid the fact that he was Jewish.

He served his master faithfully, and obtained great favour in his eyes. He gave him the job of overseeing his house. In return for his faithful work, R Eliezer asked his master to free him from doing melacha on Shabbat, and he let him conduct himself according to halacha.

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As the days of his captivity lengthened, R Eliezer wanted to escape from there, but they told him in a dream that he shouldn’t force the moment, and he still needed to wait in this country.

One day, his master had dealings with the Vice-regent and advisor to the king, and he gave him R Eliezer as a present, to advise him, and praised his servant very highly to him.

Also in the Vice-regent’s eyes, R Eliezer found especial favour, and he gave him his own room, and didn’t ‘work him’ at all. All that he requested of him was that when he returned from the king, R Eliezer should bring a pitcher of water and wash his feet, in the manner of honored nobles.

The rest of the time, he was free to stay busy with Torah and tefillah in his room.

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One day, the king decided to go to war.

He summoned the Vice-regent to him, in order to plan war tactics with him, but the war was becoming too complicated, and the Vice-regent didn’t know what to say to him. The king became angry with the Vice-regent that he didn’t have good advice for him, and the Vice-regent left his presence troubled and morose.

When he got to his house, R Eliezer came out to greet him with the pitcher of water in his hands. But this time, the Vice-regent was irritable and didn’t stay with him, instead going immediately to bed. R Eliezer saw this, and from concern for him, he went to ask him to tell him why his face was fallen, and looked so low.

The Vice-regent tried to deter him, but R Eliezer insisted, until the Vice-regent told him. R Eliezer said:

Doesn’t God have the solutions? Hashem is a Man of War! I will fast, and then ask the Heavens what should be done, in order to successfully prosecute the war. R Eliezer undertook a ‘dream-fast’ and from heaven, they revealed to him all the war strategies required.

The following day, R Eliezer explained to the Vice-regent what had to be done. The Vice-regent became very happy, and the next day set out of the King’s castle, to tell him R Eliezer’s words. The king was amazed, and said to the Vice-regent:

This displays wisdom that is un-human! Either, you are a Godly man, who angels reveal themselves to you, or you got hold of these ideas using the forces of tumah. And after all, I know that you are not a ‘Godly man’… So, are you a sorcerer?

[In these times, people accused of sorcery were usually put to death.]

The Vice-regent became flustered and rushed to explain to the king where this advice had come from.

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The king set sail with his soldiers in a ship, to wage war against a mighty fortress.

To the eye, the fortress appeared quite easy to conquer. So the king decided to spend the night at a distance, and then the next morning, he would conquer it with a small force.

R Eliezer had also been brought along in the minister’s ship. That night, they revealed to him in a dream that the king should not send a small force to conquer the fortress, as the route towards it contained hidden iron rods that would gouge and then sink any vessel that approached it. It was also revealed to him a secure path for the king to take through the sea.

The king awoke at dawn, and got ready to start his assault.

The others were excited for the battle, but R Eliezer tried to approach the king, and then requested permission to reveal hidden things to the king. They immediately cut his hair, and gave him different clothes, and then he came to the king in a small boat.

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R Eliezer told the king what he’d been shown from heaven, and added that if the king didn’t believe him, he should send a small boat manned by those who had already been condemned to death along the proposed route, and see for himself what happened to them. When that ship got to the place where the rods were emplaced, it was ripped to pieces and each person sunk to the depths.

The king turned to R Eliezer and asked advice about what to do. R Eliezer advised him according to the ‘signs’ he’d received in the dream, to take a safe route through the ocean. The King followed R Eliezer’s words, and he successfully conquered the fortress.

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After these things, the king raised R Eliezer up to become his Minister of War.

The king trusted him, as he could see that God was with him, and that he achieved great success in every place where the king sent him. At this stage, more yearnings arose in R Eliezer’s heart, and concerns about what his end would be. Maybe, the time had finally arrived for him to escape?

But from Shemayim, they told him again that he still had to wait it out in that place.

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One day, the Vice-regent died.

The king elevated R Eliezer to become his second-in-command, and gave him the Vice-regent’s daughter, as his wife. For some years, R Eliezer battled to keep separated from this non-Jewish woman, and tried many different things to avoid being in the same house as her, alone. Those times when he had no choice but to be in the same house, he didn’t touch her at all.

After some time, the daughter of the Vice-regent asked him:

Tell me, what blemish did you find in me, that you distance yourself from me so very much?

He answered her: If you swear to me that you won’t reveal it to any person, what I’m about to say, then I will tell you the truth.

She swore to him, and R Eliezer revealed to her: I am a Jew.

In that place, they had completely forbidden Jews to live there for any reason. If a Jew was found there, they would sentence him to death.

When the woman heard this, she immediately sent him to his own country, together with a great fortune, gold and silver. But on the way back, bandits fell upon him and took all of the treasure.

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On his way home, Eliyahu HaNavi revealed himself to R Eliezer, and said to him:

In the merit of this [that he didn’t touch the non-Jewish woman for many years] a son will be born to you that will illuminate the eyes of Israel. And about him will the verse be fulfilled:

“You are My servant Israel, in whom I take glory.” (Isaiah 49:3).

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Ad kan, this awesome story of the Baal Shem Tov’s father.

Notice the main themes:

• white slavery and kidnapping;
• countries that forbid Jewish residents on pain of death;
• regular ‘communication’ with Shemayim;
• suspected sorcery vs being a ‘man of God’ who converses with angels, and last but certainly not least,
• overcoming the biggest test of all, namely avoiding pgam habrit.

All these themes are so familiar, both from Rebbe Nachman’s own writings (and concerns that he himself would be kidnapped during his trip to Eretz Yisrael), and also from Rav Berland’s remarks (like, in Conversations III).

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You know why we’ve never heard this story before?

The answer is to be found on page 391 of the Baal Shem Tov book, where they bring an ‘alternative version’ of the story, as told by the ‘Badd.

In that version, all the stuff mentioned above is totally missing, and all that is left is the idea that ‘R Eliezer of Okup’ has a lot of guests.

And one day, Eliyahu HaNavi appears to him as a shabbos-breaking guest, and R’ Eliezer doesn’t get angry at him, nor throw him out the house, or even reprove him for breaking Shabbos….

And in the ‘merit’ of this, he is told he’s going to have the Baal Shem Tov as a son.

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As I’m typing this up, it’s becoming obvious how much of the original spirit of chassidut got reverse-engineered by the ‘Badd to fit its own agenda.

In this ‘alternative’ story, there is no white slave trade, no details of royals outlawing Jews, no big struggle to maintain the purity of the brit, and to stay close to God in the midst of terrible tribulations.

All that is out the window, and instead, we are given an asinine, flat tale where R Eliezer is running a proto-Chabad house, and where turning a blind eye to Jews breaking shabbos is extolled as the most amazing, wonderful, holy thing a person could do.

It’s so amazing, in fact, that you get the Baal Shem Tov as a present, if you stop caring that other Jews are mechalel Shabbat. (Remember, 200 years ago this was still pretty shocking, even the ‘maskilim’ still wore tzitzit at this point.)

Puhleeze.

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In the next post, I will take a look at the historical accuracy of the original story about the Baal Shem Tov’s father, to see if it matches up with anything we’re told about the actual history of this period of time.

The answers are actually very surprising.

Until then.