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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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THE HUMBLE
HEALER
The Torah portion reads, "He called (va-yikra) to
Moses. G·d spoke to him from the Tent of the
Meeting saying:" Leviticus 1:1
Moses was very humble. Therefore he did not want to
write the word va-yikra in the Torah with an aleph as
the last letter. In this form, va-yikra means "calling"
with the connotation of high status and love. Instead,
Moses wanted to write va-yikar which means calling in
the language used for a commoner. G·d told
Moses to write with the aleph because "you have great
status before me." Moses had to write va-yikra with
an aleph because G·d commanded him to do
so
but he wrote it with a small aleph. And so we find in
every Torah scroll the aleph of va-yikra is small.
MeAm Lo'ez
And then there was the time that a poor couple had a
daughter who suddenly became paralyzed,
G·d forbid. They took her to a few local
doctors but none could diagnose what was wrong
much less suggest a cure. Having no choice left, they
decided to take her to the Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem
Tov, the legendary holy man, miracle worker and
healer. True, they really didn't believe in the bubba
misas (old wife tales) about the Rabbi being able to
perform miracles, but what else could they do?
Shortly thereafter, the couple learned that the Baal
Shem HaKodesh happened to be visiting a nearby
town. Placing their paralyzed daughter in the back of
their wagon, they traveled to the town. Their hearts
were heavy as their hopes had been dashed before,
so they didn't say much to each other.
Upon their arrival at the inn, they learned that
the Baal Shem was staying in a room on the second
floor. Of course, there was a long line of people
winding up the stairs waiting to meet with the Baal
Shem Tov to get a blessing.
Finally, it was their turn. They carried their
paralyzed daughter into the room. They handed the
Baal Shem Tov a kivitel (note) asking for a complete
healing for their daughter.
The Baal Shem Tov took the note and
said "Before I give a blessing for your daughter's
healing, I expect to receive one ruble (equal to 100
kopecks)."
The couple looked at each other and
reached into their pockets. All they could find was 27
kopecks. "Rabbi, here are 27 kopecks. We are very
poor and that is what we have."
The Baal Shem Tov took the 27 kopecks and
put them on the table. Then he said, "I'm sorry, but I
really can't help you unless I receive one ruble."
So the couple searched through all their
pockets and found another 12 kopecks bringing the
total to 39. "Rabbi, please take these. But it is all that
we have," said the husband.
The Baal Shem Tov reached out and took the
12 kopecks and put them on the table with the other
27. Then he said, "As I said, I really can't help you
unless I receive one ruble."
"But Rabbi," pleaded the wife, "it's all we
have. Please give her a blessing. We're desperate
with worry about our daughter."
The Baal Shem Tov looked at them and
said, "I'm really sorry, but I can't help you. And as for
this 39 kopecks, it's not enough." Then he picked up
the kopecks from the table and threw them down the
stairs.
Just then, the daughter jumped up and ran
down the stairs collecting the scattered kopecks as
she went. The husband and wife looked at each other
with amazement. Then, they looked at the Baal Shem
Tov and he had a big smile on his face.
The couple quickly turned around and
rushed down the stairs yelling to each other, "let's get
out of here before the Holy Rabbi actually thinks he
healed her."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane
(Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story heard
directly from Rav Shalom Ber Chaikin of Cleveland,
Ohio.
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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And He called to Moses, and G·d spoke to
him from the Tent of Meeting. . . . (Leviticus 1:1)
The Baal Shem Tov said that he learned all his
remedies 1 from the verse, "And He
called to Moses. . . ."2
Heichal HaBracha, Vayikra
The Baal Shem Tov cured only through the use of
Unifications.3 He would uplift the
Shechina and unite it with the trait of
Ayin,4 and the lower world would
automatically be repaired.
Ma'or Eynayim, Naso
1Besides being a mystic and a
communal leader, the Baal Shem Tov was also a
renowned healer, who used both natural remedies
and segulot - supernatural methods - to affect
cures.
2R. Yitzchok Isaac of
Komarno (Heichal HaBracha) explains that the letter
aleph at the end of the word Vayikra represents the
level of Keter (Crown) and Ayin (Nothingness). (Aleph
is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and in this
word, is written small in the Torah scroll, suggesting
the idea of ego-nullification.) The Baal Shem Tov knew
how to uplift the world to this supernal root and draw
down healing energy. See footnote 4, below.
