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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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REB MICHEL'S
KAMEYA
"But when you have
spoken, be careful of
your word and keep the pledge that you have vowed to
G·d your Lord. " Deuteronomy 23:24
And then there was the time that Reb Michel, a
follower of the Baal Shem Tov, was getting on in
years and decided to have Yechidus (a
private meeting) with his Rebbe before he passed to
the next world.
During the meeting he told the Baal Shem
Tov, "Rebbe, more than anything, I want to experience
spiritual fulfillment in the next world." The Baal Shem
Tov nodded and gestured for him to sit down. Then,
the Baal Shem Tov wrote out a kameya (an amulet).
When he handed it to Reb Michel, he said, "Always
keep this kameya with you and be sure it is with you
when you are buried."
Soon thereafter, Reb Michel passed into the next
world. As Reb Michel traveled into higher, more
sublime spiritual levels, he merely showed the
kameya written by the Baal Shem Tov and he was
able to proceed without any questions.
Then, he reached a very lofty spiritual level where he
was greeted by an old man with a long flowing white
beard and dressed in white robe. As before, Reb
Michel showed him his kameya.
"I'm sorry," said the old man, "you can't enter this
heavenly chamber."
Reb Michel was confused. After all, up until then, his
holy kameya written by the Baal Shem Tov allowed
him to travel to higher and higher spiritual worlds. So
he asked the old man, "Why can't I go into this
chamber? Up until now I've been granted access to
every spiritual chamber that I've wanted to
visit."
"I don't know. All I know is that I have been
ordered not to let you in," said the old man. "But if you
wish, I will go in myself and find out why you are not
being allowed in." The old man soon returned and
explained, "I was told that you made a promise with
one of your close friends before you passed from the
physical world. The promise is that you would
regularly appear to him in his dreams and describe all
your experiences in the spiritual worlds. So far, while
you have been appearing to him in his dreams, you
have not told him a number of things that you've seen.
The only way for you to enter this chamber and
continue to even higher levels is to ask your friend to
release you from the promise."
More than anything, Reb Michel wanted to continue
studying deeper levels of Torah in the more sublime
spiritual chambers of heaven and to study with the
Holy Torah Masters of past times. So he appeared to
his friend in a dream and asked to be released from
the promise.
The friend greatly enjoyed
hearing about
the spiritual worlds and was reluctant to agree. Finally
the friend said, "I agree to release you from the
promise but only on one condition. As we've
discussed many times, I'm hardly a follower of the
Baal Shem Tov and I've never really believed that the
kameya he gave you helped you get to any place that
you couldn't have already gone. Even after all you've
told me about your experiences in the world beyond, I
am still not convinced that your special kameya is
having any effect. So my condition is that you give me
one sure sign of the Baal Shem Tov's greatness. If
you do, I will release you from your promise to
regularly appear to me in my dreams."
Feeling somewhat dejected, Reb Michel returned to
the old man and asked his advice.
"You know that the Baal Shem Tov almost always
expounds on the Torah to his followers at shalosh
seudos on Shabbos afternoons. The Torah teachings
that he discusses are heavenly Torah thoughts that no
human has previously heard. My advice is to reveal to
your friend in a dream what the Baal Shem Tov will
discuss this coming Shabbos afternoon. Then tell
him to go to the Rebbe's shalosh seudos meal where
he will hear the identical teaching repeated."
So Reb Michel appeared to his friend in a dream and
told him the exact Torah teaching that the Baal Shem
Tov would deliver on the upcoming Shabbos
afternoon.
The next Shabbos afternoon, Reb Michel's earthbound
friend forced himself into the Baal Shem Tov's
crowded study hall to hear the Torah thoughts he was
going to teach.
The Baal Shem Tov looked him directly in the eye and
said, "Why are you pushing everyone to get closer?
You really don't have to strain yourself to hear my
teachings since you've already heard it
before?"
