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TALES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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"You [also] saw that G-d your L-rd carried you along the road you traveled."(Devarim 1:31)
And then there was the time that Reb Michel of Ostropol, a great Torah sage and respected by all, received news that his close friend and colleague Reb Yankel would be making a Bris (circumcision) for his newly born son, on the coming Friday. As Reb Michel and Reb Yankel were as close as brothers, Reb Michel decided that he would attend.
Besides being known as a great Torah sage, he was also known to be as fastidious and nervous man. So, as he began to ponder the anticipated trip, he became nervous. "Reb Yankel's village is a half day's travel from Ostropol," he thought. "How will I be able to go the Bris and still have enough time to return home for Shabbos? I know. I will send Reb Yankel a message requesting that he make the Bris as early as possible. Then I can return home to Ostropol in time for Shabbos."
A few days later Reb Michel received a letter from Reb Yankel agreeing to make the Bris early in the morning. Reb Michel traveled to Reb Yankel's village Thursday morning allowing plenty of time for any delays. He immediately went to the home of Reb Yankel where they warmly greeted each other and celebrated the good news.
By early the next morning, preparations for the Bris had been completed so that Reb Michel could return home in time for Shabbos.
Suddenly, a wagon full of chassidim pulled up in front of Reb Yankel's house. It was the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples who had come to participate in the joyous event. Reb Yankel was overjoyed with this unexpected surprise of his Rebbe and the accompanying Chassidim. As it was the custom of the Baal Shem Tov to immerse himself in a mikvah (ritual bath) before morning prayers, the Bris had to be delayed until he returned. The Baal Shem Tov did not rush his immersion, nor his walk to or from the mikvah.
The Bris was finally held several hours after the intended starting time. The seudah (meal) took longer than expected as the Chassidim sang song after song, exchanged Torah thoughts and rejoiced. Reb Michel was so overjoyed to be celebrating such a wonderful Simcha (joyous celebration), and in the company of Chassidim, that he forgot the time. When the festivities were finally over, he looked at his watch and saw to his horror that there was less than an hour until candle lighting time for Shabbos.
Reb Michel began to panic: "What shall I do?" he thought to himself in despair. As he began to pace the floor, the Baal Shem Tov approached him.
"Reb Michel," he began, "why are you so worried about time? Time is a creation like anything else. If the Almighty has created it for us, then it is to be used to serve Him. Do you think that you have somehow lost time because of our joyous celebration for the sake of the great occasion of a Bris? If I arranged for you to arrive home in time for Shabbos, will you allow me and my Chassidim to be your guests this Shabbos?"
"But of course!" exclaimed Reb Michel in a daze. The Baal Shem Tov quickly instructed his Chassidim to climb into their wagon, and sat Reb Michel by his side. The wagon driver Alexei whipped the reins and the horses were off on the road to Ostropol. After fifteen minutes of travel, the Baal Shem Tov turned to the bewildered Reb Michel. "Look, Reb Michel, we're already approaching Ostropol, and you still have fourty five minutes to spare to prepare for the holy Shabbos."
The wagon stopped in front of Reb Michel's house. Still unsure of what had just transpired, he quickly stepped down from the wagon and welcomed his honored guests into his home. It was a memorable Shabbos, and as of that day, Reb Michel became an ardent chassid of the Baal Shem Tov.
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohn (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found in SHIVCHEI HABESHT as translated in Stories of the BAAL SHEM TOV by Y.Y. Klapholtz.
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SEFER BAAL SHEM TOV
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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Behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven, many. (Deuteronomy 1:10)
Were they like the stars on that day, why were they only numbered six-hundred thousand? Rather, what is the meaning of "Behold, you are this day"? Behold, you are likened to the day, that is, you will always exist, like the sun and the moon and the stars. (Rashi)
It is written: "The path of the righteous is as the gleam of sunlight that shines ever brighter until the height of the day" (Proverbs 4:18). That is, the sun in itself shines in its place equally, both at the onset of the day and in the middle. The only thing that obstructs it is the earth, which stands between us and the sun. Therefore, its light does not shine so brightly at dawn until it spreads across the earth.
