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

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.