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TALES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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Cont'd. from Shabbos Shavuos
In the last installment, our still young Yisraelic worked
as the
shamash (custodian) in a little synagogue in the
holy
community of Okup, where he had been born. Time
passed Yisrael spent his time learning Torah in
private, without anyone knowing.
One bright sunny morning, a stranger turned up at the
synagogue in Okup - a handsome young man - to
join the people in the morning prayers. As he looked
distinguished and learned, all came over at once to
welcome him. The eldest man amongst them asked
him who he was.
"The son of Rabbi Adam Baal Shem," he answered.
And they looked at him in awe. They all knew that his
father, who had passed away recently, had been one
of the holiest of men of the generation. Without
another word, they gave him a
place of honor at the eastern wall of the synagogue,
near the holy Ark.
From his bundle of belongings, the young man took
out a pair of tefillin (phylacteries) and put them on in
preparation for the morning prayers. Everyone couldn't
help but notice that he didn't take out a tallis (prayer
shawl) - which could only mean that he was not
married. The Jews of Okup began whispering among
themselves.
After the prayers, one of the men began talking to the
eldest among them: "You have a daughter to marry off.
Why not ask this young man to marry her? You
are wealthy enough to give him everything he needs
so that he can sit and study Torah. And where will you
get a better husband for your daughter than the son of
Rabbi
Adam Baal Shem?"
The village elder agreed and invited the young visitor
to his home for breakfast. After introducing him to his
family and daughter, he presented the plan to him.
Rabbi Adam's son thought
it
over, and agreed. He knew that he would
have to stay in Okup for quite a while. For his father
had instructed him to go to Okup and find a very pious,
devout person named Yisrael the son of Eliezer who
kept his deep faith and piety hidden, so that no one
knew of it. Once he found this Yisrael the
son of Eliezer, he was to hand over to him all the
secret, hidden writings that Rabbi Adam had prepared
in his lifetime.
There was one condition that the young man made:
He would marry the village elder's daughter, but so
great
was his desire to study Torah that after the marriage,
the family must agree to his spending the majority of
his time in the little synagogue learning the Holy
Torah. There, they must bring him his meals, and he
would often sleep there. Of course, he would always
be at home for Shabbos, Yom Tov and other important
times. By the end of the conversation, the agreement
was made and the wedding plans were
started.
Within a week, the young man was always studying in
the little synagogue. His meals were
brought him from the home of his father-in-law; and
he was always ready and glad to share them with
Yisrael, the young caretaker. All day long he stayed
there, immersed in his studies, and so he continued
far into the night, long after everyone else in Okup was
asleep. Only at midnight did he put out his candle and
lie down on a bench in the back, to sleep till morning.
One night, however, he had trouble sleeping. He
dozed off, but woke again soon. As he opened his
eyes he saw that somewhere in the synagogue a
candle was burning. Certain that he had put out his
own candle, he rose in curiosity to see where the light
was coming from - and in the anteroom, he saw
the young shammash, Yisraelic, sitting by a lit candle,
studying from a large volume of Talmud.
"It certainly was strange," he thought, "since Yisraelic
never seemed interested in Torah study.
Why was he poring over that volume now?"
Suddenly
an idea jumped into his mind: "Could it be that this
was
the Yisrael the son of Eliezer, whom he had come to
Okup to find? Was he the person who was secretly so
devout and religious that he alone was worthy to
receive the secret writings of his father, Rabbi Adam
Baal Shem?
He silently returned to his bench to go back to sleep
with his
mind made up: Starting the next day, he would
keep an eye out to see just what sort of person this
young Yisraelic, the shammash, was.
The next day he, did as planned, and he noticed that
all day the young caretaker was busy cleaning the little
synagogue and bringing water from the well, so that
those who came to pray or study could wash their
hands and drink when thirsty. Not once during the day
did Yisraelic even glance at a volume of Torah.
At midnight, Rabbi Adam's son took one page
of his father's writings on the table in the ante-room
where he had seen Yisraelic studying. He blew
out his candle and lay down on the bench, as if to
sleep. But he remained very much awake, waiting.
After about a half-hour, a glow of light told him that
Yisraelic had lit his candle in the anteroom. Without a
sound, he approached and saw
the boy Yisraelic sitting and studying the written page
that he had left on the table. So intense was
Yisrael's concentration, so deeply involved was he in
his study, that he was no longer aware of anything
around him.
