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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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THE REDEMPTION OF
SPARKS
The Torah portion reads, "You shall
bring Aaron and his sons near the entrance of
the Tent of the Meeting, and immerse them in
water (in a mikveh)." Exodus
40:12
And then there was the time,long
ago,
that Rav Yisrael ben Eliezer (the holy Baal
Shem Tov) came to visit one of his most
devoted students and followers, Rabbi Yaakov
Yosef HaCoahne of Polonnoye (The
"Toldot").
At that time, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef had still
not actually moved to Polonnoye and lived in
another town. But which town? Some say in
the holy community of Nemirov, others, the
holy community of Shargorod.
In any case, the Baal Shem Tov arrived a few
days before the Sabbath. He immediately met
with Rabbi Yaakov Yosef (whom he
affectionately called Yossele) and they
studied and prayed together until the morning
before Shabbos.
It became obvious to Rabbi Yaakov Yosef that
the Baal Shem Tov had not eaten since he
arrived. So he spoke, somewhat cautiously,
with his Rebbe.
"Rabbi Yisrael, please eat. You need a lot
of strength to guide the followers. And
after all, you even instructed me not to fast
when you taught me that fasting is melancholy
and gloom, and the Shechinah (G·d's
presence) does not rest upon sadness but only
upon the joy of a mitzvah. Please, eat!
It's important!" Rabbi Yaakov Yosef pleaded
with his teacher.
The Baal Shem Tov answered, "Reb Yossele, please
understand, I'm fasting because there are
several great spiritual sparks of the
original G·dly light trapped nearby.
I've come on a special mission to gather and
redeem them. I know that it will be very
difficult to redeem these sparks because they
are hidden in unsuspecting places. But I
can't let any obstacle stand in my way. They
are very dangerous and if I cannot redeem
them, they have the power and inclination to
hurt people. Therefore, in order to
strengthen my spirituality so that I can
overpower them, I have abstained from food
ever since I've arrived."
The Baal Shem Tov continued the fast until
the end of Shabbos. After Havdalah (the
short service separating the sacred day of
Shabbos from the relatively profane
weekdays), the Baal Shem HaKodesh finally
ate.
After the meal, the Baal Shem called
Rabbi Yaakov Yosef aside and said, "It was
revealed to me from Heaven that there are two
teachers of young children living in a nearby
village. Unbeknownst to either of these
teachers, they carry the holy sparks that I
have come to redeem."
"So how are you going to find these two men?"
asked Rabbi Yaakov Yosef.
The Baal Shem Tov answered, "It was decreed
in Heaven that the two men would believe
themselves to be sick and that they would
come to this city to be cured. So ask your
servant to wait at the city gate and when the
two teachers arrive, have the servant send
them to you. I want you to advise them to
come to me to be cured. Urge them to first
go to the mikveh before seeing me. They will
be reluctant to go to the mikveh because they
believe themselves to be sick. So tell them
that I like people to come to me pure from
the mikveh. Also, lend them clothes, such as
shirts and coats for the Sabbath, because
they are poor.
On the Sabbath
arrange that
they should dine with some of the other
householders and not with you. And Yossele,
please point them out to me when they come to
the Synagogue on Friday night to pray."
Indeed, the two men came to the city
looking
for a good doctor to cure them of their
mysterious ailments. They were escorted to
Rabbi Yaakov Yosef's where he met them, told
them about the Baal Shem Tov, lent them
clothes and arranged Shabbos lodging and
meals. That night, when the two teachers
entered the shule, Rabbi Yosef informed the
Baal Shem Tov, "Rebbe, that's them."
Shabbos was seemingly peaceful and
uneventful.
After Havdalah, the Baal Shem Tov was filled
with joy.
The two teachers came to the house of
Rabbi
Yaakov Yosef. They too were filled with joy.
Their illnesses were gone. Some time during
Shabbos, their mysterious illnesses had
totally vanished. They were once again
returned to their excellent health. However,
they still wanted to meet with the Baal Shem
Tov. They informed Rabbi Yaakov Yosef that
they followed his instructions and had just
returned from the Mikveh.
He said to them: "Come with me," and the two
men and Rabbi Yaakov Yosef entered into the
presence of the Baal Shem Tov.
"Rabbi Israel, here are the two teachers that
I told you about. Until today, both of them
had an ailment that no one could diagnose."
The Baal Shem Tov chuckled with great
happiness and said, "I'm so happy to hear
that you were, should I dare to say
'Miraculously healed', Baruch HaShem (Blessed
be the Name). Do you know I was also a
teacher of young children? My heart goes
with you to teach the children. Now young
men, may you be blessed for the rest of your
days. Reb Yossele, please let my teacher
friends keep the clothes they received from
you as gifts and bid them farewell."
