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TALES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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THE INVISIBLE MAN
"And he shall remove his vestments, and put on other
garments." (Tzav 6:4)
ONCE the Holy Reb Uri of Strelinsk
said, "Concerning
the Prophet Eliyahu, we've been told that 'the girdle of
his loins was a girdle of leather.' This means that in
his case, his very loins, his very body, was like a
leather girdle, which he could put on and take off at
will."
Treasury of Chassidic Tales on the Torah Sedra
Tzav
AND then there was the time that a well know
local
nobleman by the name if Lord Vasily who held great
disdain for the Baal Shem Tov.
He would boast to all, even the Jews, "Tell your holy
Baal Shem Tov that one day I will catch him and
dispatch him to his holy world-to-come with one shot
from my hunting rifle!" Everyone knew of the
nobleman's hatred for the great Tzaddik.
The Governor was an acquaintance and admirer of
the Baal Shem Tov. Once, when the Baal Shem Tov
called on the Governor, he was invited to walk through
the beautiful private gardens of the Governor's estate.
As they were walking, a servant of the Governor
approached to notify the Governor that a local
nobleman was waiting to meet with the Governor on a
civil matter.
As it happened, the Governor's visitor was none other
than Lord Vasily. The Governor was well aware of
Lord Vasily's great dislike for the Baal Shem Tov and
wished to avoid any trouble. The Governor excused
himself and entered his large house with the intention
of keeping Lord Vasily's visit as brief as possible,
then escort him to the door and on his way, so to
avoid any confrontation.
But suddenly in the midst of their discussion, the Baal
Shem Tov appeared at the garden entrance doors,
and entered the room where the Governor and Lord
Vasily were meeting. The Baal Shem Tov approached
the Governor and said: "My dear Governor, I
thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. But I see that
you are busy and I do not wish to impose, so I will be
on my way back home."
As the Governor and the Baal Shem Tov shook hands
and said goodbye, Lord Vasily looked on with great
curiosity but didn't say a word. He thought to
himself, "The Governor is acting very strangely."
The Governor, on the other hand, was wondering the
same thing: "Why hasn't Lord Vasily reacted to seeing
the Baal Shem Tov right in front of him! After all, hasn't
he been telling everyone that he intends to kill the
Baal Shem Tov the next time he sees him. And here
he is with his favorite hunting rifle and the Baal Shem
Tov standing just a few feet away, and he acts like the
Rabbi isn't even here. There must be something
seriously wrong with him." The Governor feeling
worried about his friend said, "My dear Lord Vasily,
why don't you rest and spend the afternoon here in my
home, and then please join me for dinner. It's a long
ride back to your manor and I would appreciate your
good company. "
The nobleman, flattered by the Governors attention,
immediately accepted the invitation.
Later that evening, as the Governor and his guest sat
enjoying their dinner meal, the Governor said, "So tell
me my friend," he began, "why do you have such
disdain for the Baal Shem Tov?"
The nobleman sneered. "That so called Holy man
has all the local Jews tied around his finger. They
won't take a step without first getting his approval.
They call it getting the Baal Shem Tov's blessing.
What a hoax! And besides, the Jews on my property
don't work as hard as before. They are more
interested in spending the Sabbath and Jewish
holydays together, going to the synagogue, eating and
drinking."
The Governor leaned closer to Lord Vasily.
"Didn't you see the Baal Shem Tov here, in my Great
Room, where we were meeting earlier today? He was
standing right in front of you! He shook my hand
before he left."
Lord Vasily grew pale and was speechless. Finally,
after a long pause he said, "What do you mean, dear
sir? Are you saying the Rabbi was here and I didn't
see him?"
"Well I can assure you that I am not insane!"
exclaimed the Governor. "He was right here, in the
flesh!"
Both men sat in stunned silence.
"It appears we just witnessed a miracle," said the
Governor. "The Baal Shem Tov really is a holy man
and it seems he made himself invisible! I could see
him but you couldn't!"
Lord Vasily was stunned. After a few minutes, he
regained his composure.
"I must go immediately to the holy Rabbi and beg his
forgiveness for my threats. After all, a man that can
make himself invisible at will I cannot risk making my
enemy. I must go immediately!"
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaKohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from SHIVCHEI HABESHT
translated in IN PRAISE OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV by
Ben Amos and Mintz.
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SEFER BAAL SHEM TOV
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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"If he offers it for a thanksgiving." (Tzav 7:12)
This is what the verse says: "A fool explains his sin"
(Proverbs 14:9). Rabbi Yuden said, "This fool has to
explicate his sins with his mouth."1
The Baal Shem Tov often taught that a person who
sins by night will inevitably tell people what he did the
next day. However, they may not understand what he
is saying, and he himself will be unaware as to what
his own words testify.
