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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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A TENTH FOR A
MINYAN
"G·d spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of
Israel, saying in the seventh month, on the first day of
the month, there will be a Sabbath (Rosh Hashanah)
for you; A holy celebration." (Emor 23:23-24)
AND then there was the time that the Baal
Shem Tov once wanted to return to his home town
(Mezibush) to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with his
followers. At that time, he was about two weeks travel
away. Through the use of the spiritual power of
Kefitzah Haderek (the ability to travel long distances in
a short amount of time), he was able to return to
Mezibush in three days, even though the roads were
hardly passable because of heavy rains throughout
the Carpathian Mountains.
During this return trip, the Baal Shem Tov
arrived in a small village just before Shabbat
Mevarchim, the last Shabbat in the Hebrew month of
Elul preceding Rosh Hashanah. When the inn keeper
was told that the holy Baal Shem Tov had just arrived,
he rushed outside to greet him. The inn keeper who
was childless until then thought to himself, "Perhaps
the Baal Shem Tov will give me a blessing for
children."
Before the Baal Shem Tov had a chance
to
get off his wagon, the inn keeper had already run over
to greet him. After exchanging greetings the Baal
Shem Tov asked, "Is it possible for me and my
Chassidim to stay with you for Shabbat?"
The inn keeper was thrilled with the
request. "Certainly Rebbe, it is my honor for you and
your Chassidim to be my guests for
Shabbat."
"Will you have a minyan (10 Jewish men)
for the prayers?" the Baal Shem Tov asked.
After counting all of the local villagers, the
Chassidim and the Baal Shem Tov, the inn keeper
could still only think of nine men. He answered in a
dejected voice, "I'm sorry Rebbe, but I can only think of
nine men including you and your Chassidim."
The Baal Shem Tov thought for a minute
and replied, "Don't worry, there will be a minyan."
Without getting off the wagon, he instructed Alexei, his
wagon driver, to drive the wagon up to the front door of
the inn.
To get to the front door, the wagon had to pass
through a passageway covered by a roof extending
outward from above the front door of the inn. The roof
was held up by two columns at the free end and
secured to the house at the other end. The roof was
lower than the topmost part of the wagon. When
Alexei reached the covered passageway, he stopped
the horses before the uppermost part of the wagon
rammed into the roof.
The Baal Shem Tov asked in a slightly agitated
tone, "Alexei, why did you stop?"
Without questioning, Alexei drove on
through the passageway. Both the roof and the inn
rose up so that even the highest part of the wagon
could drive through the passageway without hitting the
roof. Everyone standing there was stunned as they
watched this miracle.
The inn keeper was very happy when he
saw this miracle and thought, "If G-d wills it, I will have
children."
When the afternoon before the Sabbath
arrived, the Baal Shem Tov told the inn keeper to
gather the minyan for the Mincha (afternoon) prayer.
(It
was the Baal Shem Tov's custom to pray immediately
after midday on the Sabbath Eve.) The inn keeper, the
villagers and even the Chassidim looked at the Baal
Shem Tov with a surprised expression on each of
their faces.
The Baal Shem Tov had a serious look on his face
and said emphatically, "There are ten men among
us."
They answered in unison, "But Rebbe,
there are only nine men here."
The Baal Shem Tov replied, "I am sure
there will be a minyan."
The inn keeper and the villagers looked at each other
with expressions of wonderment because there were
still only nine men present.
As they talked, it occurred to the inn keeper that there
was a small inn across the river, and there was a sick
Jewish man living there. This man had been sick for
about ten years. His hands and legs were paralyzed
and he could not speak. He spent his life lying on a
bed and with his family feeding him. The inn keeper
described this sick man to the Baal Shem Tov and
said, "Perhaps you are referring to him?"
The Baal Shem Tov nodded and said, "Yes, bring him
here to make the minyan."
The villagers questioned the Baal Shem Tov, "But
Rebbe, how can we move him?"
The Baal Shem Tov gave them his staff and instructed
them to put it into the man's hand so that he could get
up and come with them.
The villagers took the staff and went for him. They
came to the sick man and explained that the holy Baal
Shem Tov was across the river and had asked him to
join them for the minyan. The sick man didn't even
move much less get up. So they returned and told the
Baal Shem Tov what happened.
The Baal Shem Tov removed his hat from his head
and sent the villagers back, instructing them, "Put my
hat on his head and my staff in his hand and he will
get up and come to make the minyan."
They followed these instructions and sure
enough, the man got up and walked by himself to the
inn for the Mincha (afternoon) prayers just before
Shabbat. In fact, he stayed to make the minyan for all
of the Shabbat prayers. After this, he lived another ten
years and was strong and healthy throughout this
time.
With the thought of the two amazing
miracles in his mind, during the afternoon Shabbat
meal, the inn keeper asked the Baal Shem
Tov, "Rebbe, I am already middle aged and if I do not
have children soon, I will be too old. What will
become of me?"
The Baal Shem Tov thought for a minute
and said, "My dear friend, you will have children."
Then the inn keeper asked whether or not to divorce
his wife who was past child bearing age.
The Baal Shem Tov answered him, "What for? You
will have children."
After that the inn keeper lived with his wife
until he was sixty. Then his wife passed on to the next
world and he remarried. His second wife gave birth to
two children. No one can remember for sure whether
or not they were twins.
