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TALES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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The"[These words] shall [also] be a sign on your arm
and an insignia in the center of your head." (Bo 13:16)
"These words" indicates that this chapter of the Torah
must be included in the Tefillin (phylacteries), which
are worn as a sign on one's arm and head. The
center of your head is written literally as "between your
eyes." This is an idiom that means between your eyes
and just above the hairline. Insignia means frontlets
or totafos in Hebrew.
During the time of the Baal Shem Tov, it was common
for travelers to stay at inns. Many of those small inns
were leased by Jewish innkeepers from the gentile
landowners.
Prior to revelation of Rabbenu Baal Shem Tov as a
spiritual giant, he would disguise himself as an
ignorant, albeit pious peasant and was simply known
as Reb Israel. Rabbi Gershon Kitover, his brother-in-
law, wanted to help his sister, the Baal Shem Tov's
wife Chana, with their material needs, so he
attempted to find local employment for Reb Yisrael.
But the Baal Shem Tov proved unsuitable for any work
and an embarrassment to Rabbi Gershon who was
well known as a famous Talmud Chocham and Rav
(expert in Jewish law) in his city of Kitov. In
desperation, Rabbi Gershon rented an inn in a small
village where Reb Yisrael could make a living and
support his wife.
When the couple took over the inn, the Baal Shem Tov
built a small study house in the nearby forest where
he studied all week with his Heavenly spiritual master
Achiya HaShaloni. It was during this time that the Baal
Shem Tov reached his spiritual perfection. Rebbetzyn
Chana tended to the inn.
Whenever a guest would arrive, she would send for
the Baal Shem Tov and he would return to serve their
guests. No one suspected that Reb Israel was
anything other than a simple Jewish innkeeper.
For the High Holidays, it was the Baal Shem Tov's
custom to close the inn and spend the entire month
with Rebbetzyn Chana in the city of Kitov.
Once during the intermediate days of Succot (an eight
day holiday following Yom Kippur), Rabbi Gershon
noticed that his brother-in-law was not putting on
Tefillin during his prayers. The fact was obvious to
everyone in the Synogogue since the Baal Shem Tov
davened by the eastern wall at the front of the
synagogue. Feeling quite annoyed with Reb Israel,
Rabbi Gershon asked, "Reb Yisrael, why didn't you
put on your Tefillin today?"
The Baal Shem Tov answered, "I saw an
interpretation in a particular holy sefer (book) that he
who puts on Tefillin during the intermediate days
(between the first two and last two days of the holiday)
is sentenced to death."
Rabbi Gershon turned from annoyed and angry that
his wife's brother was following the customs of the
Kabbalist from Germany instead of the prevailing
customs of the Jewry of Galicia. So he took him to the
Rav of the city to discuss the matter.
When they came to the house of the Rav, Rabbi
Gershon touched the mezuzah at the entranceway
and then kissed his fingers, as is the custom. The
Baal Shem Tov also touched the Mezuzah but didn't
kiss his fingers. When Rabbi Gershon saw this, he
became angrier, "Reb Yisrael, what is wrong with
you?"
When Rabbi Gershon and the Baal Shem Tov entered
the study of the Rav, the Baal Shem Tov removed the
spiritual disguise from his face. The Rav saw a great
spiritual light shining from the Baal Shem Tov's face
and immediately stood up. The Baal Shem Tov then
replaced his spiritual disguise and the Rav sat down.
This happened several times. The Rav was
bewildered and frightened because Reb Yisrael first
looked like a holy man and then returned to looking
like a simple man.
Meanwhile, Rabbi Gershon looked at the Rav's
strange antics and wondered what was going on.
Rabbi Gershon explained to the Rav about Reb
Yisrael's refusal to put on Tefillin and his failure to
kiss the Mezuzah.
The Rabbi took the Baal Shem Tov aside and asked
him, "Who are you? Please tell me the truth."
The Baal Shem Tov disclosed to the Rav that in fact
he was a holy man but ordered him not to tell anyone
what he saw or heard. "You are the first to see my true
nature because the time has not yet arrived for me to
reveal my spiritual status to others."
When they returned to Rabbi Gershon, the Rav said, "I
have discussed the matters with him. He would not
knowingly disregard our customs. He acted in
innocence."
As soon as Rabbi Gershon and the Baal Shem Tov
left, the Rav examined his Mezuzah. Sure enough, he
found that it was defective.
