|
BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
|
|
The
DEFECTIVE MEZUZAH
"[Also] write them on [parchments affixed to]
the doorposts of your houses and upon your gates."
(Devarim 6:4)
And then there was the time that Rabbi Yisrael Baal
Shem Tov was
visiting the home of a member of the Holy Community
of Nemirov. While going from one room to another
room, the Baal Shem Tov "inadvertently" opened the
door to the cellar. He reached out to kiss the
Mezuzah affixed to the cellar doorway. (It is an age
old Jewish custom to touch a Mezuzah with your
finger tips and then kiss them.) But before he
actually touched the Mezuzah, he suddenly
stopped.
Rabbi Yisrael looked over to his host and said, "This
Mezuzah should be checked." (Mezuzahs need to be
checked every few years because the inked letters
can break or peel off, or even touch each other due
to shrinkage of the klaf (animal skin) on which it is
written. Even a slight imperfection in the letters
renders the Mezuzah defective and non-kosher.)
The host replied, "Rabbi, just because you opened
the wrong door, does that mean you need to justify
your mistake by questioning the kashrut of my
Mezuzah? Maybe you just accidentally opened the
door to the cellar?"
The Baal Shem Tov answered, "As far as I'm
concerned, there is no such thing as an accident. In
reality, everything, without exception, is directed by
Divine Guidance and is not a matter of
chance."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found in
SHIVCHEI HABESHT and translated in IN PRAISE OF
THE BAAL SHEM TOV by Ben Amos and Mintz.
|
|
TORAH BAAL SHEM TOV
Selection from Sefer Baal Shem Tov on the Torah
|
|
"Behold, I have taught you rules and laws, as the
L rd G d has commanded me, that you should keep
them, in the land to which you are coming to
possess. You shall observe them and do them."
(Devarim 4:60)
"Observe them" - this is
Mishnah.1 "And do them" as it implies.
Rashi
You should be pure-hearted in your service of G d.
The main thing is not to forget [the essential] things,
to study a certain amount of mussar every
day2, and to see
that you are always attached to good character
traits and proper behavior. Do not let a day go by
without doing a mitzvah, whether it is easy or
difficult to perform. This is alluded to in [the
Mishnah]: Be as careful (zahir) in the performance of
a minor mitzvah as of a major
one."3 "Zahir" as in the words:"And the
wise shall shine
(yaZhiRu) as the brightness of the
firmament."(Daniel 12:3) That is, the soul
should shine
and radiate [in the performance] of a minor mitzvah
just as it does with a major one. For G d desires
the heart.4
Tzivos HaRivash, p. 2a
This is a very great thing. For then, a person knows
that he did [a mitzvah] on that day, and created one
angel. "And if there is for him an angel, an
intercessor, one among a thousand5 to
vouch for a man's uprightness, then He will be
gracious to him, and say, "Deliver him from
descending to the pit, I have found a ransom."
(Job 33:23)
This is alluded to in [the verse]:"He who keeps
(shomer) the commandment will not know an evil
thing." (Ecclesiastes 8:5) That is when a
person commits himself to being constantly
attentive from morning till eve for a mitzvah to
present itself to him. This is the meaning of shomer,
as in "And his father watched out for the matter
(shomar et hadavar)." (Genesis 37:11)
Then,
the result will be that he "will not know an evil
thing." That is, he will not have an improper seminal
emission, which is called "evil," G d
forbid.6
This is alluded to in the verse: "The
kindness of G d is all the day." (Psalms 52:3)
That is, each and every day, you must do kindness
to G d.
Tzivos HaRivash, p. 3b
1I.e. the study of the Oral Torah, so as
not to forget it.
2A general term for inspirational and
ethical literature, such as ShaĦarei Teshuva
or
Reishis Chochmah. (The Baal Shem Tov
predated the mussar
movement of R. Yisroel Salant by about a hundred
years.)
3Pirkei Avos 2:1.
4Sanhedrin 105b.
5A thousand accusers.
6The Torah considers the act of spilling
seed as one of the most grievous sins possible, so
much so that it is given the unique title of "evil" (ra).
(As in the verse: "And Er, Judah's first-born, was
evil
in the sight of G d," (Genesis 38:7), on
which Rashi comments that he intentionally spilled his
seed on the ground.) According to Kabbalah, this
act was part of the sin of Adam, and causes damage
even when it happens unintentionally, such as during
sleep. Much of Chasidic thought deals with rectifying
this sin on the personal and cosmic level. In addition
to the mystical power of mitzvah observance to
engender purity, the Baal Shem Tov may have meant
that constant attentiveness to fulfilling the will of
G d protects a man from impure thoughts during the
day, so that his dreams will be pure at night. This is
as the Talmud states: "A person shouldn't think
about illicit things during the day that will bring him
to impurity in the night."(Kesuvos 46a)
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer
Shore
|
|
THE PILLAR OF PRAYER
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on Prayer
|
|
Section 23
"There shall not be man or woman barren among you
or among your cattle."(Deuteronomy 7:14)
Rabbi Chanin ben Levi said: "The Holy One said,
'Your
prayers will not be barren; rather they will ascend
and bear fruit.'"1
I heard from my grandfather that sometimes a person
prays for one thing yet is given something else. At
other times, his prayers are effective only in the
upper worlds. This is similar to what I heard from the
scholar, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen (of Polnoye),
on the verse: "And Jacob made a vow, saying: 'If
G d will be with me.. and will give me bread to
eat..'"