Suddenly he looked around, startled - for there was
Rabbi Adam's son, standing over him. In a flash he
moved, trying to put out the candle and hide the page
of writing. Rabbi Adam's son seized his hand,
however,
and stopped him. "Yisrael, my son," he said with a
smile, "it is no use. I know your secret. Your father's
name was Eliezer, was it not?" And when the boy
nodded he continued, "I swear to you that I will not
reveal your secret to anyone."
He sat down and put his hand about Israel's
shoulder. "Do you know," he asked, "why I came to
Okup? My father sent me to find you and give you his
secret writings. Now let us sit here and begin studying
them together. No one else will ever know. I will be
your teacher, until you understand enough to learn the
writings by yourself."
So they sat there side by side, the young caretaker of
the synagogue and the son of Rabbi Adam Baal
Shem Tov. And a heavenly echo whispered, "Behold
how good and pleasant it is when brothers sit
together"
To be continued next week. . . . .
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohn (Howard Cohn
Patent Attrorney) from Legends and Stories of
the Baal Shem Tov by Rabbi Menachem Gutman
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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Speak unto the children of Israel: When a man or
woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to
commit a trespass against the L-rd, and that
soul is guilty. Then they shall confess their sin which
they have done; and he shall make restitution for his
guilt in full . . . (Numbers 5:6)
I heard from my Master (the Baal Shem Tov) that the
pleasure of sin derives from the sparks of the
Primordial Kings that fell during the Shattering [of the
Vessels] into the Bright Shell (Kelipos
Nogah).1 It is
through this very spark that a person comes to repent.
For when a person regrets his sins, he uplifts this
spark to the Supernal World,2 as it is
written: "who
bears iniquity . . . " (Exodus 34:7).
Tzafnah Paneach,
Terumah 3, p. 90b
1The Zohar and Lurianic writings speak
of a cataclysmic event at the early stages of the
creation called the "Breaking of the Vessels," or
the "Death of the Eight Kings," based upon the verse
from Genesis 36:31: "These are the kings that reigned
in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king
over the children of Israel." According to this teaching,
the light that emanated from the G-dhead to fill
the vessels of creation was too strong, and the eight
lower Sefiros, from Da'at to Malchus, shattered and
fell into the Kelipos Nogah, a realm of creation that
stands between the pure and the impure. (See Sefer
HaTanya for a full discussion of this level of creation
and our relationship to it.) These are the sparks of
holiness that are enclothed in and enliven all
elements of creation. They are the spiritual root of all
physical pleasure, including the pleasure derived from
sin. It is the role of human beings to uplift these
sparks to their supernal root. This is done through the
path of Torah and mitzvos, and in the case of sin,
through the act of repentance, as this teaching of the
Baal Shem Tov explains.
2That is, a person who repents literally
bears, or lifts up, the sin that he committed and
returns the spark of holiness to its source.
Translation and commentary by Rabbi Dr.
Eliezer
Shore.
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HEART OF PRAYER
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on Prayer
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Section 3.11
Speech should always be with fear and love.
Even when you speak to a friend in the street,
do so with fear and love. For speech is composed of
letters, as the Talmud's states: "They see her
speaking with one in the market." That is, your
speech should always be with the One and Only.
Ohr HaGenuz, Pekudei
Translation
and
Commentary by Rabbi Dr.
Eliezer Shore
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DIVINE LIGHT
The Mystical Light of the Baal Shem Tov
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Section 11.
A great Tzaddik who knows how to perform
unifications and combinations of Divine Names can
rectify what is wrong with a person just by looking at
them. Through these unifications, the Tzaddik
immediately causes the person to have thoughts of
repentance. The Baal Shem Tov said that he could fix
a person instantly by merely looking at them. But if the
person stubbornly refused to repent, the Baal Shem
Tov would completely remove the holy spark that
needed repair from within them.
Toldos Aharon,
Vayera
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. 16
"I see G-d from my
flesh"1
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
Just as with physical relations, one cannot father a
child without a "live" organ, which requires passion
and joy, so with spiritual "relations," that is, the words
of Torah and prayer,2 one can only be
spiritually productive if one has a "live" organ, that is, if
one experiences joy and
pleasure.3
1Job 19:26.
2Which is how one relates to
G-d.
3The point here is that it is not enough to
study and pray with serious devotion, but that one
must truly enjoy doing these things. The vivid
metaphor implies that one's entire body must be
enthusiastically involved in the practice, and not just
the mind.
Translation and commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua Starrett.
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