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TALES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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And then there was the time one winter, when the Baal
Shem Tov was
traveling in Russia with one of his great disciples,
Rabbi Moshe Shoham of Dulina. Since the Russian
countryside is usually covered
with snow in the winter, they were traveling in a sleigh
driven by Alexei,
the Baal Shem Tov's driver.
When the 15th of Shvat arrived, they were
travelling in the countryside, away from any town. They
were very dissapointed that they didn't have a fruit with
which to celebrate the holiday.
The
Baal
Shem Tov told Alexei to drive the sleigh off the main
road
and into the adjoining fields. After travelling for a short
distance, they came upon a field that not only was not
snow-covered, but had an orchard of oranges. And
most astounding was that not
only wasn't it cold, but the climate was tropical!
They
immediately picked some of the oranges,
and joyfully made the blessings, including
shehechayanu, to celebrate the holiday.
Rabbi Moshe Shoham also took a few
oranges back
to the sleigh for later.
All this time,
Reb Moshe did not
even wonder how an orange orchard, with a
tropical climate, appeared suddenly in the Russian
countryside in the middle of winter when in fact,
oranges do
not even grow in Russia during the summer. Being
often
around the Baal Shem
Tov, he was so used to miracles that such events did
not even cause him to marvel!
As they made their way back across the fileds, Rabbi
Moshe suddenly felt regret that he had not taken more
oranges.
When they got back to the main
road, for one
reason or another, the Baal Shem Tov decided to rest
briefly. Rabbi Moshe took the opportunity to return
to the orchard. He followed the path of the sleigh
tracks back, but when he reached the field, the
orchard was gone and it was covered with snow.
He quickly returned to the sleigh and to his surprise,
the few oranges he
had picked and had put in the sleigh had also
disappeared.
When he asked the Baal Shem
Tov
about this, he was told, "When I felt unhappy
about having no fruit and not being able to celebrate
Tu BeShvat, I brought -- by mystical means -- an
orchard from the Land of Israel here. But since the
whole point was to perform a mitzvah, and not for our
personal
benefit, the orchard and the few fruit you had taken
disappeared afterward."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohn (Howard M.
Cohn,
Patent Attorney) from a story translated by Yitzchak
Buxbaum
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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And Aaron shall carry the names of the Children of
Israel in the Breastplate of Judgment over his heart,
when he enters the Holy Place, as a rememberance
before G-d at all times. And you shall place
the Urim and tho the e Tumin (a parchment containing
Gd's nam) into the (fold of the) Breastplate of
Judgment so that it will be over Aaron's heart when he
comes before G-d . . . . ."
(Exodus 28:29-30)
As our
Sages have said, the Breastplate barely contained all
twenty-two letters of the Hebrew
alphabet.1 Therefore, when they
had to ask a question2 that used several
of the same letters, such as "Should I go to
Bavel,"3 how were they answered?
There is a very great mystery in this . . . I
heard from
my grandfather [the Baal Shem Tov], that each of the
twenty-two letters [of the Hebrew alphabet] contains
within it all the other letters of the
alphabet4 (except for the letter
mem5). Since G-d commanded
that
all twenty-two letters be inscribed on the Breastplate,
when the priest would be enwrapped in Divine
inspiration, the letters would shine in their expanded
forms. This enabled the priest to receive everything
he needed to know. Understand this!
This is the meaning of "shoham stones
and filling stones6 for the apron and for
the
Breastplate" (Exodus 25:7).
Ephraim, Likutim
1Yoma 73b. There were twelve precious
stones set in the Breastplate of Judgment. They were
engraved with the names of the Patriarchs, Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, the names of the twelve tribes, and
the words "tribes of Yeshurun." Certain letters, such
as the gimel or the zayin, were written only once.
2The Breastplate of Judgment was a
prophetic device, worn by the High Priest, through
which questions could be asked of G-d. When
the
king or the High Court (Sanhedrin) would ask a
question, the Priest would see various letters sparkle
or bulge out. Using Divine Inspiration, he would then
be able to combine the letters to spell out the answer.
See Aryeh Kaplan, Handbook of Jewish Thought, vol.
