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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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A SIMPLE
INSCRIPTION
His master saw that (the Name) of
G·d
was (always) on his (lips), and that whatever he put
his hand to, G·d made successful
(Genesis 39:3)
And then there was the time that the tzadik, Reb
Yitzchak of Drohovitch, learned of Rabbi Yisrael, the
Baal Shem Tov ("Master of the Good Name"] use of
kameyos (amulets, often inscribed with the mystical
names of
G·d), for accomplishing healings and other
miracles.
Reb Yitzchak was extremely
displeased at the use of the holy names, and he
uttered the phrase, "He who
makes use of the [the power of] holy names shall
pass away." Immediately, the
amulets, which had up to then been so effective,
became totally useless.
Complaints about the inefficacy of his amulets
reached the Baal Shem Tov's,
and when he investigated, he discovered that Reb
Yitzchak's words had rendered
them useless. So the Baal Shem Tov exerted his
tremendous powers of
concentration and caused Reb Yitzchak to become
confused as to which day of the
week it was.
At that time, R. Yitzchak was
traveling. When he arrived in Baal Shem Tov's town of
Medzibush on Friday afternoon, he mistakenly
thought it was Thursday. Being in no particular hurry,
he prayed, had a bite to eat and lay down for a nap.
When he awoke, he was shocked to find the entire
staff of the inn preparing for
the holy Sabbath. "What is going on?" he
inquired. "Why are you already prepared
for Shabbos, when it's only Thursday afternoon?"
"No, you are mistaken, it is almost Shabbos,"
everyone
assured him.
But Reb Yitzchak wouldn't believe them. Only when he
went outside and saw the street
filled with Jews running this way and that to finish their
last-minute preparations for the holy day did he
conclude that it was indeed Shabbos eve. Reb
Yitzchak
hurried back to the inn to quickly ready himself for the
holy day, but his preparations were interrupted by a
visitor - none other than the Baal Shem Tov himself!
"I beg of you to join me for Shabbos," the Baal Shem
Tov implored, but Reb Yitzchak declined, saying that
the innkeeper had
already prepared for him.
"Don't worry," said the Baal Shem Tov. "I have already
spoken to the innkeeper,
and he forgives your change in plans."
"But, I am accustomed on Shabbos to eat until I am
completely satiated," Reb Yitzchak objected. "I'm afraid
you won't have enough
food for me."
"Don't worry at all; I have prepared a lot of food," the
Baal Shem Tov assured
him. Finally, Reb Yitzchak ran out of excuses, and had
no choice but to accept
the Baal Shem Tov's invitation.
When Reb Yitzchak said he was accustomed to eat
huge amounts, he wasn't exaggerating, for he fasted
the entire week, from Shabbos to Shabbos. At the
Shabbos meal he had an enormous silver platter,
engraved with G·d's name, upon which he heaped
food. Every week, after he recited the kiddush, he
placed the laden platter before him and devoured
everything served at each course.
When he finished the portion of food set before him at
the Baal Shem Tov's Shabbos table, he reprimanded
the Baal Shem Tov, saying, "You promised to serve
me enough to fill myself, but I am still hungry and
there is no food available!"
"I am truly sorry," replied the Baal Shem Tov. "I
expected angels, but I did not anticipate serafim ("fiery
angels" -- spiritual beings that "consume" everything
in their path)!"
When Sabbos ended, the Baal Shem Tov
approached his guest and asked, "Why have you seen
fit to remove the efficacy from my kameyos?"
"It is forbidden to make use of the holy names of
G·
d in such a manner," Reb Yitzchak
replied.
"You are mistaken, for I do not use the holy names. All
I write in my amulets is
my own name - Yisroel ben Sara."
Reb Yitzchak was shocked; he found such a
statement
difficult to believe. It was only when the Baal Shem Tov
opened one of the amulets and showed it to Reb
Yitzchak that the tzadik could believe that such
extraordinary healings and other miracles could result
from amulets that did not contain the holy names of
G·d. He was so overwhelmed by this
discovery that he
at once restored the potency to the kameyos,
saying, "Alm·ghty G·d, if such
wonders can
come from
the name of this man alone, why should You mind?"
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found in Stories of
the Baal Shem Tov by Y.Y. Klapholtz
Reb Yitzchak of Drohovitch-a leading
kabbalist in his generation and father of
Reb Yechiel Michel Zlotchov (1731-1786), who
became
a major disciple of the Baal Shem
Tov.
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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And he said, I am seeking my brothers. . .
(Genesis 37:16)
The Zohar says:
Rabbi Yehuda commented on the verse: "O, were you
like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my
mother. When I would find you outside, I would kiss
you." (Song of Songs 8:1). I would find You outside --
meaning, in the exile, in other lands."1
In this piece of Zohar, one can find the words of the
Baal Shem Tov, that in the Diaspora, special help is
available to a person seeking Divine
inspiration,2
despite the fact that the Shechina does not dwell in
exile.3 Even if a person is not entirely
worthy, heaven
is still not so particular with him, as in the Land of
Israel. For when a king is on the road, he must sleep
in inns and hotels that are not as clean and beautiful
as befitting his honor; yet, the king is not disgraced,
because everyone knows that he is traveling.
Understand this well.4
Igra d'Pirka 148
1Zohar I:184a, on Genesis 37:16.
2Ruach HaKodesh.
3Zohar II:5a, 82a.
