President Izhak Ben-Zvi, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim, Cabinet Ministers and members of the Parliament were among the thousands attending the opening yesterday of Israel’s national Hassidic Conference, marking the 200th anniversary of the death of the Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Hassidic movement.
The audience, which included many servicemen and non-Orthodox Israelis, heard the Baal Shem extolled for his love of the common people and this devotion to the land of Israel a papers on Hassidism and the Baal Shem’s influence on Judaism’s revival, were read by Rabbi Y. L. Mamon, Dr. Yehuda Even Shmuel and Rabbi S. Y. Zeivin. Jerusalem Mayor Mordechai Ish-Shalom greeted the assembly. The Conference is continuing today.
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