Shivchei HaBesht compiler

Dov Ber ben Samuel of Linits (Ilintsy, in present-day Ukraine) was an early Hasidic figure who compiled Shivchei ha-Besht ('In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov'), the earliest collection of legends about the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism. He was the son-in-law of Alexander the Shochet, who had served for several years as the Baal Shem Tov's personal scribe, giving him access to firsthand traditions. Working from oral accounts circulating in early Hasidic circles, he assembled the anthology in the late eighteenth century. He died before 1814; the work was printed only afterward, in the Kopys edition of that year, which became the standard text.