Jacob Joseph of Polonne

Jacob Joseph of Polonne, (1710–1784, ), or Yaakov Yosef of Pollonye, was a rabbi who was one of the first disciples of the founder of Hasidic Judaism, the Baal Shem Tov.

Biography Yaakov Yosef had been an adherent of the school of Lurianic Kabbalah. Before following the Baal Shem Tov, he was rabbi of the city of Sharhorod for several years, where his pietistic asceticism and self-isolation alienated his community and led to his being fired from his position on a Friday afternoon (just before Shabbat) in 1748.

Works He wrote four books: Toledot Yaakov Yosef (1780). The first Chassidic work ever published, and the primary source for various sayings of the Ba‘al Shem Tov as well as members of his inner circle. It is "in the main a compilation of sermons, arranged according to the Torah portion of the week.... [and] contains the most basic paradigms of the Hasidic worldview."