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn. Patent Attorney) from a story in SHIVCHEI
HABESHT and translated in IN PRAISE OF THE BAAL
SHEM TOV by Mintz and Ben Amos.
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SEFER BAAL SHEM TOV
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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This month shall be unto you the beginning of
months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
(Exodus 11:4)
I heard from my grandfather [the Baal Shem Tov] that
once, in the month of Nissan, he told the famous
Magid of Turtshin [the Magid of Mezritch] said, "Right
now we have to pray, because the first of Nissan is
the New Year for Kings,1 when all the
rulers and officials in the world are
appointed.2 At this moment, some
rulers who are not good are being appointed, and we
must pray [on behalf of Israel].
Degel Machane Ephraim, Bo
1The Mishna (Rosh Hashanah 1:1) lists
four New Years of the year: the first of Elul begins the
new year for counting animal tithes, the first of Tishrei
begins the counting of Sabbatical and Jubilee years,
the first (or the fifteenth) of Shevat begins the tithing
cycle for fruit trees, and the first of Nissan is the new
year for counting the reign of kings, as well as the
yearly festival cycle.
2See Likutey Moharan I:70 and II:5,10,
where a similar statement is made.
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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6.7 Pray for the sake of the words because the words
desire to be bound to thought.
This is the meaning of praying "for the sake of the
Name."1 That is, for the sake of the
words, for the
words themselves long and desire to be bound to
thought. When a person speaks with love and fear,
his voice and words delight in each other. Thought
watches over this, like a father who delights in his
child. For thought longs to enter into voice, in order to
come into words.
Likutim Amarim, p. 18b
1Usually meaning, "for the sake of the
thing itself,"
such as, Torah study for the sake of studying, prayer
for the sake of praying; i.e. without ulterior motives.
However, the Chasidic movement gave this term a
new meaning: "Leshema" - "For the sake of the
Name" (literally "to the Name"), that is, for the sake of
G-d's Presence in creation. At times, the word
is broken into two: le'shem hey: "For the sake
of the letter hey," representing Malchut and the
Shechinah. In the present case, a reference to prayer,
which also corresponds to the Shechinah.
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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37. A man once journeyed to the Baal Shem Tov with
a question. He had studied the natural sciences and
philosophy and had discovered that according to the
laws of nature, the Sea of Reeds1 was
supposed to split at the very moment of the Children
of Israel's arrival there. Why then, he wondered, do we
believe that the splitting of the sea was such a
miraculous event great thing? This question troubled
him deeply.
When he arrived at the Beis Medrash of the Baal
Shem Tov, even before he had asked his question,
the Baal Shem Tov summoned all the townspeople to
hear a sermon.
"There are fools and heretics in this world who have
trouble believing that the splitting of the sea was a
miracle," he said. "These people have eyes, but
cannot see.
It is written: 'In the beginning, G-d created the
heavens and the earth.' The name of
G-d, 'Elokim'2 has the same
gematria3 as
of 'Hatevah,'4 for nature is also created
by G-d. Thus, the Sages said on the
verse, 'And the sea returned to its
strength,'5 that 'G-d made a
condition with the sea.'6 From the very
beginning, G-d had built it into the sea to split
before the Children of Israel at that time. This, in fact,
makes the miracle even greater! From the beginning
of creation, G-d created the natural order for
the sake of the Children of Israel, as it says: 'In the
beginning' - for the sake of Israel, who is called 'the
beginning.'7 This nature of the sea was
created for Israel. Had they not required this miracle,
G-d would not have built it into the sea."
Beis
Yaakov, Bereishis and Beshalach
1Although it is usually refered
to as the Red Sea, it is actually translated as the Sea
of Reeds.
2 Each of G-d 's Names has a different
significance. The Name used in the first chapter of
Genesis, describing the creation of the world, is
Elokim.
3Numerology on the basis of numerical
equivalents for each letter of the Hebrew
alphabet.
4Both "Elokim" and "Hatevah" (the
Hebrew word for nature) are numerically equivalent to
86.
5Exodus 14:27
6Midrash Rabbah, Bereishis 21:6. The
words "to its strength"-l'eitano-is interpreted by the
Sages as l'tanao-"to its stipulation." That is, G-d
made a stipulation with the sea when He created it,
that it would split at that very moment for the Children
of Israel.