The same holds true of the Tzaddik. In himself, he is always shining: the blockage is only on the part of the receivers. This too is due to the obstruction of the earth - that is, this world. For people are sunk in this world, and are unable to receive the light of the Tzaddik. This is as the Talmud said on the verse: "1 lifted my eyes, and beheld a folded scroll" (Zechariah 5:1): "When you unfold it. . . . .When you peel it. . . . ."1 It comes out that the entire world is 1/3,200 the size of the Torah, which is exceedingly great and "broader than the ocean."2 It is difficult to understand how such a small thing as the world can block such a great thing as the Torah, which is thousands of times its size, for the entire world is minute in comparison.
However, this is like the oft-quoted analogy, that a small coin held up to your eyes will block out a great mountain, even though the latter is thousands of times larger. Since the coin is in front of your eyes, it obstructs your vision, until you cannot see something much larger. Likewise, when a person comes into this world, and becomes lost in its frivolities, so that it seems to him that there is nothing better, then this tiny little world keeps him from seeing the great and exalted light of the Torah, which is thousands of times the size. This is the example of the sun, that the earth prevents us from seeing its great light, though the sun is many times larger.
And this is the meaning of: "The path of the righteous is as the gleam of sunlight." It is exactly like the gleam of sunlight! For just as the sun shines constantly, with only the earth (though it is much smaller) creating a barrier; so too, Tzaddikim constantly shine. It is only the earth - that is, [the attractions of] this world - that prevents us from seeing their great light. Even though this world is so very small and insignificant in comparison, it still obstructs and prevents us from seeing the gleam of sunlight, like the example of the coin.
All this is because the world stands before a person's eyes and obstructs them, until he cannot see the light of the Torah and the Tzaddikim, which is thousands of times greater. However, if he removes that small obstruction from his eyes: that is, he turns his eyes away from this world and does not look at it, but only lifts his head and raises his eyes to gaze above this occluding world, then he will merit to see the great and exalted light of the Torah and the Tzaddikim. Because really, their light is infinitely greater than this entire world and its attractions. It is only that this world blocks his eyes and does not let him turn them away at all, to gaze above on the light of the Torah and the Tzaddikim.
This is exactly like the example of the small coin that stands before the eyes and obstructs them from seeing the great mountain. However, it is very easy to remove the coin from before one's eyes. Then, one will immediately see the great mountain. So it is with the world and the Torah. For with a small swipe, one can remove the world from before one's eyes. Then, one merits seeing the great light of the Torah and the Tzaddikim, which shines in all the worlds with a very great light.
Likewise, I heard in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, who said, "Woe, woe! The whole world is filled with awesome and wondrous lights and secrets, yet a small hand stands before the eyes and prevents us from seeing the great light."
Likutey Moharan I:133
1Eiruvin 21a. The Talmud juxtaposes two verses from the Books of the Prophets. In Zechariah 5, the prophet sees a rolled up scroll of phenomenal size: "Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold: a rolled up scroll. And he (an angel) said to me: 'What do you see?' And I answered: 'I see a rolled up scroll; the length of it is twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits." According to the Talmud, these measurements are not based upon human dimensions, but Divine ones: Ten of G-d's cubits (as it were). The second verse is from Ezekiel (2:9-10): "And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me; and lo, a scroll of a book was in it. And He spread it before me, and it was written on the back and the front." The Talmud considers these two scrolls as one, and tries to determine its full size. First, the scroll must be unrolled and then peeled, so that both sides face front and can be measured together. The conclusion is that the scroll is 20 x 40 of G-d's cubits. The Talmud then cites Isaiah 40:12 to determine the size of the universe: "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" According to Biblical measurements, a "span" (zeres) is half the length of a cubit (amah), and one square span is a quarter of a square cubit. It comes out that 800 square cubits contain 3,200 square spans. Thus, the scroll of the Torah is 3,200 times the size of the universe.