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story in SHIVCHEI
HABESHT as translated in IN PRAISE OF THE BAAL
SHEM TOV by Ben-Amos and Mintz
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TORAH BAAL SHEM TOV
Selection from Sefer Baal Shem Tov on the Torah
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"And the L·rd said to Moses: Speak to the priests."
(Emor 21:1)
This is what the verse says: "Day to day utters
speech"
(Psalms 19:3).1
I heard from my Master [a commentary on the
verse]: "Day to day utters speech, and night to night
expresses knowledge." The Sages have said, "A
person is judged first2 for the time he
wasted from Torah study, as it says: 'The beginning of
strife is [like] the release of water' (Proverbs
17:14)."3
Does a person really believe that he can escape
judgment due to the burden of making a living by day,
and the [need to] rest from his work at night? The
days of winter contradict this, and the nights of
summer destroy [his
argument].4
Ben Poras Yosef, p. 127c
1From the Midrash on this verse
(Vayikra Rabbah 26:4).
2In the World to Come.
3Sanhedrin 7a. The simple
meaning of this verse is that strife and
contentiousness break forth like a gush of water.
Water is a classic metaphor for Torah, as in the
verse: "Everyone that thirsts, come you for water"
(Isaiah 55:1). However, the Talmud interprets
this verse different: "The beginning of strife" - that is,
the beginning of a person's judgment is over "the
release of water" - the time he wasted from studying
Torah.
4In the past, most people would work
only until nightfall. The short winter days prove that a
person can finish work early and still make a living,
thus contradicting the argument that a person must
work long hours, leaving himself no time for Torah
study. Likewise, the short nights of summer
demonstrate that a person can make do with less
sleep and still function. Why, then, should he need so
much sleep the rest of the year, rather than study
Torah? The connection of this teaching to the verse
from Psalm 19 may be that day and night express
words that negate a person's arguments.
Alternatively, the Midrash that cites this verse
(Vayikra Rabbah 26:4), speaks of the day and
night as "borrowing" from each other throughout the
year. The long summer days borrow hours from the
night, and the long summer nights borrow hours from
the day. Only on the spring and autumn equinoxes
are day and night equal. This is in order to prove to
people that there is always time to study
Torah.
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 64
All the days of the poor are evil (Proverbs
15:15).
According to the statement of our Rabbis,
that "there is no poverty except from
knowledge,"1 the verse then means: "All
the days of the poor - who lacks knowledge - are
evil." Meaning to say, none of his prayers or studies
are worth anything to G·d, for they certainly lack fear
and love, and do not fly upward.2 But the
Gemara asks: "But what about Sabbaths and
Festivals?"3 Certainly, on those days
every person feels an arousal from above (receives
an
arousal from above) and prays with more
concentration. The Gemara answers: "Even if he now
prays with more intensity, he realizes that he is
praying with more intensity and is filled with pride
(arrogance, etc.). He thinks that he has ascended to a
high level. Therefore, they are evil because "a change
is the beginning of intestinal sickness." Meaning to
say, "The evil inclination is only aroused amidst eating
and drinking,"4 and because of this he
became proud.
Tzava'as HaRivash, 16b
1Nedarim 41a
2See Tikunei Zohar 10
3Bava Basra 146a
4Zohar 1:110a, Midrash
HaNe'elam
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 1
The main work of Tzaddikim throughout the
generations, such as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and
his companions, Rabbi Yitzchok Luria, and the Baal
Shem Tov and his disciples, was to bind the souls of
the Jewish people to their [spiritual] roots, and to
remove the partitions and physical desires that
separate them [from G·d], so that their souls become
bound to their roots, until it becomes impossible to
separate them from there. So, too, that they should
fear G·d, even in private, and not transgress even the
slightest decree of the Rabbis.
[The Tzaddikim] bind their souls to G·d by stripping
themselves of their physicality and completely
transcending their corporeality. They bind their souls
to the light of the Infinite, and by means of this, lift up
the souls of the Jewish people with them and bind
them to their root.
However, as the Baal Shem Tov said,
even when they attach their own souls to their
supernal root, they must be careful not to nullify their
existence, so that they are able to return to physicality.
They should remain attached [to G·d] in such a way
that even when they are busy with physical activities,
their thoughts are not separate from the Creator. And
even when they are involved in the material world,
their
intention is to serve G·d. This is serving G·d in the
aspect of "Smallness," as is known.
Ma'or VaShemesh, Pinchas
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 83
"Each day conveys an utterance, and each night
expresses knowledge."1
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
Man's initial judgment is for abstaining from Torah
study.2 But a person assumes that he
will be able to absolve himself from judgment
because he was busy earning a living by day and
resting from his toil by night. However, the short
winter days prove him wrong, and the short summer
nights contradict him.3
1Psalms 19:3
2Oral tradition (Tractate Kiddushin
40b) derives this from a verse in Proverbs
17:14.
3Until the advent of electricity, the
workday basically ended at sunset, and thus during
the winter, people worked less hours. This proves
that one is willing to work less hours when necessary,
which raises the question, why not for Torah study?
Similarly, one sleeps less during the short summer
nights, which shows that one is able to be flexible with
one's sleeping hours, which contradicts the
contention that one must rest the entire night.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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