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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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THE EXTINGUISHED
WESTERN LIGHT
"Three times each year, all the men shall be seen in
the presence of G·d your L·rd in the
place that He will choose." Deuteronomy
16:16
It was revealed to the Baal Shem Tov that if the two
great lights of the world were to meet, they together
could bring Moshiach and the final redemption. From
that time, the Baal Shem Tov desired greatly to go to
Eretz Yisrael to meet the great Ohr Hachayim (Rabbi
Chaim ben Etar).
In the year 5503, the Baal Shem Tov traveled from
home in Mezibush to fulfill his long held desire to visit
Eretz Yisrael and meet the great Ohr Hachayim. By
Pesach, he reached Istanbul. There he prayed at the
gravesite of Rav Naftali, a Tzaddik (righteous man)
who had attempted the same trip at an earlier time but
had only traveled as far as Istanbul. That night, Rav
Naftali appeared to the Baal Shem Tov in a dream.
"Reb Yisrael, it has been decreed in Heaven that you
are not destined to dwell in Eretz Yisrael. If you are
stubborn and attempt to continue your journey, you will
die here as I did. Return home."
The Baal Shem Tov accepted the decree and
embarked upon a ship headed homewards. His ship
was captured by pirates, who let him off at the port of
Kilya, from where he continued his journey to
Mezibush.
Three months later, during the shalosh seudos meal
on the Sabbath of Parsha Pinchas, immediately after
washing his hands and eating a bite of challah, the
Baal Shem Tov said with a sigh, "The Western light
has been extinguished."
At the Melave Malkah (meal of the departing Sabbath
Queen) on that motzoei Shabbos (Saturday night), the
chassidim gathered their courage and asked, "Rebbe,
what did you mean when you said that 'The Western
light has been extinguished?'"
The Baal Shem Tov replied, "The Ohr Hachayim has
died. He was known in heavenly realms as the
Western light."
"How does the Rebbe know that?" one Chassid boldly
asked.
The Baal Shem Tov answered, "There is a particular
kavannah (intention) for the recitation of the blessing
for washing hands which I have always wanted to
know. However, this kavannah was hidden from me
since only one person in each generation can know it,
and the Ohr Hachayim had preceded me. This
afternoon, as I washed my hands for shalosh seudos,
I suddenly became aware of a new kavannah. I
immediately understood that the Ohr Hachayim had
passed from this world and now I become the
guardian of that kavannah."
One other time, the Baal Shem Tov told his
Chassidim of another incident related to the Ohr
Hachayim. On the Sabbath that the great Ohr
Hachayim departed this world, his friend in Tiberias,
Reb Chayim Abulafia, mysteriously fainted, and
remained unconscious for half an hour. When he
finally was revived, he announced to his
students 'today the Ohr Hachayim left this world. I
accompanied him until the gates of Gan Eden.'
"What Reb Chayim of Tiberias did not know," the Baal
Shem Tov told his Chassidim, "was that the Ohr
Hachayim's saintly neshamah (soul) remained in Gan
Eden only for the duration of the Sabbath. The next
day it descended once more to this world. The souls
of tzaddikim," he explained, "receive greater
satisfaction from being in this physical world where
the soul can serve The Almighty on the lowest
physical plane, through performing mitzvos and good
deeds which brings far greater benefit to this world,
and is far more pleasurable to the soul than being in
Gan Eden. When Moshiach arrives, and
G·dliness will be seen and felt by even the
most common man, we will yearn for the days
previous when we were able to serve the Almighty on
the lowest level of the physical."
The death of the Ohr Hachayim occurred just two days
before Reb Leib Sorahs' Bar Mitzvah. It was years
later however, that the Chassidim understood that it
was the Ohr Hachayim's soul that he received at the
time of his Bar Mitzva from the Rebbe Reb Dov Ber
(The Mezritcher Maggid).
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story in GEVUROS ARI
and 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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Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse.
The blessing, if you obey the commandments of the
L·rd your G·d, which I command you today. And the
curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the
L·rd your G·d . . . ." (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)
There are aspects of blessing and curse. They occur
when a person's attachment to the inner dimension of
the Torah and the mitzvos is only by means of
the "bejeweled woman" - in ways that are pleasing to
each one of Israel, according to his nature and
desire.1
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Bo, p.
51a
1The compiler of sefer Baal
Shem Tov writes: "When Torah study is for the sake of
any material end, this itself is a blessing and a curse.
The very study is a blessing; however, the extraneous
intention is called a curse. Therefore, this type of study
is called a blessing and a curse together. Thus, the
verse continues: 'The blessing, if you obey the
commandments. . . . ' That is, a person must separate
the blessing from the curse, and study Torah in a way
that will only be for blessing."
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 1.2
Praying to attach yourself Above
When you attach yourself Above during the silent
prayer, you will merit to be raised even higher during
that prayer.1 As our Sages have said: "A
person who
seeks to be purified will be helped."2
through this
prayer, you can attach your thoughts above, and then
come to an even greater level, so that even when you
are not praying, you are attached above.
