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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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SHABBOS
TSHUVAH
Divrei Chassidim
"Yisroel, Yisroel! Whatever is the matter?"
The rebbetzin sounded very alarmed. She had been
awakened from her regular Shabbos after-dinner nap
by her husband's cries. In a moment she was the
side of his bed shouting his name. He sat up with a
start and then sighed with relief.
"Thank G€d you woke me up now,
rebbetzin. Had you delayed a moment more I would
not have awoken at all!"
"What do you mean, Reb
Yisroel?" she gasped. "And why did you cry out so in
your sleep?"
"Call my talmidim and chassidim
to me. I wish to tell them all what just happened to
me."
The year was 1755. The day was
Shabbos Tshuvah, and the time, as already
mentioned, was after the morning davening and
Shabbos meal.
It did not take long for the people close to
the Baal Shem Tov to gather about his bedside. He
began his strange tale.
"Every Shabbos, when I recite the silent
mussaf, my soul ascends to the heavenly worlds
above. There I listen to what is being learned in the
Yeshiva Above and I am later transmit some of these
Torah secrets to you, my chassidim, at the shalosh
seudos (third meal) table.
"I have for several years yearned to see a
very close friend who has passed on to the World of
Truth, the great tzadik, Reb Nachman Kassover. Each
time I sought him but never could locate him. I tried
various combinations of prayers and holy incantations
to find his resting place in the world of souls until it
was finally revealed to me how I could go about and
realize my desire.
"Today I recited the required prayers,
concentrated upon the necessary holy thoughts and
finally found my soul soaring to heavenly realms that I
had never visited before. Buildings of pure gold
shimmered about me; palaces of diamond dazzled
my eyes; sapphire spires adorned the high and
spacious houses of study which greeted me all
about. The sound of Torah was heard in hundreds of
study houses and I entered several to see their
interior. The souls within shone like angels, each one
occupied with his own subject of Torah, be it gemorra,
agada, mishna or chumash. I looked about and was
awed.
"To whom belongs this glory?" I
asked. "Who is your leader here?"
"Our Torah study pays homage to the
chosen of G€d, Reb Nachman of
Kassover .'
"'And where is his resting place? May I see
it?' I asked in awe.
"Someone grasped my hand and led me
to Reb Nachman's beis medrosh. Reb Nachman
himself was all fire and glory. His countenance shone
like an angel's. His brilliance radiated to illuminate the
far reaches of the world; it was an awe inspiring sight
which left me stunned for several minutes. I gazed
upon him, dressed all in white, his talis over his head,
and asked, 'To whom belong all these souls and all
this splendor I see around me?'
"'My dear brother,' he answered
me, 'these souls you see about me belong to people
whom I showed the path of righteousness in my
lifetime on earth. Some of them were righteous men
who had transgressed while others were incorrigible
evildoers whom I was able to admonish by gentle
words until they finally repented and began walking
the paths of righteousness. It is these souls who
praise and extol the Living G€d.'
"'Dear brother,' he went on to say, 'do you
desire to remain here with me ? You can, you know.
All you need do is relinquish your soul to the angel you
are acquainted with. Your body will then remain on
earth below and you can stay here near me. You will
not even have to experience the pangs of death or be
confronted by the Angel of Death. Here, I and other
tzadikim will take you and show you your eternal
resting place. Do you truly wish it? The decision is
yours; it is in your hands.'
"I vacillated. It was a tremendous choice to
make. One main objection came to the fore; I desired
to be buried in Eretz Yisroel, for a soul buried in the
Holy Land ascends higher than one buried outside its
holy boundaries.
"'Your fate is to buried in your own land
and not in the Holy Land,' Reb Nachman revealed to
me. 'I am not at liberty to disclose the reason why. But
if you agree to remain here with me, I will be able to
reveal to you many many things.'
" Again I vacillated, torn in
opposite directions. My thoughts turned to those
whom I would leave behind. Could I depart my loved
ones, my worthy rebbetzin and my dear son and
daughter? My eminent talmidim? Could I leave them
without a last will and testament, without guidelines
for the future? Could I suddenly expire like an empty
person ? I decided I could not. One must prepare for
one's death and not just leave by whim. I made my
painful decision and informed Reb Nachman. But he
would not acquiesce. He argued, begged, cajoled
until I could stand it no longer and emitted a loud yell
at the thought of leaving behind my loved ones and
disciples.
"This was the shout which woke
my rebbetzin up and made her awaken me in turn. But
thank G€d she did, for is was just in time. I
could not
have withstood the conflict for much longer. She
succeeded in returning my soul to its rightful place in
my body."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane
(Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found
in Treasury of Chassidic Tales by Rabbi S.Y. Zevin
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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Then the L€rd your G€d will bring back
your remnants, and have mercy on you, and will once
again gather you from among the nations where the
L€rd your G€d has scattered you. (Ibid.
30:3)
Every single Jew must perfect and make ready the
part of the Messiah that relates to his own soul. As it
is known, the word "Adam" is an acronym for the
words "Adam, David, Messiah." Adam's size was
from one end of the earth to the other, and included in
it all the souls of Israel. After the sin, however, his
stature was diminished. Likewise, the Messiah's soul
will be made up of all the 600,000 souls of Israel, as it
was before Adam's sin. Therefore, every Jew must
make ready that portion of the Messiah that
corresponds to his own soul, until the entire structure
is fixed and established. Then there will be a
universal Unification, without end. May it be soon in
our days!