3Yichudim. These lie at the basis of
kabbalistic meditation, prayer and ritual acts, and
include the mystical recombination of letters, as well
as the uplifting and unification of one's emotions and
intellect with the Divine.
4The Shechina is the Divine Presence
that dwells within creation. Ideally, it receives light
from G·d and reveals it in the world, so that
Divinity shines from within creation itself. At times,
however, the Shechina falls into "exile," and a breech
occurs between G·d and creation (from our
perspective). This is the spiritual root of all suffering
and illness. When the Shechina is uplifted and united
with G·d, all the forces of negativity are
annulled. Ayin refers to the sefirah of Keter, which
contains a revelation of the Divine Being completely
beyond human perception, just as a crown is above
the mind of the wearer. Ayin therefore
means "Nothingness," since it transcends human
cognition, and can only be accessed through mystical
self-annulment. The Baal Shem Tov taught that a
person should never pray for his own needs, but only
for the fulfillment and redemption of the Shechina, for
when the Divine Presence is rectified, so are all of
her "limbs," which are the individual components of
creation.
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 110.
I heard from my Master (the Baal Shem Tov) the inner
meaning of the Alphabet, and how to apply to each
word the principles of subjugation, separation, and
amelioration.1 Meaning to say, all the
mystical intentions needed [to annul] the 320 and 280
Judgments,2alluded to in the first word
of the Amidah - Ado-nai - must be applied to each
word of prayer, in order to sweeten the judgments.
For the letter aleph (à"ó) is the mystery of peleh (ô"à).
It is clothed in the letter beis, which is two alephs, then
the letter gimel, which is three alephs, until the letter
tav, which is four hundred alephs.3 For
the further a letter is from the beginning of the
alphabet, the further it is from vitality, and the more it
becomes clothed in the impure shells, until Malchus
of Malchus,4 which is the place of bad
thoughts. But when a person remembers that the
Divine Presence is in exile [there], and that a spark of
the Shechina is clothed in this odious shell, he will
feel appalled. Then, "all the workers of iniquity will be
dispersed" (Psalms 92:10), and a Unification will be
made between "fear" and "awesome."5
The spark of holiness will be removed and reunited
with the life-force above, in the mystery of "the living
creatures ran and returned" (Ezekiel 1:14). This is its
redemption from captivity. And this is the meaning
of "submission." It is as though you are not speaking,
only the Divine Presence. Whereas "separation"
means removing the "shell," and "amelioration"
means uplifting it and sweetening it in its root.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, p. 208d
1Hamtaka; literally, "Sweetening."
2The shach (ù"ê) and par (ô"ø) dinim.
3The Hebrew letter tav has the
numerical value of 400.
4The Baal Shem Tov is drawing a
correlation between the letters of the Hebrew alphabet
and the ten Sefiros. The nature of the Sefiros is
holographic, so that each one contains within it
aspects of all the rest. (Thus, for instance, we count
49 combinations of Sefiros during the days of Sefiras
Ha'Omer, between Passover and Shavuos. The first
day of the Omer is Chesed in Chesed, and the last
day of the Omer is Malchus in Malchus.) The Baal
Shem Tov means that just as there is a downward
progression from the highest Sefirah to the last, so
there is a degression from first letter of the alphabet to
the last; from aleph to tav. On this last level, the letters
arise in the mind in the form of negative patterns and
thoughts. However, when a person recalls that even
there, the Divine Presence is concealed, he can
disperse all the bad thoughts, and direct his mind
again to G·d.
5This is the union between the Sefiros of
Tiferet and 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 47.
On the eve of Yom Kippur, they
wanted to prohibit the [poor] people from sitting with
their begging bowls [in synagogue], because the
noise disturbed the prayers. But the Baal Shem Tov
told them not to do so. He related that once, the
impure shells joined forces [to overcome the side of
holiness], but because of the rattling of the coins on
the eve of Yom Kippur, they were completely
dispersed.
Midrash Pinchas HaChadash 55
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 143
Achiyah the Shilonite, who received teaching from
Moses, was among those who left Egypt at the
Redemption. Afterwards, he was on King David's
tribunal. Then he was the prophet Elijah's mentor, and
he was also the Baal Shem Tov's
mentor.1
1Toldot
Yaakov Yoseph, Balak #3.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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