Joel ben Uri Heilprin ( Hebrew: יואל בן אורי היילפרין; 1690–1757), also known as Ba'al Shem II ( Hebrew: בעל שם השני), was a Galician Jewish thaumaturge in Satanow and Zamość. [1]
Possessed of a fair knowledge of medicine and physics, he claimed to effect cures and perform miracles by means of the Kabbalah and the Holy Name. In 1720 he published anonymously a work entitled Toledot Adam, describing various remedies attributed to prominent Kabbalists. [2] The preface of the work constitutes a continuous panegyric of Heilprin and his miracles. [3] Heilprin had many pupils, who, on the death of their master, "formed a band of charlatans who shamelessly exploited the credulity of their contemporaries." [4]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jacobs, Joseph; Broydé, Isaac (1904). "Heilprin, Joel ben Uri (also known as Ba'al Shem II.)". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 324.