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| | Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Ba`al Shem Tov |
 | | Israel often played truant from school, retiring into the forests, fields or hills to commune with G-d, praying and conversing intimately with his Lord. |
 | | He thought Israel, with his stocky build, rough sheepskin garment, and stubby pipe, an uncouth ignoramus and urged his sister Hannah not to marry the simpleton. |
 | | Here Israel would spend his week digging clay in a local quarry up in the mountains to support himself, his dear wife and, eventually, their two children, daugher Adel/Edel and son Tzevi Hirsch. |
| www.enlightened-spirituality.org /Rabbi_Israel_ben_Eliezer.html (8256 words) |
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