Me'or Einayim, Pinchas
Komat HaMoshiach - literally, the "structure
of the Messiah." The soul of the Messiah, like that of
Adam, incorporates all the souls of the Jewish people,
from the forefathers until the last generation. Every
Jew has his place in the soul of the Messiah. By
working to refine one's own soul, the collective soul of
the Messiah is built, and the redemption draws nearer.
Chagiga 12a.
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 1.8
When a person is on a low level,
it is better for him to look in the prayer book while he
prays, because seeing the letters will give him the
ability to pray with more concentration. However,
when he cleaves to the Supernal World, it is better for
him to shut his eyes, so that he doesn't see anything
that may disrupt his mystical attachment.
Tzivos HaRivash, p. 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 24.
The Admor Reb Yitzchok of Skver
told that one Simchas Torah evening the Baal Shem
Tov was dancing among his chassidim, a Sefer Torah
in his arms. He gave the scroll to one of his disciples
to hold as he danced alone.
A disciple, Reb Isaac, saw this and remarked, "The
holy rabbi gave the tangible scroll away while he
himself kept the spiritual scroll."
The Baal Shem Tov heard this and exclaimed, "I am
surprised that Reb Isaac was able to observe and
understand this!"
Sipurei Baal Shem Tov
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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Kst 180
The Baal Shem Tov taught1:
The philosophers asked: If G€d is called, the
Awesome One, why does the Torah have to give a
command to fear Him? Will not fear come
automatically, just as we have spontaneous fear of a
king, without being commanded?
However, what we usually refer to as fear actually
means fear of loss, whether loss of honor, loss of
wealth or even life, but after such loss has
materialized, there is nothing more to fear. For
instance, after one is dead, there is no more cause to
fear loss of life, and similarly with loss of wealth and
anything else.
But such fear is considered a superficial fear, and can
be found in all creatures. For instance, a mouse is
afraid of a cat, a cat is afraid of a dog, a dog is afraid of
a wolf, and so on. Similarly among people, one
person is afraid of another, who is afraid of another,
and so on.
But beyond this is a deep, inner fear, a fear of the
Creator, yet all the superficial fear that overcomes a
person is only in order to rouse him to this deep fear.
This is G€d's compassionate right hand,
outstretched and begging man to become roused to
fear Him. This is the meaning of the verse, "What
does G€d request of you besides fearing
Him?"2 which refers to the deep fear.
Now, a loss of this deep fear takes place when one
surrenders one's being to G€d, the Source of
all Life, at which point, one is virtually non-
existent.3 But when one lacks this deep
fear, then one can know that one is at a lack of life, as
if one were dead, as we are taught, "The wicked are
considered dead even while alive,"4
which is why one lacks this fear.
This resolves the philosophers' question, for the truth
is, a commandment to fear is unnecessary, since it
indeed arises spontaneously. The verse, though, that
says, "What does G€d request of you besides
fearing Him?" means that since fear is natural in all
creatures, it is fitting that man have a superior level of
being aroused from a superficial fear to a deep fear,
since G€d's compassionate hand is extended
to rouse him. The stress, then, in the verse is
on, "request of you."
Now, if a person would be aware of this compassion,
of G€d's love for him, in sending him this
superficial fear in His compassion in order to rouse
him to a deep fear (which is the secret of Binah, aleph
binah), then the fear is transformed into love, since
one is accepting this superficial fear with love, after
which one is released from the superficial fear. Thus,
"€€ (death) is transformed into €€"€ (truth)5
, which is life, since one is uniting the Malkhuth,
the lower heh, with the upper heh, which transforms
€€é
into €é€, and this abrogates all harsh decrees.
However, if one's intention is only to be rid of the
superficial fear, it will not help. This is alluded to in the
verse, "Love G€d with all your heart and all
your soul and all your might/wealth/being," meaning
that when fear for one's might/wealth/being arise, one
should love G€d with a sincere heart and the
proper intentions.
1Tzofnath Paneach 49c.
2Deuteronomy 10:12.
3That is, unlike the fear of loss of life
which ceases with an actual loss of life, because
one's dread has already been materialized, fear of
G€d is not fear of loss of anything, but fear and
awe of confronting G€d's greatness. But when
does confront this greatness, and surrenders oneself
to G€d, the fear and awe cease as one is
swallowed by the Divine being, and as the Baal Shem
Tov says here shortly, the fear and awe are then
transformed into love.
4Berakhoth 18b.
5That is, an Aleph, symbolizing the One,
is integrated into word and transforms its meaning.
Then, "death," emptiness, is transformed into life by
its becoming reunited with G€d. This is also
symbolized by the lower heh, which symbolized
detachment from G€d, reuniting with the upper
heh, which symbolizes union with Him, and €€é,
symbolizing the detached identity, being transformed
into €é€, symbolizing a melting of one's being into
G€d. And this is also the earlier allusion of
aleph binah, namely, that the Aleph, symbolizing the
One, as said, is united with Binah, the Source of
judgment, all judgment is mitigated.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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