7See Rashi's commentary on Genesis
1:1. Israel is called "the beginning," as in the
verse, "Israel is the L-rd's hallowed portion, the
beginning of His produce." (Jeremiah 2:3)
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 70
"G-d saw that [Moses] went to look, and He
called out
to him, 'Moses, Moses'."1
The Baal Shem Tov taught:2
Moses was initially concerned that this vision before
him was not a holy vision, until G-d called out
to
him, "Moses, Moses." Only then did Moses
respond, "Here I am."
For Moses' soul, as alluded to by his name,
encompasses all worlds, which is why Moses could
not comprehend his own name, as we shall see. For
just as the Divine presence encompasses all
worlds - the inanimate, the vegetable, the good and
the evil - so does Moses' name: the first letter mem,
which alludes to the Divine Malchut/presence, also
encompasses all things, while the second letter shin
encompasses all spirits, and the last letter heh
encompasses all souls. Therefore, Moses' difficulty in
comprehending the Menorah, the shekel, and the
New Moon (HaChodesh), alludes to his difficulty in
comprehending his own name (Moses = Mosheh),
his own essence, since his name also
encompassed good and evil. Furthermore, his
difficulty was also in comprehending how the Divine
presence Itself, the Shechinah, is the Ultimate Unity,
since It encompasses the antitheses of good and
evil, yet remains One Indivisible Unity. Thus, he was
confused how he, whose name was Moses, which
encompassed these antitheses, could bring about
such Unity. Indeed, tradition records that Moses had
the tendency to be a
kidnapper/gambler.3
However, the truth is that evil is a vehicle for good, as
we find in the teaching that Pharaoh brought the
Jewish people to repentance by pursuing
them,4 or by the fact that beholding the
ways of the wicked brings a righteous person
satisfaction and pleasure that he is not like that. This
arousal of pleasure from contrast to evil exists in all
worlds, and evil itself also has a virtual elevation from
this, only that when good rises in this way, all evil is
dissolved in the process.5 And in the
same way, all evil thoughts can be vehicles of
elevation.6
Thus, Moses did not answer G-d after the first
call of
his name, since he did not comprehend how Unity
could be achieved, for when the lowest spiritual levels
were revealed, as symbolized by the bush, all their
higher spiritual sources were also revealed to him.
Therefore, Moses could not understand why evil - as
represented by the bush - was not "burnt" by those
sublime spiritual levels. Then G-d called out
to him
again, "Moses," alluding that the Ultimate Unity is
achieved specifically by the union of the lowest levels
with the highest. Only then did Moses say, "Here I
am."7
1Exodus 3:4.
2Ben Porath Yoseph 126c.
3Tractate Bekhorot 5a. The two
alternatives are given by Rashi and Tosafot,
respectively, and neither interpretation is very
complementary. Furthermore, there is a Midrash in
which a king versed in physiognomy requests to see
a portrait of Moses, and upon seeing it remarks that
this person possesses all the worst traits in the
world. The point is that Moses grew to become Moses
not only despite, but because he had to overcome the
existential human inner conflict between good and
evil tendencies. And the spiritual light that appeared
with him at birth, as according to oral tradition, was
not a manifestation of his inborn perfection, but of his
potential to unify these dichotomous elements within
his personality into and towards the singular goal of
serving G-d, as in this teaching.
4Zohar I 81b.
5Psalms 92:10.
6This idea is alluded to in #69 and
expounded upon in #39.
7As mentioned in n. 2 in #69, there are
two ways of dealing with evil: subduing it or
transforming it. When Moses first saw the fire of the
burning bush, he understood the fire to symbolize that
the bush, representing evil, as said in the text, must
be "burnt," and subdued. But then he saw that the fire
was not consuming the bush - which he understood
to mean that all efforts to vanquish evil are doomed to
fail. If so, he thought, that evil is an existential reality,
does this not point to Duality, to an existence outside
of G-d? But then G-d called out to him
a second
time, "Moses," thereby alluding to him that he, too,
was a seeming duality - a "lower" and an "upper"
Moses: a very human Moses with all human frailties
and weaknesses, but also a "G-dly" Moses,
and both
were parts of his unique singularity. Then Moses
realized that the fire in the bush was not symbolizing
destructive power of fire, but its "light" - the potential
of transformation. Then Moses realized that both evil
and good are really part of the One. Then Moses
answered, "Here I am" - an integrated one.
Translation and commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua Starrett.
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