In Ukrainian movie Dovbush there will be a film debut of the founder of Hasidic Judaism — Baal Shem Tov (Besht)
On August 24, on the Independence Day of Ukraine, there will be a kind of film debut of the founder of Hasidic Judaism (Hasidism) — Baal Shem Tov (Besht) — in Oles Sanin’s movie Dovbush.
It is widely known that Besht was born, lived and preached in Ukraine in the middle of the 18th century. His friendship with the leader of the Hutsul opryshky uprising Oleksa Dovbush is also well known. There are numerous legends in the Jewish and Ukrainian epic literature about it. However, at the same time Besht has never appeared in any feature film.
There is enough symbolism and mysticism in the filming and release of the movie Dovbush. As well as in Hasidism itself, which is considered a mystical movement in Judaism.
The movie, dedicated to the national liberation uprising of Ukrainians three hundred years ago, was filmed in the Carpathians in the summer of 2021, shortly before the start of the big war with Russia. The role of Besht was played by his direct descendant, an American actor Luzer Twersky. The movie will be released just three days before the 325th anniversary of the birth of Baal Shem Tov.
There is quite material evidence of the friendship between Dovbush and Besht — Dovbush’s “lulkah” (the smoking pipe), which the righteous man had with him during preaching. This smoking pipe, as Shimon Briman found out, was put up for auction for the first time in three hundred years shortly before the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. On February 10, 2022, it was sold for $160,000.
During his lifetime, in the middle of the 18th century, the founder of Hasidism, Baal Shem Tov (Besht) had a maximum of 60 disciples. Today, according to various estimates, there are more than 500 Hasidic communities in the world with a total of about 400,000 Hasidim, mostly in Israel, the United States and Great Britain.
