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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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THE NIGGUN OF AROUSAL
"Prepare to die on the mountain."
(Devarim 32:50 )
And then there was the time, just before the Baal
Shem Tov passed on to the next world, he gathered
his closest followers around his deathbed and asked
them to sing the Hisorerus
Niggun (Tune of Spiritual Inspiration) of Reb Michel of
Zlotchover.
Summoning all of his last strength, the Baal Shem
Tov sat up in bed and announced: "I hereby
guarantee you and all coming generations, that
whenever someone sings this song of inspiration with
a true desire to arouse himself to repentance, no
matter where or who he is, I will come to join him in
his song and help arouse heavenly mercy for
him.
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found in SIFREI
CHABAD as translated in STORIES OF THE BAAL
SHEM TOV by Y.Y. Klapholtz
Click to hear an extensive explanation of the Niggun's
tradition and hear an authentic version of Reb Michel
of Zlotchover's Niggun (go to the second niggun on
the list.)
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TORAH BAAL SHEM TOV
Selection from Sefer Baal Shem Tov on the Torah
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"The Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are
just. He is a faithful G d without iniquity; righteous
and moral is He. Destruction is His children's fault,
not His own." (Devarim 32:4-5)
The Baal Shem Tov told a parable:1
There was once an extremely poor woman, who lived
in a little house on the outskirts of the city, near a
forest. She would go begging door to door in order
to support herself. Whenever a person gave her a
gift or charity, she would never thank or praise them,
or bless them for what they gave her. Rather, she
would always give the same answer to each
one: "Whatever a person does, whether good or
bad, he does to himself."2 This is all
she would say.
It happened that she once begged at the castle of
the queen. The queen gave her an impressive gift,
yet the beggar replied as she always did. The queen
became infuriated at this poor woman, for she felt
that she was mocking people who gave her
charity.3
In her anger, she ordered her baker to prepare a
beautiful cake, but to put poison in the
dough.
The next time the poor woman came to the queen's
palace, the queen gave her the cake. The poor
woman took it, and replied as usual. When she
arrived home, she decided not to eat it right away,
as it was so splendid; rather, she saved it for a few
days in order to appreciate it.
In the meantime, the queen's son went hunting in
the
forest. He spent a lot of time there, and became
exhausted. He went to the house of the poor
woman
to rest. She was delighted to receive him. "Perhaps
my lord would like something to eat?" she said. "I
have here a beautiful cake from the queen." He took
it and ate it, and immediately fell down dead. The
poor woman became panicked and ran to the queen
to tell her what had happened. "Now I see that you
spoke truthfully," the queen said, "for I caused this
myself."
The meaning of this parable is that a person should
always remember that whatever he does, he does to
himself. He should not listen to the seductive words
of the evil inclination, but should answer it as above:
Whatever evil a person does, he does to
himself.
Ge'ulas
Yisroel
1The following parable is found in Sefer
Baal Shem Tov on this parasha, footnote 2. In the
main text of the book, a slightly different version is
quoted from the sefer Toldos Yaakov Yosef, in the
name of the Baal Shem Tov. The footnote version is
being translated here, as it contains a few more
details.
2The last four words are taken from the
other version of the story.
3In the other version it says: "The king
became infuriated because the beggar did not show
gratitude by answering that way."
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer
Shore
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THE PILLAR OF PRAYER
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on Prayer
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Section 33
"Righteousness shall go before him, and he will set his
steps on the way." (Psalms 85:14)
This is an admonition. There are some people who
go
to perform a mitzvah, pray, etc., and stop on the
way to speak with others. Even though they fulfill
the mitzvah afterward, they sinned in that they did
not do it so quickly. After their death, their
punishment is reciprocal, as is known from numerous
books. Their soul is made to pass over a river on a
very narrow crossing. This is very painful to the
soul, and causes it fear and dread. It must run very
fast to get across. However, in the middle of the
way, G d sends an angel to obstruct it. This is the
same angel that was created when the person
performed the mitzvah.1 That angel
had previously suffered pain, for when the person
thought about doing the mitzvah in his home, he
created the soul of the angel; whereas, when he
performed the mitzvah, he created its body. But
because he delayed in creating the body by stopping
to talk, the angel also comes to stop him in the
middle of the way so that he cannot run and he
becomes afraid.
