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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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THE MAGICAL
SHEEPSKIN
"There was a famine in the land. (G d told Isaac)
Remain an immigrant in this land. I will be with you
and bless you. " (Bereishis 26:1-26:3)
In the days of the Baal Shem Tov there was a man,
Reb Moshe, who made his living as a tavern keeper.
When times were good, the local peasants would
visit the tavern regularly and spend their money on
drink. But then, for a few years in a row, there was
a severe drought. There was barely anything to
harvest and no one had money to spend at the
tavern. Whatever little money Reb Moshe managed
to save, he had to spend on food for his family.
Usually, when Moshe had a bad year, the landlord,
Count Pototzky, would let him owe the money for his
rent until the next year. But this drought was so
severe that he wasn't able to pay the rent for two
years in a row. The Count warned Reb Moshe that if
he didn't pay all the money due by the next year, he
and his family would be thrown into the Count's
prison until the full debt was paid.
Reb Moshe hoped that the next year would be better
but it was not. He struggled to hold on to every
ruble he earned but found it an impossible task.
When he went to the Count to beg for an extension,
the Count said, "Moshke, I'll give you exactly one
week to pay me the full amount or else!"
Reb Moshe returned home and told the terrifying
news to his family. Several days later, Moshe's wife
called him and said, "I've heard that there is a
miracle worker named the Baal Shem Tov who lives in
Medzibush. People say that he often helps people
that are in trouble. I want you to go and see him
and ask what we should do."
Reb Moshe answered, "I don't believe that anybody
can help us now and I'm certainly not going to see
some old Rabbi and ask him to make some miracle for
us."
But Moshe's wife didn't give up. Every day she spoke
to him and finally he said, "Enough already, if it will
make you happy, I'll go and speak with the Rabbi."
When Moshe arrived in Medzibush, he immediately
went to see the Baal Shem Tov. As he began to tell
his story, he started crying.
"Don't worry Reb Moshe," replied the Baal Shem Tov
in a comforting voice, "You have absolutely nothing
to worry about." Then the Baal Shem Tov handed
Reb Moshe a coin. "Just take this coin to the market
and buy the very first thing that you are offered.
Then bring the thing you purchase back to me and I
will tell you what to do next."
Moshe left the Baal Shem Tov feeling relieved. But
by the time he reached his home, he was upset again.
His wife greeted him with, "So what did the Rabbi tell
you?"
Moshe told her about the meeting with the Baal
Shem Tov, how the Rabbi had given him a coin, and
his instructions to go to the marketplace and
purchase the very first thing offered to him. Then
Moshe continued, "This is really a lot of craziness!
We only have a few days left before the Count is
going to throw us into his prison!"
"Don't worry," his wife retorted. "Everything will
work out. Just do what the Rabbi said."
So the next morning, Moshe went to the marketplace
with the Baal Shem Tov's coin in his pocket. As soon
as he reached the market, he was approached by a
peasant selling sheepskins.
"How much for one of those?" Moshe asked. The
peasant answered with an amount exactly equal to
the value of the coin given to him by the Baal Shem
Tov. So, following the Baal Shem Tov's instructions,
Moshe took out the coin and bought the sheepskin.
On his way to see the Baal Shem Tov, Moshe
thought, "What in the world am I going to do with a
sheepskin?"
When Moshe arrived in Medzibusch, he immediately
went in to see the Baal Shem Tov and showed him
the sheepskin. The latter said, "Wonderful! Reb
Moshe, you made an excellent purchase with the
coin I gave you." The Baal Shem Tov took the
sheepskin and began rubbing the wool. "This skin is
really beautiful, a perfect birthday gift to bring Count
Pototzky. Tomorrow he will be having a large party
for all his noblemen friends and each will be bringing
him an unusual gift. I want you to take this
sheepskin and give it to him. After all, you are his
tenant and it is only fitting that you give him
something too."
Moshe was very worried about going to see the
Count with this "gift" but he was too afraid to speak
up. "Is he crazy?" Moshe thought to
himself.
Moshe came home, threw down the sheepskin and
put his head down onto the table. His wife
asked, "Moshe, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" answered Moshe. "Nothing, except
the Baal Shem Tov told me to take this smelly
sheepskin to the Count's birthday party with all of his
friends and present it to the Count as a birthday
gift. That's all. And we have one more day to go
until we're sitting in his prison. Is that
enough?"
Moshe put his head back down on the
table.