Reb Michel's friend stood was awe struck. This was
the sign that he had requested. The Baal Shem Tov
not only knew what Torah was being taught in heaven
but also what he was thinking! He thought," Reb
Michel, I release you from your promise."
From that moment on, Reb Michel's friend became a
devoted chossid of the Baal Shem Tov.
Sometime later, the Baal Shem Tov told his new
follower that Reb Michel was a grandson of the old
man who had so kindly and accurately advised him.
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found in Devorim
Areivim) and translated in STORIES OF THE BAAL
SHEM TOV by Y
Y.Y. Klapholtz.
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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She must take off her captive's garb. (Devarim 21:13)
I already explained in the name of my grandfather [the
Baal Shem Tov] that extraneous thoughts come to a
person because the holy spark within the letters of
these thoughts desires to be fixed, raised to its source
and rectified. In the upper worlds, the letters of all
foreign thoughts are purified lights. However, they
descend to the depths and are enclothed in filthy
garments, as my grandfather explained: "She must
take off her captive's garb." You must not take them in
their filthy garments. Rather, you should remove from
them their filthy garments; then their light will shine
like the dawn.
Degel Machane Ephraim,
Vayechi
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 1.4
Prayer draws down Divine flow.
Words of prayer create vessels to draw down shefa.
Since G·d knows our thoughts, why do we
have to pray? It is because prayer draws down shefa.
MevasserTzedek, Terumah
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 20.
My teacher and father-in-law, Rabbi Abraham
Mordechai of Finshtov, told me that once, one of the
disciples of the Baal Shem Tov asked our
Master, "What will be my livelihood?"
The Baal Shem Tov answered him, "You will be a
cantor."
The disciple, surprised, responded, "But I can't sing!"
And the Baal Shem Tov replied, "I will bind you to the
World of Melody."
My father-in-law told me that he knew that man, and
said that there was not another cantor in the entire
world equal to him.
Once, this cantor came to our Rabbi, Rebbe
Elimelech of Lizensk. An argument ensued between
the Rebbe and his son, the Tzaddik, Reb Elazar, over
whether or not to honor the cantor with leading the
Kabbalas Shabbos service . Rebbe Elimelech was
afraid that the cantor would disrupt him from his
holiness.
When they had finished their discussion, they did
agree that they would honor the cantor and his two
accompanists - a bass singer and another singer -
with reciting the Kabbalas Shabbos service. Their
decision had come about as a result of their great fear
of the holiness of the Baal Shem Tov - for the cantor
was known as "the Cantor of the Baal Shem Tov." Out
of respect, they were forced to honor him, and
whatever would be, would be.
When the cantor and his two accompanists began to
sing the prayers to receive the Sabbath, Rabbi
Elimelech sent word that the second accompanist
should stop singing, and only the cantor and the bass
singer should sing together. Afterward, he ordered
even the cantor and the bass singer to stop, for he
was afraid that he would be completely annihilated in
the great light and supernal holiness and
illuminations that they opened up for him through their
singing.
(On subsequent Sabbaths, Rabbi Elimelech showed
great honor to the cantor, but out of his fear, he would
not let him pray before the congregation.)
From the Manuscripts of Rabbi Yitzchok Isaac of
Komarno
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 177.
FEAR AND LOVE OF
G·D
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
Fear of punishment, which is a superficial fear, is a
response to G·d's open hand to accept
repentants. One should therefore become roused
from this fear to a deep fear, which is actually love, that
is, to accept one's situation with love. One will thus be
released from the superficial fear.1
1In other words, in order to rouse a
person to return to G·d, G·d sends a
person a situation that arouses fear in him. This fear
is only "superficial," because one is only afraid of the
consequences of the situation. If, on the other hand,
one tries to see through the superficial, and
acknowledge the Source of the fear, that is,
G·d, Who sent him into the situation, then one
becomes aroused to a "deep" fear, an awe of
G·d, Whose loving hand is calling to him
through this situation. When one reaches this
perception, one is freed from the superficial fear,
whatever the external situation happens to be.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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