Once, the Baal Shem Tov was traveling with his
disciples [by wagon]. "You should know," he
said, "that last night, this wagon driver slept with his
wife who is in nidah."2 he disciples were
surprised. "We didn't hear even a suggestion of this
the entire day," they replied. Immediately, they started
to pay closer attention to everything the wagon driver
said for the rest of the day.
It was almost sundown, and they stopped at a
roadside inn. The wagon driver jumped from the
wagon and entered the house, and they followed him
to hear what he would say and imply. "Sell me some
vodka," they heard him say to the innkeeper. The
innkeeper poured him a cup, and gave it to him. He
was about to drink it, when the innkeeper said, "Wait! I
will give you another cup, because that one wasn't
immersed [in a mikvah]."3 "So what if it
wasn't
immersed?" the wagon-driver answered him.
When the disciples heard this, they rejoiced and
praised G-d, for they saw that He shares His
wisdom
with His Tzaddikim and those who fear Him. And they
saw that the G-d's words were indeed in the
Baal
Shem Tov's mouth.
Sifsei Tzaddikim, Matos
1Vayikra Rabbah 9:2
2Ritual impurity: The Torah forbids
marital relations
during and slightly after a woman's menstrual cycle.
Furthermore, even after the conclusion of her period,
she must immerse in a mikvah - a ritual pool or
body of water - before she can be with her husband.
The Baal Shem Tov knew this through his divine
inspiration.
3All vessels that a Jew acquires from a
Gentile must
also be immersed in a mikvah before they may be
used. See Numbers 31:23
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HEART OF PRAYER
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on Prayer
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7-b1 Imagine that you are going to die in your
prayers.
Imagine that you are going to die during your prayers
because of your great concentration. Indeed, some
people concentrate so intensely that in fact they
should die after several words. When you recall this,
ask yourself, "Why should I feel proud or self-
conscious during this prayer since I'm willing to die
after a few words?" In actuality, it is only because of
G-d's great love that you have the ability to
finish your
prayers and remain alive.
Tzava'as HaRivash 42
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DIVINE LIGHT
The Mystical Light of the Baal Shem Tov
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46. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov1 said
that
descendants of the Baal Shem Tov are particularly
accustomed to crying out to G-d at all times.
This is
because they are descendants of King David, whose
whole life was devoted to constantly breaking his
heart before G-d. This is the essence of the
Book of
Psalms. Likutey Moharan II:1100
11772-1811 was a great-grandson of
the
Baal Shem
Tov
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 82
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
When a person transgresses one sin, he will be
confronted with the test of another sin, so that he
become aroused to repent, whereby the first sin will
be atoned. When the evil inclination sees this, it tries
to overpower the person with this second sin, but
[even if he succumbs,] G-d defends him, as
the verse
says, "For three sins of Israel [I can forgive
them]."1
However, after a person has already sinned three
times, the three levels of his soul - his nefesh, ruach
and neshamah2 - are caught up in the
klipot,3 and
one sin then inevitably brings another in its wake, and
the paths of repentance are withheld from him, until
G-d has mercy on him.
And this is what the prophet means, "Let us search
our paths and analyze them, and return to
G-d,"4 for
after one's path has become a trodden way in one's
eyes, because "the heart of this people has become
thick,"5 one must search and analyze
one's behavior
in order to realize that one has sinned.6
Only then will
one return to G-d.
1Amos 2:6. The Talmud in Tractate
Yoma 86b uses
this verse as the basis of the statement that
G-d does
not punish for a person's first two sins (see
Maimonides, Teshuvah 3:5, Keseph Mishneh ad loc.).
With a third sin, though, one has already entrapped
oneself within the force of habit, and his repentance
then becomes very difficult, as we read in the next
paragraph. One is thus held responsible for all
successive sins, although they may well be
considered being done under the force of
compulsion.
2From here we see that with every
repetition of a
physical act, the influence of that act seeps deeper
and deeper into one's soul.
3Someone "caught in the klipot" -
the "shells"
or "husks" - does not even realize that he is trapped.
Just as shells and husks conceal what is inside
them, so do the klipot prevent one from seeing
oneself clearly and objectively.
4Lamentations 3:40.
5Isaiah 6:10.
6It is not easy to change a habit, but
even more than
this, once one has become accustomed to certain
behavior, one tends to rationalize it and justify it, thus
making it difficult to even admit that the habit needs
changing. Only honest soul-searching introspection
can see through this self-deception.
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