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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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SEVENTH DAY OF
PESACH
In the Torah reading (Exodus 13:17 to15:26), we read
that following the departure of the Jewish people from
Egypt, Pharaoh regretted his decision to allow them to
leave, and pursued them to the Reed Sea. There,
Moshe raised his staff and the Sea split and the B'nei
Yisrael crossed over. Once all of the B'nei Yisrael had
crossed, Moshe again stretched out his staff and the
water returned to its former state, drowning the
pursuing Egyptians. When the B'nei Yisrael saw the
dead Egyptians on the sea shore.......
"The people . . . . . believed in G-d and Moses His
servant." Exodus 14:31
And then there was the time that Rabbi Dovid Leikes,
one of the Chevrayah Kadisha (inner circle of
followers of the Baal Shem Tov), was speaking with
several followers of his son-in-law, Reb Mottel of
Chernobyl (also known as the Chernobyler Rebbe).
Reb Dovid asked the followers of Reb Mottel, "Tell me.
Do you have perfect faith in your Rebbe, Reb Mottel?"
None of the men responded.
After a pause Reb Dovid persisted, "So nu?"
Finally, one of Reb Mottel's adherents came back
with, "Who can say he has perfect faith?"
Reb Dovid nodded and continued. "My friends, let me
tell you a story about faith. Once, several of us in the
Chevrayah Kadisha spent a Shabbos at an inn with
the Rebbe. As usual, Seudah Shlishit went late into
the night."
"The Baal Shem Tov told us of the mystical insights he
had received while meditating, praying, and studying
Torah during that Shabbos. When he finished
speaking, we Benched, said Maariv and then
Havdalah."
"Immediately afterwards," Reb Dovid continued, "we
sat down together with the Baal Shem Tov for Melava
Malkah."
"After a few minutes, the Baal Shem Tov turned to me
and said, 'Reb Dovid, reach into your pocket and take
out a gulden, please, and buy us some mead (honey
wine) from the inn keeper.'"
"I was still wearing my Shabbos clothes and of course
I never carry money on Shabbos. Yet, without thought
or hesitation, I reached into my pocket to take out the
gulden, as my Rebbe had requested. And - the most
amazing thing! I found a gulden in my pocket."
The disciples of Reb Mottel, after
hearing this story, commented to Reb Dovid, "You
know, that is really not that amazing. It's just another
miracle story about the Baal Shem Tov."
"Yes. That is so," said Reb Dovid. "But the
point of my telling you the story is not to show that the
Baal Shem Tov does miracles. My point is that my faith
in my Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, is so great that I
didn't even think to question his request. I just
reached into my pocket for the money. That it was
there is secondary."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane
(Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a letter from
the Rav of Medzibush as translated in Stories of the
BAAL SHEM TOV by Y.Y. Klapholtz
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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Then G·d said to Moses: 'Behold, I will make
bread rain down to you from heaven; and the people
will go out and gather enough for each day. . .
(Exodus 16:4)
A poor person has the privilege of speaking to the
Holy One every day. A rich person, however, receives
all his sustenance from G·d at once, and
doesn't need to ask Him for his daily requirements -
not unless he is very righteous, and realizes that
everything he owns is worthless, without G·d
giving it life-force to sustain him. The proof is that a
sick person has all the food he needs, but still cannot
sustain himself.
A poor person, with nothing to eat, must beseech
G·d each day. Thus, he merits speaking to
Him every day. Furthermore, G·d must also
remember the poor person daily, to arrange his
livelihood. However, G·d does not need to
remember a rich person each day, for He already gave
him everything at one time.
Rav
Yebi, Tehilim
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 116.
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
Rav Zeirah said: "If a person says 'Shema,
Shema' ,1
we silence him." Rav Papa said to Abaye, 'But
perhaps he wasn't concentrating the first
time." . . . . "Is he G·d's friend?" [Abaye]
replied.2 "If he doesn't
concentrate the first time, we hit him with a
blacksmith's hammer until he does."3
But the question remains, maybe he didn't
concentrate the first time, and is now trying to
concentrate in order to fulfill his obligation.
