What is an accessible source for the writings of Baal Shem tov? With the mythology around his personality and the lack of direct writings of his own this is a difficult question for me.

You have identified the problem exactly and honestly. The Baal Shem Tov (Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, c. 1698-1760, known by the acronym BeShT) left no writings of his own. This is not accidental — it reflects his entire spiritual orientation. What we have is a complex layered tradition of transmission, attribution, and legend.

Key Takeaways

The Baal Shem Tov wrote nothing himself — all attributed teachings come through disciples, and the line between authentic transmission and later elaboration is genuinely difficult to establish.
The closest thing to a primary source is Tzava'at HaRivash — but even this is disputed as a direct transcription of his teachings.
Keter Shem Tov and the stories in Shivchei HaBesht are accessible entry points but must be read critically.
For English readers, Norman Lamm, Louis Jacobs, and especially Martin Buber provide accessible scholarly bridges — though Buber's romanticism must itself be read critically.
The most academically rigorous modern entry point is Moshe Rosman's Founder of Hasidism — which separates historical fact from hagiography with unprecedented honesty.

The Core Problem: No Autograph Texts

The Baal Shem Tov's silence on paper was deliberate and theological. His entire teaching emphasized:

Living presence over written text
The tzaddik (righteous teacher) as a breathing, embodied Torah
Direct transmission — Torah mi'pi (Torah from the mouth) — as superior to written word

This means the very nature of his teaching resists the written form. There is a painful irony in trying to access him through books.

The Primary Sources (With Honest Caveats)

1. Tzava'at HaRivash (The Testament of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem)

Literally "The Will/Testament of the Rivash" (another acronym for his name)
Published 1793, roughly 33 years after his death
Not actually his will — a collection of teachings compiled by disciples
Contains some of the most direct and concentrated expressions of his theology
Available in English: translated and annotated by Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet (Kehot Publication Society) — this is probably the single most accessible and reliable English edition of core BeShT teaching

2. Keter Shem Tov (Crown of the Good Name)

Compiled by Aaron of Apt in 1794
Draws heavily from Toledot Yaakov Yosef (see below)
A collection of teachings organized thematically
More diffuse than Tzava'at HaRivash but broader in scope
Available in Hebrew; partial English translations exist

3. Toledot Yaakov Yosef by Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye

This is arguably the most important primary source
Yaakov Yosef was the BeShT's closest disciple and the first to publish Hasidic teaching (1780)
Contains hundreds of direct quotations introduced with "שמעתי ממורי" — "I heard from my teacher"
This is as close to the BeShT's own voice as we can get
Not fully translated into English — this is a genuine gap in accessible scholarship
Partial translations appear in academic anthologies

4. Shivchei HaBesht (In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov)

Published 1814, the primary hagiographical collection
Contains the famous stories and legends surrounding his personality
Must be read as hagiography — it is mythology in the richest sense, not biography
Nevertheless invaluable for understanding how the tradition understood itself
Available in English: translated by Dan Ben-Amos and Jerome Mintz (Indiana University Press) — excellent scholarly edition with notes

The Best English Entry Points by Type of Reader

For the General Reader Wanting the Spirit

Martin Buber — Tales of the Hasidim (Schocken Books)

Buber retells BeShT stories with literary beauty and philosophical depth
Caveat: Buber romanticizes and universalizes — he strips away the specifically halachic and kabbalistic context
Gershom Scholem famously criticized Buber for this — calling his Hasidism "Neo-Hasidism" rather than authentic transmission
Read Buber for inspiration, not scholarship

Elie Wiesel — Souls on Fire (Summit Books)

Beautifully written portraits of Hasidic masters including the BeShT
Same caveat as Buber — literary and inspirational rather than scholarly
Wiesel is honest about the mythological dimension in a way Buber sometimes is not

For the Serious Student Wanting Authenticity

Norman Lamm — The Religious Thought of Hasidism (Yeshiva University Press)

Excellent anthology with primary sources in translation and scholarly commentary
Gives genuine theological context without romanticizing
One of the best single volumes for understanding what the BeShT actually taught

Louis Jacobs — Hasidic Prayer (Littman Library)

Focuses specifically on the BeShT's revolutionary approach to prayer
Rigorous, readable, honest about textual problems

For the Historically Critical Reader

Moshe Rosman — Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Baal Shem Tov (University of California Press)

The most important modern scholarly work on the subject
Uses Polish archival records to establish what can actually be known historically
Rigorously separates legend from verifiable fact
Essential reading if you want to understand the mythology as mythology — neither dismissing it nor accepting it uncritically

Immanuel Etkes — The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader (Brandeis University Press)

Similar critical-historical approach to Rosman
Particularly good on the social and religious context of 18th century Ukrainian Jewry

The Mythology Problem You Named

You are right to flag this. The BeShT tradition has three distinct layers that are constantly conflated:

| Layer | Content | Reliability | |---|---|---| | Historical | What he actually said and did | Very limited — Rosman shows almost nothing is verifiable | | Transmitted teaching | What disciples recorded | Partially reliable — filtered through each disciple's own lens | | Hagiography | Stories, miracles, legends | Theologically rich but historically unreliable |

The tradition itself is not always troubled by this distinction — in Hasidic thought, the story of a tzaddik has its own spiritual truth independent of historical accuracy. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov made this explicit: his stories are deliberately fictional yet contain genuine spiritual content.

But for a modern reader coming from outside, this conflation is genuinely confusing and you are right to name it as a problem.

A Suggested Reading Path

If I were to suggest a sequence:

Start with Rosman — get the honest historical picture first, so you know what the mythology is built on
Read Tzava'at HaRivash in Schochet's translation — the closest to primary teaching
Read Shivchei HaBesht in Ben-Amos/Mintz — the mythology, now read with clear eyes
Read Lamm's anthology — to place the teaching in theological context
Read Buber last — now you can appreciate his beauty without being misled by his distortions

This way you encounter the BeShT the way a good historian encounters any great figure — through critical layers, without either naive credulity or dismissive skepticism.