Toldot Ya‘akov Yosef (The Offshoots of Jacob Joseph)

Jacob Joseph of Polnoye

1780

The Other Man’s Faults

I heard from the venerable rabbinic scholar, R. Nahman, an interpretation of the words of [the Besht] that one should intend in every word that he utters submissiveness, separateness, and sweetness. [The interpretation is that] one should leave the quality of Strength (Gevurah), in that he should not find fault with people…

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Creator Bio

Jacob Joseph of Polnoye

d. 1783

Jacob Joseph (Ya‘akov Yosef) of Polnoye, whose birthplace is unknown, embraced strict forms of Hasidism after 1741 and became a disciple of the Ba‘al Shem Tov (Besht). Subsequently, he preached in Shargorod and other places in Podolia, facing persecution from Misnagdim (opponents of Hasidism). From 1770 until his death, he lived in Polnoye. Jacob Joseph transcribed and disseminated the Besht’s ideas, and wrote Toldot Ya‘akov Yosef, homilies on the Pentateuch. After the Besht died in 1760, Jacob Joseph and Dov Ber, the Magid of Mezritsh, set a pattern for subsequent developments within Hasidism, though no dynasty was established for the Besht.

Related Guide

Rabbinic Scholarship, 1750–1880

Despite the challenges of the early modern period, rabbinic scholarship flourished in Central and Eastern Europe in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century. 

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