Jewish Stories

The synagogue of the Baal Shem Tov in Medzhibuzh, Ukraine. In honor of the Baal Shem Tov’s Yahrtzeit, which occurs on the first day ...

The town of Harki belonged to a branch of the Polish aristocratic Radziville family. The owner spent most of his time in France and was ra...

It was Rosh Hashana in the shul of the Baal Shem Tov. In the middle of the prayers, a snuffbox accidentally dropped from the pocket of one o...

With the approach of Rosh Hashanah as we close the past year and welcome the new, what better time for auditing our experiences in the past...

A parable from Rabbi  Israel Baal Shem Tov : A King had an only son, the apple of his eye. The King wanted his son to master different fi...

On one of the Skuler Rebbe's visits to Reb Boruch of Medzibuzh, he told Reb Boruch the following story: "Once I was sitting toget...

There are numerous stories describing why the great Rabbi Yaakov Yosef from Polanya renounced his initial opposition to Chasidism and becam...

Many of the Baal Shem Tov's (the Besht's) ways might have seemed strange to an outsider. Reb Zev Wolf Kitzes, the Besht's const...

The Baal Shem Tov was so great that even many who were otherwise opponents of Chasidut stood in awe of him. One of these antagonists was R...

Baruch and his wife, Rivka, were followers of Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chasidic movement. When they had been married ...

Once, when the Baal Shem Tov was delivering a Torah discourse to a gathering of his disciples there was a knock on the door. The disciples w...

It was a chilly, windy day when the Baal Shem Tov stepped into his carriage, and as was his custom, allowed the horses to run as they would,...

A man once came to the Baal Shem Tov and poured out his heart: "Rebbe!" he cried, "I don't understand what is happening t...

A man once complained to the Baal Shem Tov: "I saw written in a holy book that if a person refrains from speaking of trivial matters fo...

One day, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov summoned one of his Chasidim and asked him: "Do you want to learn how to be a pious man?" ...

Reb David, a Chasid of the Baal Shem Tov, had a daughter of marriageable age. However, having no money, he had not pursued a match for her. ...

The power of prayer is not completely understood by us, but in the words of one of the Rebbes of Lubavitch, "If you knew how the words ...

The wife of the Baal Shem Tov was awakened with a start when she heard her husband cry out in the middle of a Shabbat nap. She ran to his si...

Once ruler of a village decreed that the Jews of his village be expelled. The Jews came to the Baal Shem Tov and begged him to pray on their...

The morning prayers had just ended. The Baal Shem Tov, who was an esteemed visitor in the town, was about to wash his hands before partaking...