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TALES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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LOVE OF ISRAEL
Once, during a visit to the town
of Kolomaya in Reissen, the Baal Shem Tov began to
speak about the Mitzvah to love for the Jewish people
in the middle of the
marketplace. Before long, he was surrounded by a
crowd of men, women, and children.
The Baal Shem Tov said, "Every
Jew must
strive to love G-d, the Torah, and the Jewish
people."
He explained that we love G-d simply
because He is
G-d, even though He is beyond our
understanding or
comprehension. We love the Torah because it is
G-d's Torah. And we love the Jewish people
and each
Jew because they are all His people.
"On the level of their
G-dly souls,"
the Baal
Shem Tov explained, "all Jews are equal. Therefore,
we love our fellow Jews simply because they are
Jewish and we should always look for ways to help
them. This is especially the case because
sometimes a soul comes down to this world for its
full life span of seventy or eighty years only to do one
favor for another Jew."
Everyone listened with rapt attention as
the Baal Shem Tov told the following story.
"There
was once a difficult case before the heavenly court,
concerning the fate of a simple Jewish man who had
passed away. The man had been careful to pray and
say
psalms but was not learned in the Torah. However,
he loved the Jewish people with all his soul. He was
careful to only
speak of the good qualities of the Jewish people and
of each individual Jew.
He continually pondered how he might help and do
favors for his fellow Jews. Further, he tirelessly
helped every Jew as much as he was able. He was
sad whenever another Jewish person was sad; and
he was happy when they were joyful.
It was decided in the Heavenly court that,
even though this simple Jew did not know how to
study
Torah, his place in the Garden of Eden would be
among those great Tzaddikim and Torah scholars
who were known as being lovers of Israel.
"I want you to know that the sigh of a Jew
at the distress of a fellow Jew shatters all the iron
barriers of the
heavenly accusers, and his joy at the happiness of a
fellow Jew and the blessings he wholeheartedly
gives him, are accepted by G-d, blessed be
He, as if it
was the prayer of the high priest when he prayed for
the people of Israel in the Holy of Holies in our ancient
Temple.
"We can understand how great our love
for fellow Jews should be from the love that the Holy
One, blessed be He, has for each of us."
"Let me explain by an example. Everyone knows
Rabbi Yaakov (a local Torah scholar) and that he
never ceases from studying Torah day and night,
without a minute's cessation. He knows the Tanach,
Mishna, Gemara, Rashi, and Tosafot by heart, and he
studies from memory.
"One day, Rabbi Yaakov was studying
from memory a long and complicated comment in the
Tosafat that takes up almost the whole page in the
Talmud. Nothing could require more concentration.
Yet, when his son, who is still a young child, came
over and told him an idea about a passage of Torah,
Rabbi Yaakov was
so delighted that he interrupted his own studies. This
made a great impression on the child who knew what
it meant for his father to interrupt his studies, and he
was thrilled by his father's approval.
"G-d too, blessed be He, is deeply
engrossed in Torah study, so to speak, as our Sages
say: 'The first three hours of
daytime He sits and studies Torah.' But then, being
that His love for the Jewish
people is so great, He interrupts His studies, so to
speak, and listens to the
prayers and requests of His children Israel, who are
praying to Him at that time!
"When the Holy One, blessed be He, was
about to create man, He told the angels of His
intention. As it says: 'Let us make man.' The angels
spoke out, 'What is man that You should think of him?
What need is there for a man like this?' But the Holy
One, blessed be He, created man anyway. So when
a Jew gets up early in the morning and runs to the
synagogue to pray wita minyan, and later, although
he's busy all day earning his living, returns to
the synagogue to pray Mincha, study Ein Yaakov; pray
Maariv and then on his way home think about the
Torah teaching that he heard - the
Holy One, blessed be He, summons the angels and
tells them of His pride in this man that He created. He
says, 'You angels have no millstones around your
necks. You have no families to support, no troubles or
taxes. But a man has all these burdens to contend
with: He has a wife and children, and it is I who
commanded him to have a family and to accept all
these responsibilities, and he did so, according to
what the Torah said. And he has to support his family,
and is beset with troubles because of it. He must pay
taxes and he suffers from the hard yoke of the exile
too. Yet he still faithfully serves Me!'
This is
how the Holy
One, blessed be He, express His pride in the divine
service of even the simplest Jew - who prays, says
psalms, and does mitzvot, all with simple faith. And,
as with Rabbi Yaakov's son," concluded the Baal
Shem Tov to his rapt audience, "hearing this should
make you realize how important the divine service of a
Jew is to
your Father in Heaven!"
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane from a story in
The Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov by Maggid
Yitzhak Buxbaum.