Furthermore, why did Rav Zeirah choose the example
of repeating "Shema, Shema," as opposed to another
verse in the Keriyas Shema, or somewhere else?
The answer lies in the meaning
of "accepting the yoke of heaven" (kabalas ol malchus
shamayim). A person must believe that the entire
world is filled with G·d's glory, and that no
place is
empty of Him. G·d's existence is found in all
of a
person's thoughts, and each one of them is a
complete structure. Adverse and foreign thoughts
enter one's mind during prayer in order to be fixed and
uplifted. If a person fails to believe this, he has not
fully accepted the yoke of heaven, for he limits
G·d's
being.4 This is the meaning of "Shema,
Shema."
Why did he say it twice? Most likely because he was
not concentrating the first time, for he was having a
foreign thought. Yet, had he realized that
G·d's
Presence is there too, he would not have had to say it
twice.
This is captured in the Talmud's terse
language: "We hit him with a blacksmith's hammer."
Meaning, one's own thoughts strike him like a
hammer, in order to be fixed and uplifted. But by say
Shema twice, it is as though G·d wasn't there
the first
time. This person limits on G·d's existence
and his
own acceptance of the yoke of heaven. Thus, we
silence him.
This explains the statement of the Talmud: "If a chick
dies in its shell, from where does its spirit leave."
5
And it answers: "From the same place that it came
in." For it says in tractate Berachos: "One who sees
eggs in a dream, his supplications are in abeyance;
broken ones - his supplications are
answered."6
Because eggs corresponds to prayer.7
That is, every
thought is a complete entity,8 and even
an evil or
foreign thought comes to you to be repaired and
uplifted. If you reject that thought, you have rejected
and killed a complete entity.
Yet, at times, a certain thought must be pushed away.
And if you want to know how to differentiate between
those you should reject and those to draw close and
uplift, think what happened when the thought came to
you. If it immediately occurred to you how to fix and
elevate it, then draw it close and do so. But if it does
not immediately occur to you how to fix it, then it is
most likely coming to distract you from your prayers,
and disturb your thoughts. Then, you are allowed to
push it away, for "if a person comes to kill you, rise up
and kill him first." 9
This is the meaning of "If a chick dies in its
shell, from where does the spirit leave." Meaning to
say, a foreign thought during prayer, which is
called "an egg," that "dies" that is, that you reject and
kill, "from where does its spirit leave?" Meaning, how
dare you reject and kill a complete entity? The answer
is, "The same way it came in." Just as it came in to
distract you and push you away [from G·d],
that's how
it leaves. You are allowed to reject it from your
thoughts.
Someone once asked the Baal Shem Tov
if he was allowed to go back and repeat several words
of the Keriyas Shema or prayers that he said without
concentration. The Baal Shem Tov answered as
follows: "It is well known that G·d's existence
is in
everything. Even extraneous thoughts contain sparks
of holiness. Therefore, if you say a few words of
prayer without concentration, while lost in the
extraneous thoughts, you should know that that
thought has come to have its spark removed. By
repeating the word, you demonstrate that G·d
was not
there the first time you said them, and you thus limit
G·d's existence. You should not say them
twice; rather,
you should think about and concentrate on those
words [in your mind] that you first said without
concentration."
Ben Poras Yosef, p. 50b-c, 53d
1That is, if he recites Keriyas
Shema twice in
a row.
2That he can be so casual when
addressing him in
Keriyas Shema.
3Berachos 33b.
4As though He were not in the thought,
G·d
forbid.
5Bechoros 8b.
6Berachos 57a. Just as the insides of
an egg are revealed (Rashi, loc. cit.).
7Prayer, in Aramaic is
8"Komah shleimah" - literally, "a
complete figure."
9Sanhedrin 72a.
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 150
The Baal Shem Tov taught :1
There is a deeper meaning and purpose in all
mundane affairs.2
1Toldot Yaakov Yoseph, Ki Tatsei
#6.
2Whether we are eating or doing
business, one can find meaning and purpose in
these mundane chores, simply by being present with
G·d.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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