Eliyahu Baal Shem Ben Yosef Yutzpa

Born: 1536 - Died: 1654

Eliyahu Baal Shem was born to a Spanish Jew called Rabbi Yosef Yutzpa who came to live in Crakow. He was unmarried and lived in Krakow for 30 years away from the public eye. At 80, he then decided to marry a widow who bore him a child.The child was named after Eliyahu the prophet, after the latter told him that he would illuminate and help downtrodden Jews. At the age of 13, his father died and he left his mother to study and teach in different countries. He got married and had 2 daughters and one son. Nothing was heard about his where abouts for 40 years. After he married his children, he settleled in Worms.

He was in Worms for 30 years before he was forced to leave by Rabbi Pinchas Zelig of Speyer, as he was opposed to the study and dissemination of the Zohar which was published in 1558 in Mantua, Italy.

Eliyahu Baal Shem held a Yeshivah in Worms, which moved to Chelm in Poland, then to Prague. His primary students were Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem and Rabbi Yomtov Lipman Heller. He didn't leave any manusripts, although his father left him with works on Kabbalah from his Rabbi in Spain, Rabbi Meir Ibn Gabbai.

It is said he lived till 118.