(Genesis 28:20) - [he meant it] literally! For
sometimes, alternative words are created from the
same letters. I also heard from my grandfather that
the letters are without commentary. It seems to me
that he is alluding to the Divine Name of 52 [letters]
in the Tetragrammaton2.
This is the
meaning of "there shall not be man or woman barren
among
you or among your cattle." (Deuteronomy
7:14) That is, the twenty-two letters of prayer
will not be barren; rather, they will bear fruit and
offspring. And there is a further guarantee, "or
among your cattle." That is, even your mundane
requests, on the lowest level, will bear fruit [on the
physical level, and] not only in the higher worlds, or
through alternative letter combinations. For
instance, "bread" — lechem can also spell
out "forgiveness" — machal, i.e. G d will
forgive your
sins. Likewise, it can be interpreted differently, such
as in the verse "..the bread of his G d"
(Leviticus
21:17), which alludes to faith3 .
For it still has a straightforward meaning and letter
combination, which is actual bread, i.e. a person's
livelihood.
Thus, your prayers will achieve everything, and bear
fruit and offspring, even your cattle — i.e. the literal
meaning of the words (called "cattle" because they
are on the lowest level) — such as livelihood, health,
with no other commentary, but only the
straightforward letters.
Degel Machane Ephraim, Ekev
1Midrash Rabbah, Devorim
3:6
2G d's four letter name, the Y-H-V-H
can be spelled out in several different ways. Each
spelling provides a different numerical value, with
four primary arrangements corresponding to the four
worlds. The Name whose numerical value is 72
corresponds to the world of Atzilut. The Name with a
value of 63
corresponds to Beriyah. The Name with a value of
45
corresponds to Yetzirah. And the Name with a value
of 52
corresponds to the Assiyah — the lowest world and
our level of reality. These four worlds also
correspond to the four parts of each enunciated
Hebrew letter: the cantillation marks (taamim), the
vocalization marks (nekudos), the "crowns" on the
written letters and the letters themselves, which
correspond to the world of Assiyah. By saying, "The
letters are without commentary," the Baal Shem Tov
may mean that the letters on the level of Assiyah
have no other connotation than their straightforward
meaning. Only on higher worlds can the letters be
rearranged to form alternative meanings.
3Zohar 1:166b.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Menachem
Kallus
|
|
THE LIGHT OF THE EYES
On the Greatness of the Baal Shem Tov
|
|
A wise man was once intellectually bothered. He had
studied the natural sciences and philosophy, and
discovered that according to the laws of nature, the
Red Sea was supposed to split at that very moment
the Children of Israel arrived there. Why, then, do
we believe that the splitting of the sea was such a
great thing? This question deeply troubled him, and
he traveled to consult the Baal Shem Tov.
When he arrived there, even before
presenting his question, the Baal Shem Tov rose and
went to the study hall, where he summoned all the
townspeople to hear a sermon. "There are fools and
heretics in this world who have trouble believing that
the splitting of the sea was a miracle," he
said. "These people have eyes, but cannot see. It
is written: 'In the beginning, G d created the
heavens and the earth.' G d's Name
Elokim1 has the
numerical value of 'Nature2,' for nature
is also
created by G d. Thus, the Sages said on the
verse: 'And the sea returned to its strength'
(Exodus 14:27), that 'G d made a condition
with the sea3.' From the very
beginning, G d
designed the sea to split before the Children of Israel
at that time. This makes the miracle even greater!
For from the beginning of creation, G d created the
natural order for the sake of Israel, as it says: 'In the
beginning4' — for the sake of Israel, who
is called 'the
beginning.' This nature of the sea was created for
Israel. Had they not required this miracle, G d would
not have designed it into the sea."
Beis Yaakov, Bereishis and Beshalach
1Each of G d's Names has a different
significance. The Name used in the first chapter of
Genesis,
describing the creation of the world, is Elokim.
2Elokim has the same gematria as
hatevah, 86.
3Midrash Rabbah, Bereishis 21:6.
The words "to its
strength" — l'eitano, is interpreted by the Sages
as "l'tanao" — "to its stipulation." That is, G d made
a stipulation with the sea, when He created it, that
it would split at that moment for the Children of
Israel.
4See Rashi's commentary on Genesis
1:1. Israel is
called "the beginning," as in the verse: "Israel is the
L rd's hallowed portion, the beginning of His produce"
(Jeremiah 2:3).
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer
Shore
|
|
KESER SHEM TOV
Anthology of the Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov
|
|
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
It is necessary for a person to become aware of
what deeply ails him, of the fact that he is spiritually
ill (that his mind is constricted in katnuth/immature
consciousness). This very awareness softens his
constriction, and this awareness itself is the healing
of his illness.
However, if one is unaware (referred to as
hester/concealed consciousness (as the verse
says, "I will conceal Myself" [Deuteronomy
31:18]) and does not realize that he is spiritually
ill, then there is nothing that can heal his
wounds.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Yehoshua
Starrett
|
|
