Israel ben Eliezer (ca. 1690-1760 CE) was a Jewish rabbi, mystic and healer, widely known as the ‘Baal Shem Tov’, meaning the ‘Master of the Good Name,’ and is considered the founder of Hasidic Judaism. Little is known about his life, but he was born in Western Ukraine, the son of a revered rabbi, and was orphaned at the age of five. His teaching strongly emphasised the human connection with the Divine Unity, and the importance of prayer. As he left no writings, the following samples of his wisdom are from the oral tradition preserved by his followers.

Your fellow man is your mirror. If your own face is clean, the image you perceive will also be flawless. But should you look upon your fellow man and see a blemish, it is your own imperfection that you are encountering – you are being shown what it is that you must correct within yourself.

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If a man has beheld evil, he may know that it was shown to him in order that he learn his own guilt, and repent; for what is shown to him is also within him.

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“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”* Why? Because every human being has a root in the Unity, and to reject the minutest particle of the Unity is to reject it all.

*Christians know this as part of the ‘Great Commandment’ given by Jesus, for example in Matthew 22:35-40, but it is first found in the Book of Leviticus, 19:17-18.