5 passagesmedieval and early modern periodHebrew / AramaicCC0
Individual passages from Keter Shem Tov, indexed for close reading, source verification, and myth source-checking.
Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov does not praise ignorance. He praises the kind of knowing that has walked as far as it can and finally admits where the path disappears. In Keter Shem To...
Every letter in the Torah is a fork in the road. That is the Baal Shem Tov's daring claim in Keter Shem Tov 1:4:1, where he reads the turning of Solomon's heart in (I Kings 11:4) t...
Jacob lay down in one place, and the whole land came under him. Keter Shem Tov 1:8:1 takes the Talmudic image of God folding the Land of Israel beneath Jacob at Bethel and turns it...
Noah's ark carried pairs. The Torah does too. In Keter Shem Tov 1:13:1, the Baal Shem Tov reads "two of each" entering Noah's ark (Genesis 7:9) as a secret about language itself. E...
The Baal Shem Tov treats heartache as a symptom, not a verdict. In Keter Shem Tov 1:16:1, suffering of the heart reveals an illness of the soul. The illness is diminished awareness...
