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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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A SIMPLE
MISUNDERSTANDING
"Korach, son of Yitz'har (a grandson of Kehoth and
great-grandson of Levi), began a rebellion. They
confronted Moses." (Korach 16:1-2)
Moses was also a great-grandson of Levi. Korach
was jealous of Moses. The Medrash explains that
Korach was the richest man of all time and was
encouraged by his wife, who said that Moses was
ridiculing and humiliating him and the other Levites
with the "supposed" laws that Moses said were
commanded by G·d to lower the status of the tribe of
Levi. For example, Moses appointed his brother
Aaron as the High Priest over the Jewish People, the
main offerings were given to the Cohanim (the
descendants of Aaron), the Levites had to shave
themselves from head to toe, and Aaron and Moses
had to lift and wave each male member of the Levite
tribe.
AND then there was the time that in the town
of Tarnopol there lived a wealthy Jew by the name of
Reb Yitzchok and his wife Sheindel. They had only one
son who suffered from mental illness.
They had consulted all the best doctors without any
success. The boy was prone to wild ramblings, and
would scream out for no reason. They lived in a
community of misnagdim - those opposed to the new
chassidic groups, and to their leader, the Baal Shem
Tov. It was therefore with great trepidation that the
boy's mother approached her husband to take their
son to the Baal Shem Tov for help. She felt that is
was their last resort. Reb Yitzchok immediately
rejected her suggestion, despite his wife's pleadings
and tears. "Please Yitzchok, I can no longer bear to
look at my precious son in his present state. Please
disregard your feelings for the Baal Shem Tov's
chassidic followers and their customs, and beg him
to heal our son."
At first Yitzchok couldn't see himself
begging the Baal Shem Tov for anything. The
community had branded the Baal Shem Tov as fraud
and a charlatan. But after hearing his wife's tearful
cries, he realized there was no alternative, and he
agreed to see the Baal Shem Tov.
As his son was too unstable to travel, Reb
Yitzchok decided to approach the community leaders
with whom he had some influence, and ask them to
invite the Baal Shem Tov to Tarnopol. At first, the town
leaders were vehemently opposed to Reb Yitzchak's
request. To invite the leader of the chassidim would
rouse the ire of their Rabbi and the community in
general. They all agreed it was a waste of time. But
the town leaders had a great deal of sympathy for Reb
Yitzchok and his wife because of their ill son. Also,
being a successful businessman, Reb Yitzchok was
a pillar of the community and held great influence with
all its leaders. Finally, after much discussion, the
community leaders agreed to pen an invitation to the
Baal Shem Tov to come to Tarnopol for a
Shabbos.
Reb Yitzchok traveled to Medzibush for an
audience with the Baal Shem Tov and to extend the
invitation. Reb Yitzchok tearfully told the Baal Shem
Tov of his son's illness, and begged the Rebbe to
come to Tarnapol.
The Baal Shem Tov sat in deep thought
for a few minutes, then raised his head, smiled and
nodded his head. He called Alexei, his driver, to
prepare the carriage.
When the Baal Shem Tov arrived, Reb
Yitzchak promptly brought him to his home to meet his
son.
The Baal Shem Tov smiled as he slowly
stroked the boy's cheek. He then said to Reb Yitzchok
and his wife the following: "Your son is not ill. It is
simply a misunderstanding. Allow me to talk to your
son for a few minutes, and then allow me to do so
again privately for about an hour each day for the next
few days, and I am sure your son will
recover."
Reb Yitzchok and his wife were
dumbfounded! How could the Baal Shem Tov say
their son's illness is simply a "misunderstanding"
after the best doctors couldn't help them?
Nevertheless, they were encouraged by the Rebbe's
words, and agreed to allow the Baal Shem Tov to talk
to their son each day, as he requested, on condition
that the boy's caretaker stay with them in case their
son reacted violently, as he was known to
do.
The Baal Shem Tov then sat down and
spoke to the lad. The boy sat quietly as he looked into
the Baal Shem Tov's holy eyes and listened to his
whispered words. The Baal Shem Tov asked the lad
some questions and the boy responded calmly. For
the next few days, the boy was brought by his
caretaker to meet with the Baal Shem Tov. It seemed
that the Baal Shem Tov had a most calming affect
upon him. After a few days, it seemed as if the boy
was cured! He seemed to behave normally whenever
he sat with the Baal Shem Tov. Reb Yitzchok and
Sheindel were elated.