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SEFER BAAL SHEM TOV
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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"This is the law of the metzorah on the day of his
cleansing: he shall be brought to the priest. Then the
priest shall command to take for the one who is to be
cleansed two living clean birds, and cedar-wood, and
scarlet tola'as, and hyssop." (Metzorah 14:2-4)
I heard a parable from my Master. A certain king
sought a drug that would enable him to live forever.
The "medicine" he was given was to distance himself
from pride.1 However, the more humble
he acted, the
prouder he became - for he was such a great king,
and so humble too! Finally, his teacher came and
taught him how to act outwardly like royalty, but
humbly within. He did this by showing him [that he
needed to use] the toilet, like other men.
Tzafnah Paneach, p. 3c
1This is not merely a metaphor, for the
humbler a
person is before G-d, the more he becomes
attached
to the Divine and partakes of G-d's essence.
With this, he can
attain an aspect of eternal life, which derives from
G-d's own eternal nature.
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HEART OF PRAYER
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on Prayer
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7-b6 In your prayers, don't expend all your energy at
the beginning.
You should go level by level in your prayers. Do not
expend all your energy at the beginning. Rather, start
slowly, and by the middle, you can attach yourself with
great cleaving to G-d. Then, you will even be
able to pray more quickly without a loss of intent.
Even though you may not pray with mystical
attachment from the beginning, you should still say
the words with great concentration. Keep applying
yourself until G-d helps you pray with great
attachment.
Tzava'as HaRivash 32
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DIVINE LIGHT
The Mystical Light of the Baal Shem Tov
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48. The Baal Shem Tov taught:
There is a principle through which a person
can know if his prayers have been answered: That is,
if his heart is joyful after he prays. Just the reverse is
the case if he feels depressed after completing his
prayers.
Based on this, I heard an explanation of the Talmud's
statement, "One day, Rabbi Buna joined Redemption
to the Amidah and a smile did not leave his face the
whole day." The question as to what is unusual about
the way he prayed is famous.1
Surely he joined Redemption to the Amidah every day.
He never knew, however, whether it had any effect
Above. On the day that he joined Redemption to
Amidah and did not stop smiling, he realized that he
had caused a Supernal Unification.
Thus his heart was overjoyed.
Toldos Yaakov
Yosef, Ekev
1 Berachos 9b. The simple meaning of
this is that he recited the blessing, "Redeemer of
Israel" (go'al Yisrael) directly before the Amidah
prayer. However, since the contiguity of these prayers
is a normal part of the daily morning liturgy, the
Talmudic commentators have sought alternative ways
to understand this statement. Tosephos, loc. cit.,
writes that Rabbi Buna joined these two prayers
together at dawn. He finished the
blessing "Redeemer of Israel," and started the
Amidah prayer at the exact moment of sunrise. This
is known as praying like the vaskin. The Baal Shem
Tov offers a different explanation.
From DIVINE LIGHT by Tzvi Meir
HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn. Patent Attorney)
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KESER SHEM TOV
Anthology of the Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov
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KST 85
" 'I, G-d, have not changed,' but G-d
has changed in
relation to the wicked, and has become hidden
behind many veils and coverings. And this is the
meaning of the verse, 'I will hide My face from them.' "
1
From them G-d hides His face, but for those
who
stand in awe before G-d and His presence,
He never
changes. And though there are many different veils
behind which G-d hides Himself, the Baal
Shem Tov
says that when a person realizes that G-d is
hiding
there, He is not hidden anymore, for all evil then
disappears.
This then is the meaning of the verse, "I will hide My
face" [the verb is repeated] - G-d will hide the
fact that
He is hidden.
And this is also the allusion in the verse, "The enemy
said, 'I will pursue and overtake, and split [the booty]"
23 [the first five words of
the Hebrew verse all begin
with the letter aleph]: This alludes to the "five Alephs,"
which alludes to the Aluph/Master of the world, as
alluded to in the Divine Name SaEL,4
which is
numerically equivalent to the Divine Names of YKVK
and AD-NaI together.
After a person realizes this rule, which is a major rule
that states that there is absolutely no barrier between
a person and G-d while he is praying or
studying. And
even if unwanted thoughts arise in his mind, they are
only coverings and veils behind which G-d is
hiding,
once one realizes that G-d is hiding there, He
is not
hidden anymore.5
1
Tikkunei Zohar #26, 71b.
2Exodus 15:9
3The five corresponds to the five levels
of existence.
4This Divine Name is the source of the
archangel,
Samael, who is identified as the evil inclination and
the angel of death, and everything associated with
them. This alludes that even this angel is really only a
veil behind which G-d hides Himself.
5Toldot Yaakov Yoseph, Breishit #1
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