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TALES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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REB MICHEL'S KAMEYA
"But when you have spoken, be careful of your word and keep the pledge that you have vowed to G-d your L-rd." (Devarim 23:24)
And then there was the time that Reb Michel, who was getting on in years, decided to have Yechidus (a private meeting) with his Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, before he passed on to the Heavely Worlds.
During the meeting, he told the Baal Shem Tov, "Rebbe, more than anything, I want to study the most sublime levels of Torah with the holy spiritual masters of old and experience spiritual fulfillment in the Heavely Worlds." The Baal Shem Tov nodded and gestured for him to sit down. Then, the Baal Shem Tov wrote out a kameya (an amulet). When he handed it to Reb Michel, he said, "Always keep this kameya with you and be sure it is with you when you are buried."
Soon thereafter, Reb Michel passed into the next world. As Reb Michel traveled up into higher, more sublime spiritual levels, he merely showed the kameya written by the Baal Shem Tov and was able to proceed upward without any questions.
Then, he reached a very lofty, spiritual level where he was greeted by an old, angelic looking man with a long flowing white beard and dressed in a white robe. As before, Reb Michel showed him his kameya. "I'm sorry," said the old man, "you can't enter this heavenly chamber."
Reb Michel was confused. After all, up until then, his holy kameya written by the Baal Shem Tov allowed him to travel to higher and higher spiritual worlds. So he asked the old man, "Why can't I go into this chamber? Up until now I've been granted access to every spiritual chamber that I've wanted to visit."
"I don't know. All I know is that I have been ordered not to let you in," said the old man. "But if you wish, I will go in myself and find out why you are not being allowed in." The old man left and soon returned and explained, "I was told that you made a promise with one of your close friends before you passed from the physical world. The promise is that you would regularly appear to him in his dreams and describe all your experiences in the spiritual worlds. So far, while you have been appearing to him in his dreams, you have not told him a number of things that you've seen. The only way for you to enter this chamber and continue to even higher levels is to ask your friend to release you from the promise."
More than anything, Reb Michel wanted to continue studying deeper levels of Torah in the more sublime spiritual chambers of heaven and to study with the Holy Torah Masters of past times. So he appeared to his friend in a dream and asked to be released from the promise. The friend greatly enjoyed hearing about the spiritual worlds and was reluctant to agree. Finally the friend said, "I agree to release you from the promise but only on one condition. As we've discussed many times, I'm hardly a follower of the Baal Shem Tov and I've never really believed that the kameya he gave you helped you get to any place that you couldn't have already gone. Even after all you've told me about your experiences in the world beyond, I am still not convinced that your special kameya is having any effect. So my condition is that you give me one sure sign of the Baal Shem Tov's greatness. If you do, I will release you from your promise to regularly appear to me in my dreams." Feeling somewhat dejected, Reb Michel returned to the old man and asked his advice.
"You know that the Baal Shem Tov almost always expounds on the Torah to his followers at shalosh seudos (the third meal) on Shabbos afternoons. The Torah teachings that he discusses are heavenly Torah thoughts that no human has previously heard. My advice is to reveal to your friend in a dream what the Baal Shem Tov will discuss this coming Shabbos afternoon. Then tell him to go to the Rebbe's shalosh seudos meal where he will hear the identical teaching repeated."
So Reb Michel appeared to his friend in a dream and told him the exact Torah teaching that the Baal Shem Tov would deliver on the upcoming Shabbos afternoon.
The next Shabbos afternoon, Reb Michel's earthbound friend forced himself into the Baal Shem Tov's crowded study hall to hear the Torah thoughts he was going to teach.
The Baal Shem Tov looked him directly in the eye and said, "Why are you pushing everyone to get closer? You really don't have to strain yourself to hear my teachings since you've already heard it before." Reb Michel's friend stood awe struck. This was the sign that he had requested. The Baal Shem Tov not only knew what Torah was being taught in heaven but also what he was thinking! He thought, "Reb Michel, I release you from your promise."
From that moment on, Reb Michel's friend became a devoted follower of the Baal Shem Tov.
Sometime later, the Baal Shem Tov told his new follower that Reb Michel was a grandson of the old, heavenly man who had so kindly and accurately advised him.
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found in Devorim Areivim) and 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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She must take off her captive's garb. (Devarim 21:13)
I already explained in the name of my grandfather [the Baal Shem Tov] that extraneous thoughts come to a person because the holy spark within the letters of these thoughts desires to be fixed, raised to its source and rectified. In the upper worlds, the letters of all foreign thoughts are purified lights. However, they descend to the depths and are enclothed in filthy garments, as my grandfather explained: "She must take off her captive's garb." You must not take them in their filthy garments. Rather, you should remove from them their filthy garments; then their light will shine like the dawn.
Degel Machane Ephraim, Vayechi
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HEART OF PRAYER
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on Prayer
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8-1 A person cannot pray with enthusiasm because their limbs feel heavy.
SOMETIMES, a person longs to pray with enthusiasm but cannot because their limbs feel heavy. Thus King David prayed, "Do not cast me off in the time of old age" - when my limbs feel heavy like those of an old person.
Ohr Torah, Eikev
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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65. In a letter written by the Baal Shem Tov to his brother-in-law, Rabbi Gershon of Kitov, it states: "I asked my Master and teacher to go with me, for it is exceedingly dangerous to ascend to the highest of the upper worlds and since that time I arrived at my present spiritual level, I had ascented to such places.
I went up, level after level, until I entered the palace of Moshiach, where he studies Torah with all the Tannaim and the Tzaddikim, and with the Seven Shepherds.
I beheld very great joy there, but I did not know the reason for this extreme happiness.
I thought this joy was, G-d forbid, because of my demise from this world. But they told me later that I was not deceased and that they derived tremendous pleasure when I performed yichudim in the physical world by means of the Torah. But as to the meaning of this great rejoicing, I still do not know.
And I asked Moshiach, 'When are you coming, my Master?'
He answered me, 'By this you shall know it: Once your teachings become publicly known and revealed throughout the world; when your wellsprings have overflowed beyond, imparting to others what I have taught you and you have grasped; so that they too will be able to perform yichudim and Aliyahs of the Neshama as you do. Then all the kelipos will perish, and it will be a time of favor and salvation."
I was bewildered at this response. I felt great anguish because of the length of time that Moshiach implied it would take until he came.
However while I was there, I learned three Segulos and three Holy Names which were easy to learn and to explain to others and which woulod allow them to perform yichudim and Aliyahs of the Nashama. So I felt reassured, and I thought that perhaps, using these Segulos and Holy Names, my Chaburah, might also be able to attain my spiritual level. That is, they would be able to practice Ascents of the Soul, and learn and understand the Supernal Mysteries as I do.
But I was not permitted and I am under oath not to reveal them during my life."
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 # 5
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
"A bath kol (a voice from Heaven) comes out from Mount Chorev (Mount Sinai) and says, "The entire world is sustained b'shvil (literally, for the sake of) my son Chanina . . . " Brochos (Brakhot) 17b. The Hebrew word "shvil" also means a path, a channel. Thus, the sages mean here that Rabbi Chanina opened up a channel and a path for the flow of Divine beneficence, and hence, "The entire world is sustained through the shvil of my son Chanina".
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