2Based upon Job 11:9.
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HEART OF PRAYER
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on Prayer
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7-d1 The prayer-leader and the congregation must understand their respective responsibility.
THE congregation errs when they draw out their prayers and prevent the chazan1 from concluding each section of the liturgy. They prevent him from bestowing blessings on them2 for in waiting for them to finish, his concentration is weakened. The congregation must be very cautious of this for they stand to lose much goodness. Indeed, great and serious effort is required by the chazan and congregation in order to know how to act during prayer. But the chazan bears the greater responsibility.
Ohr HaMeir, Tetzaveh
1(lit. cantor); One who leads the congregation in prayer.
2The chazan acts as a channel for drawing blessing through the Shechinah, which then passes to the entire congregation.
From
HEART OF PRAYER by Tzvi Meir
Cohn
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DIVINE LIGHT
The Mystical Light of the Baal Shem Tov
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61. The great sages, from the time of the Baal Shem Tov until the complete revelation of the Moshiach, are an illumination of the Moshiach, as is known.
She'eris Yisroel, Sha'ar Hiskashrus 4:43
From DIVINE LIGHT by Tzvi Meir
Cohn
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KESER SHEM TOV
Anthology of the Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov
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Kst 108
"When all these things happen to you - the blessing and the curse - then you will take it to heart . . . .and return to G-d."1
The Baal Shem Tov taught:2
We can understand why one would repent in response to suffering, but why does the verse mention also blessing?
This can be explained with a parable:
There was once a peasant who rebelled against the king, striking and stoning the king's statue. Upon hearing, the king immediately appointed him to a position in his government, and continued to elevate him higher and higher, until the peasant became the viceroy. But the more the king treated him nicely and elevated him to a higher position, and the more he witnessed the dignity of the king and the royal palace, the more this peasant was pained when he remembered how he had rebelled against this great and benevolent king, and that rather than punishing him justly, the king is treating him graciously.
But the king acted this way intentionally, for had the king simply put the peasant to death, the peasant would have suffered momentary pain and no more. This way, though, the peasant lives in constant pain for the rest of his life, and his pain increases each time the king elevates him, by causing the peasant to beat himself over how he ever dared to rebel against such dignity.
This parable is alluded to in the verse, "G-d is a G-d of vengeance. G-d of vengeance reveal Yourself!"3 G-d exacts vengeance by way of His mercy,4 unlike the norm for a human king. This is accomplished when G-d reveals His greatness to someone, who is then pained by realizing how he has rebelled against such a great King. What greater pain can there be?
This, then, is the meaning of returning to G-d in response to "the blessing and the curse." When a person sins and rebels against G-d - the Great and Awesome King, the Master and Controller, the Root and Source of all worlds - that person deserves to be punished severely. But instead, G-d grants him blessing. There can be no greater curse or suffering than this, from his knowing that he rebelled against G-d, Who only graciously blesses him with good. This person will certainly weep bitterly in pain for the rest of his life for his having rebelled against G-d.5
And this pain, which is greater than any punishment could exact, is itself the atonement.
1Deuteronomy 30:1.
2Toldoth Yaakov Yoseph, Bo #11.
3Psalms 94:1.
4This is alluded to by the fact that the Divine Name of mercy is used in this verse.
5Reality, though, seems to contradict this, because the most fortunate and materially blessed people in the world are rarely the most righteous, and in fact, sometimes quite to the contrary. This is because these people do not acknowledge that their blessing comes from G-d, and they have no inkling of G-d's greatness. Indeed, the Toldoth (ibid.) concludes that this teaching only applies to an understanding person, but when the spiritual fool sees that he can act against G-d's Will without forfeiting his bounty, he thinks that either his bounty does not come from G-d, or that there is no difference to G-d between the saint and the sinner.
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