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TALES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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THE SNORING GUEST
"The master symbolists (sorcerers) tried to produce
lice with their hidden arts (incantations), but they
could not." (Vaeira 8:14)
And then there was the time that a guest came to visit
the Baal Shem Tov at his home. After dinner, they
discussed deep concepts in Torah until very late in
the night. The Baal Shem Tov invited the guest to
sleep in his house and everyone adjourned to their
rooms.
Very early in the morning, the Baal Shem Tov's son
Tzvi Hirsh, who was still a small boy, awoke from the
loud noise of the guest snoring. He became
frightened and rushed to his father's room. "Father, do
you hear that noise from our guest's room? It is really
scary to me and I can't fall back to sleep."
The Baal Shem Tov put his arm around his son and
said, "Hershele, just quietly tip-toe to his room, open
and close his door and he'll stop snoring."
Tzvi Hirsch reluctantly left the comfort of his father's
side and went to the guest's room. There he quietly
opened and closed the door to the room. Immediately
thereafter, the guest stopped snoring.
The next night, the guest stayed again. As with the
night before, the guest started to snore loudly. Tzvi
Hirsh again awoke from the noise. This time, he went
and opened and closed the door as his father, the
Baal Shem Tov, had told him the night before.
However, the guest did not stop snoring.
Tzvi Hirsh went to his father. "Father, can you hear the
guest snoring? I did the same thing you told me last
night. But this time, it didn't work."
The Baal Shem Tov explained, "Last night, the Angel
of Sleep was discharged and a new one was
appointed. Between the discharge of the first Angel of
Sleep and the installment of the new Angel of sleep,
the ploy worked. But once the new Angel started his
job, the ploy no longer worked."
And so it was.
Adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane from a story in
SHVICHEI 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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"I revealed Myself to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,
as G-d Almighty, but by My name Y-H-V-H, I
did not make Myself known to them. (Vaeira 6:3)
I heard from the holy Rabbi Yacov Yoseph HaKohen
(who certainly heard it directly from the Baal Shem
Tov), that the letters of the word "to" - e-
l1 - refer to the Alupho shel Olam (the
Master of the World), with the lamed, which is
composed of three lines. This is as much as he said.
This can be compared to a flowing fountain. If the
pipes that carry the water are clean, then the water will
also be pure. But if the pipes are not clean, then the
water will be dirty. So too, each person, depending
upon his level, upon the Torah he studies and the
spiritual work he does, draws a holy outflow from the
Supernal Fountain through the channel of his soul. If
these conduits are clean and free of damage, so that
he draws through them the Alupho shel Olam, then
the water and [spiritual] outflow they carry will be clean
and pure. But if, G-d forbid, he damages the
channels of his soul, so that the Master of the World
is not revealed through them, then the outflow that
descends through them will not be clean.
This is the meaning of the verse: "I revealed Myself to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." The word 'el' is
mentioned before each one, for each one drew the
aleph - the Alupho shel Olam - through the lamed,
which is the three clean conduits of his
soul.2 Thus, G-d appeared to
each of them in that very same aspect of "el" - as "E-l
Shakai" (G-d Almighty). This is the holy
emanation that flowed out to them from the Supernal
Fountain. This principle applies to the entire Torah, to
laws of the permitted and forbidden, or Torah
legislation, as my grandfather said, that the three
forefathers are represented by the three judges (that
sit on a rabbinical court).3
Degel Machane Ephraim, Vaeira
1Spelled aleph lamed.
2Referring to the three columns on the
chart of the Sefiros: the right hand column embodying
the Sefiros of expansiveness - Chochmah, Chesed
and Netzach; the left hand column embodying the
Sefiros of Limitation - Binah, Gevurah and Hod; and
the middle column with the Sefiros of balance:
Kesser, (Da'at), Tiferes, Yesod and Malchus.
3Every rabbinical court - a beis din -
must be comprised of a minimum of three judges.
The Baal Shem Tov explained that they correspond to
the three columns of the Sefiros, embodied by the
three forefathers, Abraham (Chesed), Isaac (Gevurah)
and Jacob (Tiferes).
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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6.6 To elevate your words, speak with fear and love.
When you speak, think about "allusion, voice and
speech." Speak with fear and love, and imagine that
the World of Speech is emanating through your
mouth. Then you will elevate your
words.
Kesser Shem Tov II, p. 4b
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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36. "Sometimes, violation of Torah is its observance.
We learn this from G-d's telling Moses after
the breaking of the Tablets, 'That you
broke,'1 which implies approval for his
having broken them."2
The Baal Shem Tov taught the following on this
teaching from the Talmud.
How can violating the Torah possibly enhance its
observance? When one eats, drinks, or is otherwise
involved in mundane affairs, they are "violating" the
Torah because of not studying it or explicitly serving
G-d at that time. However, at this time, their
soul has a chance to rest from its enthusiasm to
serve G-d and gather new strength to return to
an even higher level of closeness to G-d. This
spiritual phenomenon is alluded to in the verse, "The
chayos (angels) run to and fro;"3 this is
why "violating" the Torah sometimes is its
observance.4
Keser Shem Tov
II 02
1Exodus 34:1
2Tractate Menachoth 99b
3Ezekiel 1:14
4Toldot Yaakov Yoseph, Tazria 2;
Devarim 2. There are two reasons why this must be
so. First, if one were not to periodically "cool down"
from intense spiritual experiences, one might reach a
stage where one's soul would become so united with
G-d that it would completely lose its separateness. At
that point it would not be able to return to the physical
body. The other reason is because perpetual
pleasure loses its glamour and becomes boredom.
Thus, if one were constantly experiencing peak
spiritual pleasures, they would no longer be
considered pleasurable experiences. Regarding why
one then rises to even more intense experiences, this
is because the anguish of separation intensifies the
pleasure of return.
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 69
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
"Avoid evil and do good."1
This means avoid evil by transforming it into
good.2
1Psalms 34:15.
2Ben Porath Yoseph. There are two
ways of dealing with evil: overcoming it and subduing
it, or transforming it, as said here. While the path of
overcoming entails a constant struggle, and is based
on the perception of inherent evil, the path of
transformation entails a shift in perception, an
awareness that all perceived evil is in reality only an
illusion. This idea is embedded in the parable of the
king who created walls around him by the use of
optical illusions, so that his son would eventually see
through the illusion (KST 51), and in the parable in the
Zohar of the king who hired a prostitute to entice his
son. In practice, this means that instead of struggling
with one's baser desires, one should elevate one's
intentions while involved in actions usually motivated
by one's baser desires.
Translation and commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua Starrett.
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