"Listen Moshe," said his wife, "Go do what the Baal
Shem Tov said. After all, he is known as a miracle
worker. Anyway, it can't hurt to try."
"I guess it can't hurt to try," said Reb Moshe as he
left to the Count's castle carrying the sheepskin. As
he got closer, he could hear the music and party
noise. "What am I doing?" he wondered. He started
to have second thoughts when one of the drunken
guests saw him.
"Hey you, come here. Count, look it's Moshke and he
has a birthday gift for you."
The sheepskin was grabbed from Moshke and given
to the Count. The Count looked at it and threw it
down in disgust. "Moshke, you have some
nerve."
The guests crowded around to see what was going
on. The Count, being a little drunk, really started to
get angry and finally yelled to his servants, "Throw
this Jew into my prison."
So the servants grabbed Moshe and dragged him to
the Count's dungeon, threw him in and locked the
door.
"Why did I ever listen to that Rabbi?" Moshe asked
himself.
A little while later, the Count started to
wonder, "Why would Moshke bring me that ridiculous
gift?" So he took the lambskin to his room and
stared at it. Suddenly he saw his name, his family
name and the day and year he was born naturally
formed in the wool. He could barely believe what he
saw. He blurted out, ""This is a magical
sheepskin."
Then the Count ran back to the ballroom and showed
all the guests. "Do you see what I see?" he asked
everyone. They all looked in amazement and started
to point towards the sheepskin in
amazement. "Quick, get Moshke!" the Count yelled
to his servants.
When the servants opened the dungeon door to get
Moshe, he thought they were going to kill him. By
the time his eyes adjusted to the light, he was in the
ballroom surrounded by the guests.
Moshe fell down onto the floor before the
Count. "Please, your highness, have mercy on
me."
The Count put his hand out to Moshe, "Please
Moshke, don't be afraid. I want to apologize for
being so mean to you. Your gift is really marvelous.
In fact, it is almost magical. Look how my name,
family name and date of birth are naturally formed in
the wool. It is an unbelievable work of art. It is
simply magnificent."
Moshe looked around in surprise.
"In fact, I'm so appreciative that I am forgiving you
two years of the rent you owe me."
"That's not enough," one of the guests yelled
out.
"Okay," the Count agreed, "I'll wipe off his total debt
and not require him to pay for the next three
years."
All the guests clapped in appreciation.
Just then, one of the guests threw a coin to Moshe.
The next minute, it was raining coins and gems.
Moshe picked it all up and was taken by the Count's
carriage to his home.
His wife heard the noise and came outside to see
who it was. She could hardly believe her eyes when
she saw Moshe step down from the carriage. Then
Moshe told his wife the whole story of what
happened. He finished with, "To think, all this
because of the Baal Shem Tov. And I didn't even
believe in him!"
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story in Tiferes
Tzadikim 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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He then moved away from there and dug another
well, and this time it was not disputed, so he named
it Rechovos ("Expansiveness"), and he said: "Now
G d has broadened us, and we shall be fruitful in the
land." (Bereishis 26:22)
Inner fear [of G d] is called "Rechovos," for there is
no fear of the kelipot there, so that one must limit
oneself because of them — through suffering, small-
mindedness and [self]-afflictions — to prevent them
from leeching on to holiness. Rather, "Now G d has
broadened us" — with the inner essence of fear that
is called Rechovos. Then, "we shall be fruitful in the
land" — we will give forth fruits, to turn the multitude
from sin, to be a Rabbi and a Rebbe, to uplift and
create souls. However, if a person is a Rabbi or
Rebbe, yet lacks inner fear, he is from the kelipot
nogah.
Leket Imrei Peninim, p. 209b
May G d grant you the dew of heaven and the fat of
the earth, much grain and wine. (ibid. 27:28)
Rabbi Levi said: All the good that enters the world
comes only in the merit of the Jewish nation. All the
rain that falls is in their merit. All the dew that drops
is in their merit. As it says: "May G d grand you the
dew of heaven and the fat of the earth." "Grant
you" — in your merit, and upon you it
depends.1
The Talmud's states: "Every day, a heavenly voice
proclaims: 'The entire world is sustained on account
of (beshevil) my son, Chanina,2 and my
son, Chanina, makes do with a kav of carobs from
week to week."3 That is, the Tzaddik
is like a path and a pipeline that carries fluids.