For Shabbos, Reb Yitzcho asked his
guest, "What type of meat shall we prepare for you this
Shabbos?" The Baal Shem Tov asked for a lamb and
that the shochet (slaughterer) be brought to him. The
Baal Shem Tov watched as the shochet correctly
slaughtered the lamb, but just as the shochet was
about to cut it open, the Baal Shem Tov stopped
him. "I will inspect the lamb." He inserted his hand
into the lamb's body and felt for any lesions on the
lung that would render the animal as being unfit.
When he removed his hand, he pronounced the lamb
Kosher. The Baal Shem Tov then left for the mikveh.
Meanwhile, the shochet proceeded with the
preparation of the lamb. He was called away briefly
but when he returned and withdrew the lung from the
animal he found to his dismay a round
puncture.
He waited for the Baal Shem Tov to return,
and then told him the story of how he had briefly left
and returned to find a hole in the lung. The Baal
Shem Tov didn't seem disturbed and told the
slaughterer to continue with the preparations since he
considered the lamb kosher. "I want it to be cooked
for my Shabbos meal," he announced.
The shochet was stunned, and
immediately rushed to tell the townspeople about the
treif (unkosher) lamb that the Baal Shem Tov planned
to eat on Shabbos! The town elders, who were all
opponents of the Baal Shem Tov, planned to confront
him front of the entire congregation over the
matter.
The next morning, after the Shabbos
prayers, the Rav of Tarnopol accompanied by a group
of townspeople went to Reb Yitzchok's house to
confront the Baal Shem Tov with his guilt. The Baal
Shem Tov had not returned, so the Rav took a seat at
the head of the table to await his arrival. Meanwhile,
the young man's caretaker brought him for his daily
session with the Baal Shem Tov. The non-Jewish
caretaker did not realize that the man seated at the
head of the table was not the Baal Shem Tov. So he
brought the young man into the room and left
assuming that the boy would act properly as he
always did in the presence of the Baal Shem Tov. The
lad began to give a rambling account of his activities.
He circled the group at the table in a mad shuffle and
began to relate how after the Baal Shem Tov had
gone to the mikveh, the shochet had returned and
made a round hole in the lung.
The townspeople were astonished at
these words. It seemed the young man was telling
the truth. There was no reason for him to fabricate
such a story and he was lucid enough to understand
what had transpired. They now realized their error in
judging the Baal Shem Tov. One by one they rose and
quietly left. They were now convinced of the Baal
Shem Tov's honesty.
As the town Rav left Reb Yitzchok's
home, he encountered the Baal Shem Tov returning
from the Sabbath prayers. The town Rav was so
embarrassed, he couldn't speak, and began to
mumble some words of apology. The Baal Shem Tov
smiled and lifted his hand in an expression of
assurance. "Don't worry," he said, "it's simply a
misunderstanding."
And so it was.
Adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent
Attorney) from Emunas Tzadikim 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 when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face."
(Korach 16:4)
What did he hear? Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said
in the name of Rabbi Yonatan, he heard that they
suspected him of adultery.1
I heard from my grandfather (the Baal Shem Tov) an
explanation of the Talmud's statement: "Your rabbi,
Moses, was either a thief or a
swindler,"2 and of the verse: "And it
came to pass, when Moses went out to the Tent, that
all the people rose up and stood, every man at his tent
door, and looked after
Moses." (Exodus 33:8)3 And
especially, that they suspected
him of adultery.
He explained it as follows. Moses was
born [with the inclination] to be totally wicked, with
every possible vice. However, he transformed and
broke all of these bad character traits, and worked to
acquire only good ones.
This is all that the Baal Shem Tov said, yet his holy
words can be explained as follows. It is known from
the mystical intentions of the incense offering that the
letters mem hey shin,4 when spelled out
in full, have the numerical value of ma'ves - death.
