Adam Baal Shem


According to Hasidic legend, Adam Baal Shem of Ropczyce was a rabbi and mystic who first introduced the movement of Hasidism. The leadership of the movement was later handed down from Rabbi Adam to Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov.
The exact identity of Rabbi Adam is unknown. Since the name Adam was rare among European Jewry, Gershom Scholem considers it to be a pseudonym for Heshel Zoref. According to Aryeh Kaplan, others identify this Adam with Rabbi David Moshe Abraham of Troyes or with Adam Zerweiker. Kaplan also writes that it may be an anonym to protect the subject's identity.
According to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, Rabbi Adam was a disciple of Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem of Zamość, who in turn was a disciple of Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms.
According to the Shivhei HaBesht, Rabbi Adam found manuscripts in a cave, containing hidden secrets of the Torah. Rabbi Adam asked in a dream to whom should he hand down the manuscripts? He was answered to hand them down to Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer of the city of Okopy. Before his death, he commanded his only son, who was an eminent scholar, to search for the city with that name and hand the manuscripts to Israel ben Eliezer. After Rabbi Adam died, his son traveled until he arrived at Okopy, where he married the daughter of a wealthy man and eventually gave the manuscripts to the Baal Shem Tov.