4The Baal Shem Tov means that
because the Divine
Presence is in exile in the world, and no longer
focused in the land of Israel and the Holy Temple, it is
actually easier to come to a perception of G·d
than in
the past. On this idea, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye
writes (Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Ekev, 181b): "Especially
in our time, when the Divine Presence is in exile and
finds no place to rest, as soon as a person prepares
all of his actions for the sake of heaven, he
immediately becomes a "throne" for the Shechina,
which rests upon him. He is even considered higher
than those of earlier generations, when there were
many Tzaddikim in the world; whereas today, "the
pious man ceases" (Psalms 12:2) - that is, those
who are pious before their Creator (Zohar III:281b). A
person should strengthen himself like a warrior, and
show kindness to the Shechina, so that he becomes
a throne for the attribute of Loving-Kindness (Chesed).
Just as in Abraham's time, when there was no one to
help the Shechina but him, now too, besides a very
few individuals, no one thinks about how to help and
support the Shechina in this bitter exile. Thus, a
person who is willing to sacrifice will certainly become
a throne for the Divine Presence with the trait of loving-
kindness."
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 95
I heard from my Master (the Baal Shem
Tov) that the morning prayers should reflect what is
written: "I wake up the dawn, and the dawn does not
wake me up."1 That is, a person should
ascend
gradually until the words "Blessed is He who
speaks."2 This section corresponds to
the world of Asiyah,3
which exists below, in the place of the "impure shells."
4 He should then concentrate more,
until "May He be
blessed,"5 which is the world of Yetzirah,
where there
are not as many "shells." And from "May He be
blessed," until the Amidah, he should concentrate
even more. Finally, in the Amidah, which is the true
embrace and union, he should divest himself of
physicality, as it is written in the Tur, Orach Chaim 98.
This generates "Feminine
Waters," which are followed by the "Masculine
Waters," so that a "male" is born. This is not the case
when a person is aroused spontaneously, which
indicates trouble, G·d forbid, and is the
meaning of the
verse: "his prayer will be turned into sin" (Psalms
109:7).
The solution is to realize what is going on,
fear greatly, and pray from the depths of one's heart.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Acharei Mot, p. 97d
1Tur, Orach Chaim 1, based
upon the
verse: "Awake, my glory; awake, lyre and harp; I will
awake the dawn" (Psalms 57:9). The simple meaning
is that a person should rise early to pray, and not be
woken up by the sun.
2Baruch she'omar - the beginning
of Pesukei
d'Zimrah.
3There are six sections to the
morning prayers:
the sacrificial offerings, the songs of praise, the
Keriyat Shema and its blessings, the Amidah,
Tachanun, and the concluding psalms. The first four
sections correspond to the four worlds Asiyah (Action),
Yetzirah (Formation), Beriyah (Creation) and Atzilut
(Emanation), the last being the highest level. The
remaining sections deal with drawing down and
integrating of the light.
4 kelipot
5Barchu.
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 32
Once, when The Baal Shem Tov
was in a certain place, he opened the window on a
cold winter day and said, "I see here a great light from
a Tzaddik that lived hundreds of years ago." However,
the place was a garbage heap, for the house had long
since collapsed.
From here we see that the holiness of the
Baal Shem Tov will last forever, and is impossible to
extinguish.
Toldos Adam, remazim l'Pesach.
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 127
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
The Nachmanides once told his son: "If you want to
know if your Torah study is an endeavor for its own
sake, when you become filled with awe and love while
studying the Torah, then you will know that your Torah
study has found favor before G·d."
But why does "One who studies Torah for its own
sake earns many things"?1 And what
does "studying Torah for its own sake" actually mean?
Everything in creation, whether large or small, was
created with the letters of the aleph-bet, through the
231 different gates.2 When a person
sins, though, he causes holy souls, which are holy
letters, to fall away from their source of life and into the
realm of the kelipot, such as into the inanimate world
or the animal world,3 for example. But
when a person mends his ways and studies Torah for
its own sake, that is, for the sake of the letter that he
had caused to fall, by his now studying Torah with awe
and love, with the intention of elevating the letter - a
soul - from the realm of the kelipot and to raise it up
and return it to its Source Above, the Source of all
letters, he is also elevating all things whose existence
arises from that letter to their Source Above, for there
are thousands and myriads of things in
between.4
This, then, is what the Mishnah means, "earns many
things," for many things were created from this letter,
and this person has elevated them all. And therefore
the Mishnah concludes that this person is beloved to
G·d, and he loves G·d, for what
greater love can there
be than between a person and a king to whom he has
returned the prince who had been in captivity for many
years?5
1Tractate Avot 6:1.
2These are 231 pairs of different
combinations and arrangements of the 22 letters of
the aleph-bet, which according to tradition, can be
used to create a golem. Charts can be found in Rabbi
Aryeh Kaplan's Sefer Yetzirah p. 309ff.
3All the different letters and letter
combinations represent different levels of
consciousness. Thus, when the letters "lose
consciousness," they fall into unconscious levels of
existence, such as the inanimate or the animal
worlds. However, this is only "for example," for when
one loses his spiritual consciousness, one's own
soul, one's "letters," also falls into one's own human
body, which is itself part of the animal world, and one
then becomes "focused" on one's bodily needs and
desires at the expense of one's soul.
4In terms that we can understand,
when one studies Torah, one should look for the
special message embodied in the letters of that
lesson, for the message that will make one more
aware, more conscious of the places and situations in
one's life in which one acts without consciousness of
G·d. This is the elevating of the letters, the
soul, and
one's consciousness. By so doing, one has elevated
the collective consciousness of all creatures.
5Toldos Yaakov Yoseph, Achrei #6
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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