The two teachers left the Baal Shem
Tov in a
state of awe. They knew something happened
but didn't quite know how or why. Gratitude
filled their hearts.
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-Amos and Mintz
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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These are the accounts of the Tabernacle, the
Tabernacle of the Testimony. . . (Exodus 38:21)
We need to understand why, when the parasha
list all
the details that went into [the construction
of] the
Tabernacle and the vessels, it concludes each
case
by stating that it was done "as G·d
commanded Moses." Why does it mention this each
time, rather than making a general conclusion
at the
end, that everything was done "as G·d
commanded Moses"?
The Torah is teaching a
fundamental lesson in the service of
G·d and
the fulfillment of the commandments, be it
shofar,
succah, Pesach, tefillin, etc. Each one
consists of
action, words and intention, i.e., thought. The
underlying intentions of the commandments and
prayers are great and awesome, and few people,
even those on a high spiritual level, grasp
more than a
minute portion of the intentions that the Men
of the
Great Assembly put into the
prayers.1 The same holds true in the
performance of the commandments.
And yet, every Jew must partake of these three
aspects. Because the physical act of the
commandment creates a garment for the soul in
the
lower Gan Eden,2 and the intention
put
in
the commandment creates a garment for the
soul in
the higher Gan Eden.
The answer, then, is to include oneself and ones
intentions - be it in prayer or in the
performance of
commandments, in one's weekday meals, and all
the
more so, in the three meals of Shabbat - with
the "perfectly faithful of
Israel,"3 who
know the inner meaning of the prayers and the
commandments, according to the Men of the Great
Assembly. This is the meaning of the Arizal's
statement that one should precede each prayer
with
the words: "I hereby accept upon myself the
positive
commandment to shall love your fellow as
yourself,'"
for then one includes one's own prayers with
those
who know how to unite the supernal
attributes. Let
these words be sufficient.
Now, in building the Tabernacle [in the
desert], their
thoughts were focused on building the Supernal
Tabernacle, as the verse says: "And the
Tabernacle
was erected" (Exodus 40:17) - that is, when the
Tabernacle below was erected, so was the
Tabernacle above.4 And while their
thoughts and intentions were carried out in the
physical world below, they had in mind the
spiritual
world, to build the Tabernacle above, which
is the
secret of the creation of heaven and earth
and all the
worlds. However, not every mind can grasp this.
Therefore, after the construction of each
vessel of the
Tabernacle, the people clearly stated that
they were
doing it according to the inner intention that
G·d commanded Moses.
This is also as we say [before the
performance of
each mitzvah]: "May the pleasantness of the
L·rd our
G·d be upon us, and establish the work
of our
hands, and establish the work of our hands"
(Psalms
90:17).
Ben Poras Yosef, Introduction, p.8-9
1The Men of the Great Assembly (c.
4th
century B.C.E.), formalized the prayer
service that has
been used until today.
2Gan Eden literally means "the Garden
of Eden," but refers here to the spiritual
dimension
that the soul ascends to after death.
According to
Kabbalah, when the soul leaves the physical
body, it
enters a spiritual body, called the "Garment
of the
Rabbis," that is formed of all the good deeds
and
mitzvos that the individual performed during
life. And
just as a living person has a physical and a
spiritual
side, an outer and inner dimension, so the
soul after
death has an outer dimension, the "Garment of
the
Rabbis," and an inner dimension, that was
formed by
the intention one put into the performance of
the
mitzvos in this world. Furthermore, as the soul
continues to ascend after death, the inner
dimensions
become externalized to become outer garments,
and
new inner dimensions become revealed. See R.
Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin, Tzidkas HaTzaddik
155.
3I.e., the Tzaddikim.
4Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Sisa 18; Zohar
2:240a.
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 109.
When you sit down to study, or even when you discuss
mundane topics, think about what you are saying.
Whether it is about love, fear, compassion,
competitiveness, praise, relationships or some from
of control.1 Then bind yourself to that
attribute.
Likutim Yekarim, p. 4b
1Based upon the seven Sefiros from
Chesed to Malchus.
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 46.
The great sages, from the time
of the Baal Shem Tov until the complete revelation of
the Messiah, are an illumination of the Messiah, as is
known.
She'eris Yisroel, Sha'ar Hiskashrus 4:43
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 142
The Baal Shem Tov taught 1:
Learning for its own sake, "lishmah," means for
the "sake" of the letters themselves.2
1Toldot Yaakov Yoseph,
Chukath #13.
2"For the sake of the letters" means
yearning to find the Divine Light hidden within the
letters, which is the essence of the letters, in contrast
to one who studies to derive any form of personal gain.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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