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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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THE BAAL SHEM TOV'S
ANGER
"Moshe was angry." (Matot 31:14)
AND it happened that the Lithuanians (called
Litvaks) sent someone to observe the Baal Shem Tov
and see if the stories about him were really true. The
Litvak that was sent was received as an honored
guest, since no one knew the real reason for his visit.
He stayed as a guest in the house of Rabbi Yechiel of
Kovel and ate his meals with the Baal Shem
Tov.
Shabbos arrived and the Litvak felt a spiritual uplift
from being in the presence of the Baal Shem Tov
during the Maariv (evening) prayers. "Unbelievable,"
he thought, "everything they say about him is true!"
Then, while still in this elated mood, he accompanied
the Baal Shem Tov home for the Shabbos evening
meal.
As soon as the Baal Shem Tov entered his house, he
became very angry at his servant and started to yell at
him to go to the barn and save a horse that was
strangling to death.
The servant answered, "Rabbi, I'm going right
now!"
Suddenly, the Baal Shem Tov yelled out in a fit of
anger. "Didn't you hear me? I said go now!" And
then, the Baal Shem Tov actually raised his hand as if
to strike the servant.
The servant went running from the house to the barn
and arrived just in time to save the horse from
strangling itself.
The Litvak was shocked to see the Baal Shem Tov
display so much anger. "After such davening
(prayer)," he thought, "how can he come home and
get so angry over a horse, especially on
Shabbos?"
The next morning, during the Shabbos prayers, again
the Litvak was spiritually uplifted by the Baal Shem
Tov's prayers. But this time, the display of fierce anger
by the Baal Shem Tov clouded his mind. "I really can't
ever remember seeing anyone being so angry. And
then raising his hand to strike someone, even a
servant, especially on Shabbos," he kept
thinking.
Before the Litvak left for home, he couldn't stop
himself from telling Rabbi Yechiel what
happened. "Rabbi Yechiel, I must tell you, on
Shabbos night when the Baal Shem Tov came home,
he was so angry that," and he completed the
story. "The community in Lithuania will be very
surprised about this behavior." As soon as he left,
Rabbi Yechiel passed his comments onto the Baal
Shem Tov.
The Baal Shem Tov responded with great annoyance
in his voice. "Who are they to come here and judge
me?"
"Let me tell you what happened," he continued. "A
Jewish merchant was traveling by wagon right before
Shabbos. He was rushing in the hope of finding a
village or inn for Shabbos. But before he could reach
one, night fell and Shabbos arrived. He was forced to
turn off the road and spend Shabbos in a field. Later
that night, a band of thieves came upon the merchant
and began to beat him. The thieves planned on killing
him, taking his money and the wagon filled with his
merchandise. This Jewish merchant was so coarse
that I could only make contact with him through an
animal. So I arranged for the horse to get caught up
in a halter. Then, I frightened my servant, and the
more I frightened him, the more the thieves were
frightened. Finally, when I screamed at him and
raised my hand to strike him, the thieves fled. This
Jewish merchant will soon come here to see me and
you will hear from him that everything I said is as I
said."
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-Mos and Mintz.
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TORAH BAAL SHEM TOV
Selection from Sefer Baal Shem Tov on the Torah
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"And Moses spoke to the tribal heads of the
Israelites, saying: This is what G·d has
commanded. (Concerning the principle that) when a
person makes a vow to G·d, or makes
an oath to prohibit himself (something the Torah
permits), he must not break his
word and must do all that he expressed verbally."
(Numbers 30:2-3)
This is what is written: "Better not to make a vow,
than to make a vow and not complete it."
(Ecclesiastes 5:4). The Holy One says, be
careful
making vows, and do not break them, for all who
breaks vows will eventually transgress
oath.1 And
one who transgresses oaths is considered to have
denied G·d. There is no forgiveness for him, as it
says: "You shall not take the name of the L·rd your
G·d in vain; for G·d will not hold him guiltless that
takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:6). And it
is
written: "If you will return to me, O Israel..and
will swear, 'As the L·rd lives'.." (Jeremiah 4:1-3)
. The
Holy One said to Israel, "Do not think that it is
permissible for you to swear, even in truth. You are
not permitted to swear by My
Name.."2
Our Sages enjoined us to say before each
mitzvah: "For the sake of the union of the Holy One
and His Shechinah.." This is alluded to in the
verse: "This is the thing that G·d has commanded."
The matter is as follows.
King Solomon said: "Better not to make a
vow." But what type of individual is he addressing?
If it is a person who does not plan on fulfilling his
vow, it is obvious that he is forbidden to make it, for
he transgresses a negative commandment and a
positive one, as the Talmud says.3 And
if it is a
person who wants to fulfill his vow, why is it better
for him not to make it? The Sages said: "How do we
know that a person can vow to fulfill a mitzvah? From
the verse: "I have sworn and I have fulfilled it, to
observe Your righteous ordinances." (Psalms
119:106). King David also said: "My vows to G·d
I
will fulfill." (Psalms 116:14). And would David
transgress this, G·d forbid?
Rather, with every mitzvah that a person
performs, he fixes all the aspects of nefesh, ruach,
and neshama, up until the highest point - the tip of
the yud,4 which is hidden and
concealed. If the
commandment requires action, making that the
lowest level of the commandment, a person must still
fix speech and thought.
