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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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REB MICHEL'S
KAMEYA
"But when you have spoken, be careful of your word
and keep the pledge that you have vowed to G d
your L rd." (Devarim 23:24)
And then there was the time that Reb Michel, who
was getting on in years, decided to have Yechidus (a
private meeting) with his Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov,
before he passed on to the Heavely Worlds.
During the meeting, he told the Baal Shem
Tov, "Rebbe, more than anything, I want to
study the most sublime levels of Torah with the holy
spiritual masters of old and experience spiritual
fulfillment in the Heavely Worlds." The
Baal Shem Tov nodded and gestured for him to sit
down. Then, the Baal Shem Tov wrote out a kameya
(an amulet). When he handed it to Reb Michel, he
said, "Always keep this kameya with you and be sure
it is with you when you are buried."
Soon thereafter, Reb Michel passed into the next
world. As Reb Michel traveled up into higher, more
sublime spiritual levels, he merely showed the kameya
written by the Baal Shem Tov and was able to
proceed upward without any questions.
Then, he reached a very lofty, spiritual level where
he
was greeted by an old, angelic looking man with a
long flowing white
beard and dressed in a white robe. As before, Reb
Michel showed him his kameya.
"I'm sorry," said the old man, "you can't enter this
heavenly chamber."
Reb Michel was confused. After all, up until then, his
holy kameya written by the Baal Shem Tov allowed
him to travel to higher and higher spiritual worlds. So
he asked the old man, "Why can't I go into this
chamber? Up until now I've been granted access to
every spiritual chamber that I've wanted to
visit."
"I don't know. All I know is that I have
been ordered not to let you in," said the old
man. "But if you wish, I will go in myself and find out
why you are not being allowed in." The old man left
and soon returned and explained, "I was told that you
made a promise with one of your close friends before
you passed from the physical world. The promise is
that you would regularly appear to him in his dreams
and describe all your experiences in the spiritual
worlds. So far, while you have been appearing to him
in his dreams, you have not told him a number of
things that you've seen. The only way for you to
enter this chamber and continue to even higher levels
is to ask your friend to release you from the
promise."
More than anything, Reb Michel wanted to continue
studying deeper levels of Torah in the more sublime
spiritual chambers of heaven and to study with the
Holy Torah Masters of past times. So he appeared to
his friend in a dream and asked to be released from
the promise. The friend greatly enjoyed hearing
about the spiritual worlds and was reluctant to
agree. Finally the friend said, "I agree to release you
from the promise but only on one condition. As we've
discussed many times, I'm hardly a follower of the
Baal Shem Tov and I've never really believed that the
kameya he gave you helped you get to any place
that you couldn't have already gone. Even after all
you've told me about your experiences in the world
beyond, I am still not convinced that your special
kameya is having any effect. So my condition is that
you give me one sure sign of the Baal Shem Tov's
greatness. If you do, I will release you from your
promise to regularly appear to me in my dreams."
Feeling somewhat dejected, Reb Michel returned to
the old man and asked his advice.
"You know that the Baal Shem Tov almost always
expounds on the Torah to his followers at shalosh
seudos (the third meal) on Shabbos afternoons. The
Torah teachings
that he discusses are heavenly Torah thoughts that
no human has previously heard. My advice is to
reveal to your friend in a dream what the Baal Shem
Tov will discuss this coming Shabbos afternoon.
Then tell him to go to the Rebbe's shalosh seudos
meal where he will hear the identical teaching
repeated."
So Reb Michel appeared to his friend in a dream and
told him the exact Torah teaching that the Baal Shem
Tov would deliver on the upcoming Shabbos
afternoon.
The next Shabbos afternoon, Reb Michel's earthbound
friend forced himself into the Baal Shem Tov's
crowded study hall to hear the Torah thoughts he
was going to teach.
The Baal Shem Tov looked him directly in the eye and
said, "Why are you pushing everyone to get closer?
You really don't have to strain yourself to hear my
teachings since you've already heard it before."
Reb Michel's friend stood awe struck. This was
the sign that he had requested. The Baal Shem Tov
not only knew what Torah was being taught in
heaven but also what he was thinking! He
thought, "Reb Michel, I release you from your
promise."
From that moment on, Reb Michel's
friend became a
devoted follower of the Baal Shem Tov.
Sometime later, the Baal Shem Tov told his new
follower that Reb Michel was a grandson of the old,
heavenly man who had so kindly and accurately
advised
him.
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found in Devorim
Areivim) and translated in STORIES OF THE BAAL
SHEM TOV by Y.Y. Klapholtz.
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TORAH BAAL SHEM TOV
Selection from Sefer Baal Shem Tov on the Torah
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"She must take off her captive's garb." (Devarim
11:26-28)
I already explained in the name of my grandfather
[the Baal Shem Tov] that extraneous thoughts come
to a person because the holy spark within the letters
of these thoughts desires to be fixed, raised to its
source and rectified. In the upper worlds, the letters
of all foreign thoughts are purified lights. However,
they descend to the depths and are enclothed in
filthy garments. As my grandfather explained, "She
must take off her captive's garb." You must not take
them in their filthy garments. Rather, you should
remove their filthy garments; then their
light will shine like the dawn.
Degel Machane Ephraim, Vayechi
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 28
The Baal Shem Tov's soul revealed to him that the
reason he merited all the supernal revelations
was not because he learned a lot of Talmud and legal
codes, but because he always prayed with total
concentration. Through this, he attained his high
spiritual level.
Tzava'as HaRivash, p. 4b
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Menachem
Kallus
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THE LIGHT OF THE EYES
On the Greatness of the Baal Shem Tov
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Section 20
The Baal Shem Tov said that his soul did not want to
descend into this world because of the poisonous
serpents in each generation (referring to members of
the Haskala, the nascent "Jewish Enlightenment"
movement). He feared that he would be unable to
stand against them, G d forbid, and that they would
upset him to the point that he could not function.
Therefore, heaven gave him sixty warriors — the souls
of Tzaddikim — to protect him. One of them was
Rabbi Meir Margoliot the author of Meir Nesivos, and
others like him.
Nesiv Mitzvosecha, Nesiv HaTorah
1:13
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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"He who goes weeping will bear a load of seed, but
he who comes rejoicing will bear his
sheaves."
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
If a person feels that he is always going away from
G d, and weeps in anguish over this, then ultimately
he will bear a load of seed — his efforts will bear fruit.
However, if he feels that he is always coming closer
to G d, and rejoices over this, ultimately he will be
left with seedless sheaves — his spiritual efforts will
prove to be barren.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Yehoshua
Starrett
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