Introduction to the English Edition

Abstract

This chapter mentions Michal Oron's account of Samuel Falk, the Ba'al Shem of London, which complicates the conventional characterization of eighteenth-century Britain as the cradle of toleration, reason, liberty, science, and enlightenment. It discusses rational religion and Enlightenment science that discredited magic, superstition, prophecy, and wonders, along with ghosts, spirits, demons, and the like. It also describes well-born Christians and wealthy Jews who turned to Falk to answer questions and solve problems that resisted conventional approaches. The chapter talks about Falk as a charismatic religious figure, a ba'al shem, whose authority flowed from his virtuosity in employing divine names for magical ends rather than expounding Jewish law. It highlights London as the westernmost outpost of European Jewry in the eighteenth century.