If it involves speech, then that is the lowest aspect
of the mitzvah, and he still must fix voice and
thought.5
Now, when a person thinks about
performing a mitzvah, he still has no fear of the
accusation of the "shells,"6 for they
have no
attachment to thought. However, when he verbalizes
[his intention] to do a mitzvah, then there are
Accusing Forces to hinder the mitzvah, for
the "shells" draw sustenance from the place of
speech.7
Therefore, when a person wants to
perform
a mitzvah and must speak about doing it, making him
concerned about the Accusers, our Sages enjoined
him to say: "For the sake of the union of the Holy
One and His Shechinah, in fear and in love, in love
and in fear, to unite the Name Y-H and V-H by
means of He who is hidden and concealed in the
name of all Israel." Then, he has created the
Unification of the mitzvah on [the level of] speech,
voice and thought, up above, to He who is hidden
and concealed.8 Then he will not be
afraid of the
Accusers or obstacles to the mitzvah, nor from any
selfish motivations [on his part], since he has uplifted
all the vitality of the mitzvah, and lacks only the
mitzvah's performance, which is the last level.
Consequently, the Accusers will lack all ability to
stop him.
This is what the verse says: "When shall make a vow
to the L·rd your G·d, you shall not be late in fulfilling
it.." (Deuteronomy 23:22). This verse
guarantees
that when a person makes a Unification before
performing a mitzvah (that is, "to the L·rd your
G·d"9) he can be absolutely sure that
he will not
delay in fulfilling it since he did the Unification
completely. This is why the verse says: "This is the
thing.." alluding to the Unification. For "this" is
Yesod and "the thing" (hadavar) is Malchus. "That
G·d has commanded" means that G·d commands
each person to say the Unification completely before
performing a mitzvah. Therefore, "If a man makes a
vow to G·d," to do a mitzvah, he shouldn't just say
that he will do it, he should make the complete
unification.
This explains what the Midrash
said: "Better
not to make a vow than to make a vow and not
complete it." That is, not to complete the
Unification, but merely to state that one will do the
mitzvah. Because then concern exists about the
Accuser, and it would be better not to have vowed,
not to say anything, only to think about doing the
mitzvah, so that there is no worry about the
Accusers. However, if a person can complete the
Unification perfectly, it is certainly better. He will not
have any fear of Accusers, and in fact, will receive
help and support to complete the mitzvah.
This is what David said: "My vows to G·d I
will fulfill." This means that the vow will be with a
complete Unification. For when the Unification is
incomplete, it is called "breaking the vow," which will
lead him to transgress an oath. This in turn is an
impediment to the mitzvah, which is a rectification of
the seven attributes called "oaths." Therefore, one
must be careful to complete the Unification.
Devorim Nechmadim, Ginzei Yosef
1 Taking an oath involves swearing on
G·d's Name.
Thus, transgressing it is a more serious offense than
breaking a vow.
2 Yalkut Shimoni, Matos
#284.
3 Nedarim 3b.
4 Although the Baal Shem Tov explicitly
names the
three lowest levels of the soul - nefesh, ruach, and
neshama - he alludes here to still higher levels - the
chaya and yechida. These five levels are alluded to
in the four letters of the Tetragrammaton. The
nefesh corresponds to the final hey, the ruach to the
vav, the neshama to the first hey, the chaya to the
yud, and the yechida to the small point at the top
left of the yud.
5 The Baal Shem Tov divides each
mitzvah into three
components. When the mitzvah is performed with
speech, such as prayer or Torah study, then that is
the lowest level. The two higher levels would then be
voice (kol - undifferentiated sound) and thought.
6 Kelipot - forces of impurity and evil
that oppose
the performance of a mitzvah, by claiming that a
person is not worthy to do it.
7 See Likutey Moharan I:38,2, on the
verse: "Sin
couches at the door" (Genesis 4:7), alluding
to
the "door" of the mouth.
8 Apparently, by reciting this prayer,
one unifies
even a physical mitzvah on three upper levels. The
actual performance of the mitzvah that follows is
almost secondary, and can proceed with
obstruction.
9 The conjunction of the Divine
Names "L-rd your
G·d" - Y-H-V-H Elo-hecha - corresponds to the
union of G·d and the Shechinah, described
above.
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 76
Whether in Torah study or in prayer, if a person
understands the simple meaning of the words or the
practical law to be derived from his studies, he binds
Malchus, which is speech, to Binah, which is
thought.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Va'eschanan, p.
176c
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 11
A great Tzaddik who knows how to perform
unifications and combinations of Divine Names can
rectify a person just by looking at him. Through these
unifications, he immediately causes the person to
have thoughts of repentance. The Baal Shem Tov
said that he could fix a person instantly by merely
looking at him. But if the person stubbornly refused to
be fixed, the Baal Shem Tov would completely remove
the holy spark from within
him.
Toldos Aharon, Vayera
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 95
"When rain is withheld, one should seek out the most
pious person in the generation, so that he prays. If he
prays and is answered and becomes haughty, he
arouses G·d's anger upon the world, as the verse
says, 'He attains anger for haughtiness.'"
1
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
If the pious person sinned by becoming haughty, what
has the world done that it should suffer?
The answer is, that the ideal situation should be
that, "He who ordained that oil should burn can also
ordain that vinegar should burn," just as indeed
happened for the saintly Rabbi Chanina son of
Dosa.2 If all people lived by the
standards of piety, no one would see it as
extraordinary if one person was able to burn vinegar
like oil simply by praying for it to burn, for everyone
would be able to do this. However, since most people
follow their frivolous ways, and only one pious person
in a generation is able to do this, it seems
extraordinary when that person's prayer is answered.
Therefore, if a haughty thought arises in that person's
mind, this is because of the people of the generation
and the world. Therefore, anger is aroused upon the
world.
1 Job 36:33; Tractate Taanith
8a
2 Tractate Taanith 25a. The only
reason why oil burns is because G·d so decreed in
the laws of nature, but there is no inherent reason why
He cannot ordain vinegar to burn. Therefore, pious
people who live with the reality that all of Nature is
G·d's constant miracles are able to evoke changes in
the laws of Nature, because to them, it is all the
same.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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