Tzava'as HaRivash 37
1The Amidah, the main section of all
obligatory
prayers which is said standing in an inaudible
voice.
2Shabbat 104a.
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 18.
When the Baal Shem Tov first took up residence in
Mezibush, there were great rabbis who opposed his
way. They visited him during the holiday of Succos and
told him that his succah was unfit according to Torah
law. The Baal Shem Tov argued that his succah was
fit. Then, he rested his head in his hands for a few
moments. When he lifted his head and opened his
hands, he held a piece of parchment. On the
parchment was written, "The succah of Rabbi Israel
Baal Shem Tov is fit. Thus says
Metatron1, the Prince of the
Countenance."
That parchment was inherited by the Baal Shem Tov's
grandson, the holy Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of
Sudilkov (1740-1899) (the author of Degel Machane
Ephraim). Whenever someone became ill, he would
tell [the family] to place the parchment under the sick
person's head. The person would immediately
recover.
This practice continued for two years. The parchment
was put under the pillow of every sick person; he or
she would immediately get better. During the entire
two-year period, not one person in the city died.
Once, however, they put it under the head of a sick
person, and it disappeared. The rabbi explained that it
had been revealed to him that heaven was not
pleased with what he was doing, for all those born
must eventually die. Therefore, he had prayed they
take the parchment back.
I heard from
honest people who heard from the tzaddik, Rabbi
Yoskie, the grandson of the "Degel,"2
that he personally saw the parchment in his
grandfather's possession.
From a Letter of the Rabbi of Mezibush
1Metatron is one of the most
important angels in the heavenly hierarchy. He is a
member of a special group that is permitted to look at
God's countenance, an honor most angels do not
share.
2Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of
Sudilkov
Once, the Baal Shem Tov was outside the city of
Mezibush with his students, and the time for the
afternoon prayer arrived. His disciples said to
him, "There is no water to wash our hands for prayer."
He took his walking stick and struck the earth. A
spring of water burst from the ground. It flows until
today, near Mezibush, and is called the Baal Shem
Tov's well.
The Baal Shem Tov did many miraculous things, the
likes of which had not been seen since the days of the
Tannaim, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai1
and Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa.2 And all
of the miraculous things were the result of his
constant attachment to G·d.
Notzer Chesed, chap.
6
1Author of Zohar
21st century
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 175.
SEEING AND KNOWING G·D
"Know what is above you: A seeing eye, a hearing ear,
and all your deeds are recorded in a
book."1
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
There is seeing, hearing and knowing. Seeing is
higher than hearing, and hearing is higher than
knowing. For example, if someone were to come and
deny the existence of Jerusalem because he never
saw or heard about it, countless people will be able to
refute him, because they did see it or hear about it.
This is alluded to in the argument between Pharaoh
and Moses.2 Moses called to Pharaoh in
G·d's
Name, "Send My people so that they celebrate before
Me in the Wilderness," and Pharaoh replied, "Who is
G·d?" meaning that he had never seen Him,
and, "that
I should listen to Him?" meaning that even if He is
invisible, why did he not hear any voice of prophecy
coming to him the way Moses and Aaron did? Hence,
since he has neither seen nor heard of G·d,
and
Moses is demanding that he act upon faith,
therefore, "I don't know G·d, and I will not send
the
Israelites."
But Moses and Aaron answered, "The G·d of
the
Hebrews has revealed Himself to us," meaning, even
though you, in your grossness, have never seen or
heard Him, we have heard Him. And proof will be
when you, "Let us go out into the Wilderness for three
days." Why did Moses say three days? Because from
a distance of three day's journey Pharaoh would be
unable to see the Wilderness or Mount Sinai even with
a telescope (just as Laban distanced the sheep with
three days' journey3), nor would he be
able to hear
the sounds that would come out of it, which is the bat
kol that emerges from Mount Horeb/Sinai.
Nevertheless, Pharaoh cannot deny their existence
and say that the Sinai Wilderness and Mount Horeb
do not exist, for there are people who did see and
hear. Thus, Pharaoh is forced to believe in their
existence upon "knowledge," and similarly, he must
believe in G·d.
This, then, is the meaning of, "Know what is above
you: a seeing eye." For one should be able to see with
one's eye from one side of the universe to the other,
and to perceive G·d with one's eyes, and one
should
be able to hear with one's ears the proclamations
made by the heavenly court and the bat kol that
emerges from Mount Horeb. Then one would know
with one's senses of vision and hearing that there is a
G·d. However, "all your deeds are recorded in
a
book/sefer," meaning that all one's improper deeds
are recorded in the "sefer"/brilliance of one's soul's
senses, and this dulls and darkens the light of the
soul, because one's sins become a wall of separation.
Therefore, one can only "know" what is above with the
mind.4
1Tractate Avoth 2:1.
2Exodus 5:1-3.
3Genesis 30:36.
4From here we see the importance of
sensory
perception. The mind has its uses, but ultimately, it is
one's sensory perceptions that will usually determine
one's course of action. And though faith without such
perception is demanded when such perception is
lacking, the goal should be to spiritually clean and
expand our perception to see.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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