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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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PERFECT
FAITH
And then there was the time that Rabbi Dovid Leikes,
one of the Chevrayah Kadisha , was speaking with
several followers of his son-in-law, Reb Mottel of
Chernobyl (also known as the Chernobyler
Rebbe).
Reb Dovid asked the followers of Reb Mottel, "Tell
me. Do you have perfect faith in your Rebbe , Reb
Mottel?"
None of the men responded.
After a pause Reb Dovid persisted, "So nu?"
Finally, one of Reb Mottel's adherents came back
with, "Who can say he has perfect faith?"
Reb Dovid nodded and continued. "My friends, let me
tell you a story about faith. Once, several of us in the
Chevrayah Kadisha spent a Shabbos at an inn with
the Rebbe. As usual, Seudah Shlishit went late into
the night."
"The Baal Shem Tov told us of the mystical insights he
had received while meditating, praying, and studying
Torah during that Shabbos. When he finished
speaking, we Benched , said Maariv and then
Havdalah. "
"Immediately afterwards," Reb Dovid continued, "we
sat down together with the Baal Shem Tov for Melava
Malkah ."
"After a few minutes, the Baal Shem Tov turned to me
and said, 'Reb Dovid, reach into your pocket and take
out a gulden, please, and buy us some mead from the
inn keeper.'
"I was still wearing my Shabbos clothes and of course
I never carry money on Shabbos . Yet, without thought
or hesitation, I reached into my pocket to take out the
gulden, as my Rebbe had requested. And — the most
amazing thing! I found a gulden in my
pocket."
The disciples of Reb Mottel, after hearing this story,
commented to Reb Dovid, "You know, that is really not
that amazing. It's just another miracle story about the
Baal Shem Tov."
"Yes. That is so," said Reb Dovid. "But the point of my
telling you the story is not to show that the Baal Shem
Tov does miracles. My point is that
my faith in my Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, is so great
that I didn't even think to question his request. I just
reached into my pocket for the money. That it was
there is secondary."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzi Meir HaCohane from a story in
SIPURIM UMAMORIM YEKORIM and translated in
STORIES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV by Rabbi
Y.Y.Klapholtz
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TORAH BAAL SHEM TOV
Selection from Sefer Baal Shem Tov on the Torah
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BESHALACH
And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him.
(Exodus 13:19)
About Moses, the verse says, "The wise of heart take
commandments" (Proverbs 10:8).
Shemot
Rabbah 20:17
Why does the verse use the plural, instead of the
singular: "The wise of heart takes a commandment"?
Because a person must unite the physical act of the
commandment, called the "lower mitzvah," with the
thought and intention underlying the commandment,
which is the "supernal mitzvah." This is also why we
say, "Blessed are You . . . who has sanctified us with
His commandments" — in the plural.
Ohr
Ganuz LaTzaddikim, Vayareh
And they believed in G d, and in Moses His servant.
(Exodus 14:31)
I heard from my master, the Baal Shem Tov,
that "belief" means the mystical attachment of the soul
to the Holy One, blessed be He.
Toldos Yaakov
Yosef, Ki Tavo
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 55
Don't think, "I will pray enthusiastically when I
can, but I will not push myself when I cannot."
The opposite is true! For when a king enters
the battlefield, he changes his clothing [to be
unrecognizable].1 Yet, his
servants nearby can recognize him by his
gestures, and those who are afar can still
discern that the troops are guarding a certain
place, and that the king is probably
there.
This is also true of prayer. The [distracting
thoughts and emotions] are guarding the King
so that you cannot see Him. You should
therefore push yourself even more, for the
King is there; they are merely hiding Him from
you.
Tzava'as HaRivash, p. 10a
1So that the enemy will not
recognize him and try to kill him.
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 45
Continued from last week — the story of the
Baal Shem Tov's cantor.
Afterward, as the conversation continued, the
cantor told Rabbi Elimelech how the Baal
Shem Tov could gaze from one end of the
earth to the other.
Once, when his students
were sitting before him, the Baal Shem Tov
chuckled a little, as he was wont.
They
asked
him why he chuckled, and he said that in a
certain city in a very distant land, a nobleman
spent several years building a beautiful
castle.
Just now, a Tzaddik went to pray the
afternoon prayers, and it started to hail very
heavily, so that he had to run and take shelter
in that castle. Just as the Tzaddik finished praying, the
hail stopped so he left the palace. Immediately after
he left, the palace collapsed.
"How can I
not laugh over how much G d's direction of the
world is hidden?
The main purpose of this
great building was only to give shelter to this
Tzaddik for a short while. Through his prayers all of
sparks [of holiness] that were in the stones were
rectified. At that point, why did the palace need to
remain standing? The answer of course is that it didn't
so that is why it immediately collapsed."
Later, we saw in the newspaper the story of
this building, and its unexplainable collapse.
And it happened exactly at that hour [the Baal
Shem Tov laughed].
From the Manuscripts of R. Yitzchok Isaac
of Komarna
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 72
The Baal Shem Tov
taught:1
Regarding thoughts, there are many different
types, some good, some evil. But
even within falsehood there is truth, for the
numerical value of falsehood — SheKeR in Hebrew— is
600, which is inclusive of truth — EmeTh in Hebrew —
the numerical value of which is
441.2
1Ben Porath Yoseph
126c
2 All evil and falsehood conceals within
it the good and the true, as alluded to by the numerical
values — the numerical value of evil (280) is
also greater than of good (17). The large
difference perhaps implies that good is
extremely hidden within evil,
whereas falsehood must contain a large
amount of truth in order for it to be
accepted.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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