[But when] they are rectified5 they
become ha'emes - "the truth."6 Moses
embodied both aspects - goodness, which is the
truth, and complete evil, which is death. However, the
people did not grasp or perceive the truth. They saw
only his aspect of evil; that is, the letter combination
alluded to in his name that spelled out death. This is
why "they looked after Moses." They looked only at the
aspect of his back,7 and thus they
suspected him of adultery, for he was indeed born
with all the worse character traits.
Degel Machane Ephraim, Ki Sisa
1Sanhedrin 110a
2Bechoros 5a. According to the
tally of the silver donated toward the building of the
Tabernacle (Exodus 38), it seems that only half
the amount collected was actually used. Moses was
suspected of theft, until it became known that the
weight-unit used in building the Tabernacle was
double that used in the tally of the donations.
3Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Sisa
27: "Rabbi Yitzchok interpreted this disparagingly.
They looked after him and said, 'Look at that neck!
Look at those thighs! It is because of our food and
drink that he is consuming!'"
4One of the Divine Names that comprise
the seventy-two letter Name of G·d. When arranged
differently, they spell out the name Moshe
(Moses).
5Literally, "sweetened," a Kabbalistic
term for the amelioration of the Strict Judgments.
6The name Moshe, when spelled out in
full, has the numerical value of 446, the same as the
words ma'ves, and ha'emes.
7Kabbalistic texts often use the
terms "Face" and "Back" (Panim, Achor) to describe
states of revelation and concealment. Perceiving
the "Back" means grasping only the external aspect of
a situation, not its internal nature. The people saw
only Moses' potential for evil, but not how he had
transformed it and overcome it.
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 70
Sometimes, you should serve G·d with your soul
alone; that is, in your thoughts, while your body
remains motionless so as not to weaken those
thoughts with extraneous movements. And
sometimes, you can say the prayers with love, awe
and great passion without any physical movements,
until it seems to someone else that you are not
praying with devekut at all. You can do this when you
are deeply attached to G·d. Then you can serve Him
with your soul alone, with a great and powerful
love.
This form of worship is better and goes
faster and deeper in its attachment to G·d than
prayers that outwardly affect the body. The
kelipot1 cannot attach themselves to
prayers that are completely
internal.2
1"Impure shells." In this case, alluding
to extraneous thoughts. See Sefer Baal Shem Tov
on the Torah, Teachings on Purim, fn. 2.
2The author of the Chasidic work
Dudaim BaSadeh (parashas
BeShalach) writes in the name of the Baal Shem
Tov: "A person should [serve G·d] discreetly, so that
others will not notice his piety (chasidus). However,
before he reaches this high level, his [pious] actions
should be manifest. For if he behaves like the rest of
the world, and wants to be a chasid only in his heart,
he can still be drawn after them, and lose his good
intentions."
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 7
I heard that in the time of the Baal Shem Tov a certain
reincarnated soul came to him1 that had
belonged to a great man in the time of the Arizal. He
had been waiting all that time for the Baal Shem Tov
to come and fix his soul, for he was unable to go to
the Tzaddikim of the previous generations. [Heaven]
did not allow him, until the time of the Baal Shem
Tov.
Tiferes Shlomo, Shabbos Chanukah
1The soul seems to have been
incarnated in a body, although it is possible that the
person himself did not understand the extent of the
repair that the Baal Shem Tov accomplished by
working with him.
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 89
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
If a person happens to witness or hear about
someone having sinned, one should realize that there
is some element of that sin within oneself, and
should see to correct it.1
The verse provides us with guidance for this: "Guard
your tongue from evil, veer evil and do
good."2 By so doing, even the sinner
will repent, after one has included him within oneself
by way of Oneness, since all mankind is one being.
One thus "does good," and transforms the evil into
good.
1The underlying basis for this idea is
that a person's
external reality is only a mirror of one's inner
world.
2Psalms 34:14. The implication
here is that one should not judge that other person
and spread gossip about him, but rather look inward.
By honest self-introspection, one will find a similar evil
within oneself, which is why the scene or the story
was revealed to one in the first place. Then, one will
be able to identify with that other person on that level,
and by tapping in to that level at which they are one,
one's own repentance will influence the other person
to repent as well.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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