1 (New York: Moznaim, 1979), 6:36 and fn. 110, for
more on this subject.
3The question "Should I go to Bavel?"
contains two letters beit, and three lameds. However,
it is likely that the author was only using
this as an example of a phrase with repeating letters,
because there were at least five beits and four lameds
in the Breastplate - enough to spell out these
words.
4These can be attained by
spelling out
each letter in full. For instance, writing out the letter
aleph in full provides a lamed and a phey.
Furthermore, each of these letters can further
expanded, to produce even more letters, until the
entire Hebrew alphabet is
reconstituted.
5The letter mem,
when written in full, will
not produce any additional letters. (Original
editor's note.)
6 "Avnei miluyim," read alternatively
as "stones that are filled out" - meaning that the
engraved letters shone in their expanded forms.
In a number of other lessons on this
theme, the Baal Shem Tov explains that additional
letters can be derived from a single letter by using the
techniques of gematria (numerical value of the
letters), or by dividing the letters into their component
parts. It is possible that those approaches were
originally mentioned with this lesson, since there are
a number of other letters, such as the gimel, zayin,
ches, tes and samech that could never be derived
from the other letters, no matter how many times they
are spelled out.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr.
Eliezer Shore
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THE HEART OF PRAYER
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on Prayer
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Section 2.14
The Baal Shem Tov
taught:
The exile of the Divine Presence
means that extraneous thoughts "ride" on your words.
Darchei Tzedek, part 1, 20
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 47.
Praying for G-d's
sake
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
Prayers for physical needs, such as: "Heal us and we
shall be healed," "Bless us with a good year," etc., are
like [turning to] a father who longs to fulfill his son's
desires, and to make sure that he lacks nothing, even
foolish things. For it is the nature of one who is good
to do good.
G-d's only thought is how to bestow material
goodness to the Congregation of Israel, who are
called His children.
Prayer draws down
sustenance
and shefa into all the worlds, even the material world t
satisfy G-d's longing to give to the Children of
Israel. Thus, prayers [on behalf
of G-d] are accepted immediately. For heaven
scrutinizes the prayers you pray for yourself, to see if
they are worthy of being received. But when you pray
for G-d's sake, there is nothing to stop them.
Kedushas Levi
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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Vol. 2 Section 256
"The entire world is nourished in the merit of My son
Chanina"1
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
This means that Chanina opened up a new channel
of bringing Divine beneficience into the world.
This is also the meaning of a miracle: Initially, a
miracle is above nature [The Hebrew
word for miracle - nes - means elevated]. After the
first time it happens, though, it becomes part of
nature.
This is what happened to the Beis Yoseph (Rabbi
Yoseph Karo). He toiled and toiled until he reached an
understanding of a certain text. But shortly afterwards
he overheard someone saying that very same
interpretation, and he became very upset. The Ari z"l
explained to him, "You opened up the channel so
that others can receive the same."
This is the meaning of the verse, "If you follow My
statutes . . . . I will provide you with rain at the right
time."2
After a new channel of Divine effluence has
been opened,
whether this is
a new channel of wisdom or a new channel of serving
G-d, this becomes a natural path that causes
a
new path of material blessing to open as well.
However, one must not follow this new path in a rote
way
and remain stuck there. Instead, one must continue
to ascend
to higher levels to open up yet another new path.
Hence, "If you follow My statutes," [always opening up
new spiritual paths,] this will cause the opening of
new channels of material blessing, so that, "I will
provide
you with rain at the right time."
And this is the meaning of the verse, "Blow in the New
Moon a shofar . . . . for it is a statute for Israel, a
judgment
for the G-d of Jacob"3 :
Why did the verse invert the proper sequence of
words, and not say, "Blow a shofar in the New Moon"?
The answer is that the "New Moon" is an allusion that
the blowing should be done with freshness, that it
should not be a rote ritual. For otherwise, when "it is a
statute - a rote ritual - for Israel," there will
be "judgment for the G-d of Jacob."
Toldoth tzav 3
1Brachos 17b
2Leviticus 26:3-4
3Psalms 81:4
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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