Many of those who became the Baal Shem Tov's foremost disciples were already great men before they met him. But not all of them realized how great the Besht was and they did not realize that they needed a spiritual master. Rabbi Yehiel Michal, the son of Rabbi Yitzhak of Drohobitch, was holy from birth. The Besht considered his father the tzaddik of the generation and Rabbi Yehiel Michal was himself one of the outstanding scholars of the Brody Kloiz. As a young man, he lived in the small town of Borislav near Drohobitch (Galicia in Poland); later he became famous as the Maggid of Zlotchov. Despite his youth, he was an awesome tzaddik, although he hid his holiness from people's eyes. When the Baal Shem Tov knew that someone had extraordinary spiritual potential, like Rabbi Yehiel Meir of Zlotchov, he could not rest, and pursued him until he had made him a disciple.