The first day of Shavuot this year – Sivan 6, 5770 - May 19, 2010 – marks the 250th anniversary of passing of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, founder of the chassidic movement.
Through his teachings – and perhaps even more so through his passionate love – the Baal Shem Tov permanently transformed the Jewish landscape. Forevermore changed was the Jewish perspective on G-d, the Torah, the Jewish nation, and every one of G-d’s creations—and the essential unity within all these previously-thought-to-be disparate components.