Through his holy deeds, he draws down bounty to
the entire world. Just as the pipe takes no pleasure
from what passes through it, likewise, the Tzaddik's
only will and desire is to bestow upon others. This
is what the heavenly voice declares: "The entire
world is sustained b'shevil — that is, in the channel —
that my son, Chanina, makes."4 For he
is like a path and a channel that thinks nothing of its
own good, but suffices with a little: "with a kav of
carobs from week to week."5
Avodas Yisroel, Likutim6
1Bereishis Rabbah 66:2
2Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa
3Berachos 17b
4The word shevil means "path." Thus,
the word beshevil ("on account of") can be read
as "in the path of". The Toldos Yaakov Yosef
writes: "Moses, our Teacher, opened the path of fear
[of G d] in the world, and Aharon opened the path of
love. Likewise, Chanina ben Dosa opened the path of
livelihood in the world, as I heard from my
Teacher: 'The whole world is nourished through the
path of Chanina ben Dosa.'"
5See Toldos Yaakov Yosef, p.
173b: "[Chanina] did not want to benefit from
this world, and so others take benefit from his
sustenance, while he will take benefit in the World to
Come."
6The quote from Bereishis Rabbah
66:2 is taken from a parallel teaching in the
Sefer Tzafnah Paneach, by Rabbi Yaakov
Yosef of Polnoye.
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 42
Only G d's great love for a person keeps him alive
after he prays. With all the energy and
concentration that he puts into the words, it would
be natural for him to die of exhaustion.
Tzava'as HaRivash 4b
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 33
Our master the Baal Shem Tov said to his disciple,
the Rabbi of Kalamaya, "I love the [Jew] who is least
significant in your eyes more than you love your only
son."
Leket Imrei Peninim, p. 208b
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 51
"Although these [the academy of Shamai] forbid, and
these [the academy of Hillel] permit, both opinions
are the Words of the Living
G d."1
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
The different opinions are only in the lower worlds of
duality, but in the upper world of Binah, which is
referred to as "the Living G d," everything is
Unity.2
Kst 51a
If G d's presence fills the universe, if there is no
place where He is absent, and if He can be found
wherever a person is, then why are angels required
to bring a person's prayers up to G d from chamber
to chamber?
The answer is that G d arranged things this way so
that it would seem to a person that he is extremely
distant, and would strive to get closer.
This can be understood with of the parable the Baal
Shem Tov:3
There was once a great and wise king who used
optical illusions to give the impression that he had
built walls, towers and gates around his palace. He
then gave the order that whoever comes to him must
go through the gates, and that treasures be
scattered at all the gates. Thus, some people who
came to see king found treasures at the first gate,
took it and immediately turned around and went
home, while others continued going through more
gates until they could not carry anymore treasures,
at which point they too turned around and went
home. However, the king's only son was not
interested in the treasures, but only in reaching his
father. He then realized that in reality, there were
no walls at all separating him from his father, and
that it was all an optical
illusion.4
The analogy of the story is that G d hides Himself in
various veils and walls. However, His glory fills the
universe, and every single movement or thought is
only Him. Thus, even all the angels and heavenly
chambers were all created from His very essence, like
the shell of an insect is an integral part of its body.
Hence, there is absolutely no separation between
man and G d, and with this knowledge, all evildoers
are dispersed.
1Tractates Yevamoth 13b; Eruvin
13b
2The Toldoth Yaakov Yoseph in
VaYechi #3 and in Mishpatim #9 quote
this in the name of an anonymous sage, but in
VaYakhel #3, the Toldoth writes that
he thinks he heard this from the Baal Shem Tov.
3Ben Porath Yoseph 111a
4This graphic parable portrays life as
one great treasure hunt for the ultimate treasure —
that of finding the One Who is hidden within all the
little treasures and pleasures of life. The "treasures"
at the gates are thus all the material and even
spiritual pleasures that one can enjoy in this world,
but none of these, on their own, can be
considered "having found G d," which is the goal of
the entire scheme. G d, indeed, created the world
to afford pleasure to His creatures, but the ultimate
treasure can be nothing else and nothing less than
He Himself, and anything else and anything less is
nothing but a decoy for the "Real Thing." The object
of the game, though, is to find G d hidden within all
of those decoys, to reveal that, in essence, they are
actually a part of the "Nothing Less."
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Yehoshua
Starrett
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WHAT IF
Thoughts for Today Inspired by Yesterday
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WHAT IF you had to choose survival in the
physical
world which you can see or survival in the spiritual
world which you can't see and another's life
depended on it?
CONTACT
Bst_times@baalshemtov.com with your comments.
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