This is the meaning of "Righteousness shall go before
him." The simple meaning is that all of a person's
mitzvos go before him after his death. However, you
should make sure that when you go to perform a
mitzvah or to pray in synagogue that you do so
quickly, and not sluggishly, so that "he will set his
steps on the way," — they will not stop you when
you
cross the river.
Tzava'as HaRivash p. 14a
1Every mitzvah we do creates an angel.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer
Shore
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THE LIGHT OF THE EYES
On the Greatness of the Baal Shem Tov
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Section 24
In the city of the Baal Shem Tov lived a brilliant
scholar, an expert in the entire Talmud and legal
codes. This scholar refused to listen to the
teachings of the
Baal Shem Tov, and did not believe in his lofty
perceptions. However, the Baal Shem Tov wanted
dearly to claim him for a student.
Once, this scholar learned a very complex law and a
certain Tosephos1 that he could not
understand. And though he devoted great mental
energy in trying to understand it, he was
unsuccessful. This troubled him greatly.
One night, in a dream, he saw that they were lifting
him up to the supernal worlds, taking him into ever
more recondite chambers, until he could no longer
see due to the great supernal illumination, and had to
shut his eyes. Finally, they brought him to one inner
chamber and said to him, "Open your eyes." He
opened them and beheld many great sages and
Tzaddikim sitting and studying Torah, with the Baal
Shem Tov sitting at the head of them all. The Baal
Shem Tov said to him, "Why are you having so much
trouble understanding the Tosephos. The answer is
as follows.."
When the scholar awoke in the morning, he took his
Gemara and looked over the words of the Tosephos.
He saw that the Baal Shem Tov's answer was
remarkably clear. Nevertheless, he still thought that
it was only a dream. When the holy Shabbos arrived,
he went to the Third Meal2 of the Baal
Shem Tov. As soon as he walked into the house, the
Baal Shem Tov said to him, "Welcome! Did you look
over explanation of the Tosephos that I told you to
see if it is true?" From that day on, he attended to
the Baal Shem Tov and became a great
Chasid.
I heard this from honest
individuals.
Kesser Shem Tov 2, p. 16a
1Thirteenth century commentary on the
Talmud.
2Seudah Shelishit, held before sundown
at the conclusion of Shabbos — traditionally a time
when Chasidim gather together with their Rebbe to
sing and hear words of Torah.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer
Shore
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KESER SHEM TOV
Anthology of the Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov
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Section 34
"Sometimes, violation of Torah is its observance. We
learn this from G d telling Moses after his breaking
the Tablets, 'That you broke,'1 which
implies approval for Moses having broken
them."2
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
How can violating the Torah possibly enhance its
observance? This can be understood with the fact
that all things yearn to return to their source.
Therefore, when one eats, drinks, or is otherwise
involved in mundane affairs, he is "violating" the
Torah by his not studying it or explicitly serving G d
at that time. His soul then has a chance to rest
from
its enthusiasm, and it gathers new strength to return
to an even higher level of closeness to G d. This
spiritual phenomenon is alluded to in the verse, "The
chayoth (angels) run to and fro,"3 and
this is why "violating" the Torah sometimes is its
observance.4
1Exodus 34:1
2Tractate Menachoth 99b
3Ezekiel 1:14
4Toldoth Yaakov Yoseph, Tazria 2;
Devarim 2. There are two reasons why this must
be so. First, if one were not to periodically "cool
down" from intense spiritual experiences, one might
reach a stage where one's soul would become so
united with G d that it would completely lose its
separateness. At that point, the soul would not be
able to return to the physical body. This is
because the anguish of separation intensifies the
pleasure of return. The second reason is because
perpetual pleasure loses its glamour and becomes
boredom. Thus, if one were constantly experiencing
peak spiritual pleasures, they would no longer be
pleasurable experiences. Regarding why one then
rises to even more intense experiences, this is
because the anguish of separation intensifies the
pleasure of return.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Yehoshua
Starrett
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