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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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THE MISPLACED
SOUL
"After the death." (Achrei Mot 16:1)
AND then there was the time that not long
before the Baal Shem Tov left this physical world, his
granddaughter, Udel's daughter, came to him for a
blessing.
"Zeide," she begged him, "bless me. I have been
married for some time but still have no children." Her
beloved grandfather assured her that she would soon
give birth to a son. Soon thereafter, she conceived.
But before her son was born, the Baal Shem Tov
passed away. When the child was born, he was
named Yisrael after his illustrious
grandfather.
When little Yisrael was only two years old, he fell ill
and passed away after a few weeks. His mother was
beside herself with grief. She took the lifeless body to
her grandfather's grave. "Is this the child you
promised me?" she cried bitterly. She left her baby's
body by the Baal Shem Tov's grave and returned to
her home, brokenhearted.
It happened that on that day, some people came to
visit the grave of their departed Rebbe and they were
surprised to find a young child, by himself playing on
the ground nearby the Baal Shem Tov's grave. "Who
would abandoned a child in a cemetery?" they
wondered. They brought the child to the nearby
village, hoping that someone would be able to identify
him. When little Yisrael's mother heard the startling
news that a young child had been found at the Baal
Shem Tov's grave, she quickly ran to claim her son.
She was overjoyed to find him alive and well.
That night the Baal Shem Tov appeared to his
granddaughter in a dream.
"Why did you have to create such an chaotic scene by
bringing your child to my grave? You could have
simply come alone to tell me of the death of your son.
By leaving him in the cemetery you forced me to go
searching among thousands of souls to find the right
one to return to his body."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a letter from the Rav of
Medzibush as 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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"And he shall make atonement for the holy place,
because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel,
and because of their transgressions, even all their
sins; and so shall he do for the tent of meeting, that
dwells with them amidst their impurity." (Achrei
Mot 16:16)
My Master showed a clear proof that pride is worse
than sin. Regarding all sins and impurities, the verse
states "[He] dwells with them amidst their impurity."
However, about the arrogant, the Talmud
expounds: "He and I (G·d) cannot dwell in the same
world, as it says 'the haughty of eye and proud of
heart, him will I not suffer'" (Psalms
101:5).
Tzafnah Paneach, Yisro, p. 76d
I heard that the Baal Shem Tov would even draw
sinners close to him, as long as they were not
arrogant, and would push away Torah scholars, who
were not sinners, if they were arrogant.
"When a person is a sinner and knows it," he
said, "and is therefore humbled, G·d is with him; for
He 'dwells with them amidst their impurity.' However,
this other one, though not a sinner, is arrogant, and
G·d is not with him, for 'He and I cannot dwell in the
same world.'"
Pri Chaim, Avos 4:4
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 63
A person should not think, "On Shabbat I will pray with
concentration, but not during the week." He should
not be like those servants who serve the king only
when he is present, but are lax in their work when he
is absent.1 This is not a faithful servant.
Rather, he should let the King know that life is bad
without him. He should push passed all the
guards,2 until he comes before the King
himself. And though he cannot say a word, and is unfit
to come before the King, still, the latter will fulfill his
requests, for His compassion upon him is very
great.
Tzava'as HaRivash, p. 10a
1G·d is more present on the Shabbat, so
to speak.
2The extraneous thoughts that keep a
person from concentrating on his prayers.
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 53
When the Baal Shem Tov first took up
residence here
in Mezhibush, there were great rabbis among us
who
opposed his way. They visited him during the
holiday
of Succos and told him that his Succah was unfit
according to Torah law. The Baal Shem Tov
argued
that his Succah was fit. Then, he rested his
head in
his hands for a few moments, and when he opened
them, they held a piece of parchment on which
it was
written: "The succah of Rabbi Israel Baal
Shem Tov is
fit. Thus says Metat, the Heavenly Prince of the
Countenance."
That parchment was inherited by the Baal Shem
Tov's
grandson, the holy rabbi of Sidilkov (author
of Degel
Machane Ephraim). Whenever someone would get
sick, he would tell [the family] to place the
parchment
under the sick person's head and the latter would
immediately
recover. This continued for two years. They
would put
the parchment under the pillow of the head of
every
sick person, who would immediately get better.
During that entire two year period, not one
person in
the city died. Once, however, they put it
under the
head of a sick person, and it disappeared.
The rabbi
explained that it had been revealed to him
that heaven
was not pleased with what he was doing, for
all those
born must eventually die. Therefore, he had
prayed
that they take the parchment back.
I heard from honest people who heard from
the Tzaddik, Rabbi Yoskie, the grandson of
the "Degel" that he himself saw the parchment
in his
grandfather's possession.
From a Letter of the Rabbi of
Mezhibush
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 82
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
When a person transgresses one sin, he will be
confronted with the test of another sin, so that he
become aroused to repent, whereby the first sin will
be atoned. When the evil inclination sees this, it tries
to overpower the person with this second sin, but
[even if he succumbs], G·d defends him, as the verse
says, "For three sins of Israel [I can forgive
them]."1
However, after a person has already sinned three
times, the three levels of his soul - his nefesh, ruach
and neshamah2 - are caught up in the
klipoth,3 and one sin then inevitably
brings another in its wake, and the paths of
repentance are withheld from him, until G·d has mercy
on him.
And this is what the prophet means, "Let us search
our paths and analyze them, and return to
G·d,"4 for after one's path has become a
trodden way in one's eyes, because "the heart of this
people has become thick,"5 one must
search and analyze one's behavior in order to realize
that one has sinned.6 Only then will one
return to G·d.
1Amos 2:6. The Talmud in
Tractate Yoma 86b uses this verse as the basis of the
statement that G·d does not punish for a person's first
two sins (see Maimonides, Teshuvah 3:5, Keseph
Mishneh ad loc). With a third sin, though, one has
already entrapped oneself within the force of habit,
and his repentance then becomes very difficult, as we
read in the next paragraph. One is thus held
responsible for all successive sins, although they
may
well be considered being done under the force of
compulsion.
2From here we see that with every
repetition of a physical act, the influence of that act
seeps deeper and deeper into one's soul.
3Someone "caught in the klipoth" -
the "shells" or "husks" - does not even realize that he
is trapped. Just as shells and husks conceal what is
inside them, so do the klipoth prevent one from
seeing oneself clearly and objectively.
4Lamentations 3:40
5Isaiah 6:10
6It is not easy to change a habit, but
even more than this, once one has become
accustomed to certain behavior, one tends to
rationalize it and justify it, thus making it difficult to
even admit that the habit needs changing. Only
honest soul-searching introspection can see through
this self-deception.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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