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TALES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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"When Israel realized he would soon die, he called
his son.." Genesis 47:49
THE LAST MOMENTS
As the time of The Baal Shem Tov's death
approached (On the first day of Shavuos), The Baal
Shem Tov lay in his bed surrounded by his closest
disciples -the "Chevraya Kadisha"- the Holy
Brotherhood. They realized that the passing of their
beloved Rebbe was not a parting, but rather an
ascent of their Master's soul to a higher level, and that
despite his perceived absence, their Rebbe would
always be with them.
But Reb Tzvi Hersh, the Baal Shem Tov's
son, was absent. One of the Chassidim warily
asked, "Rebbe, do you want to speak to your son?"
The Baal Shem Tov answered with a
sigh, "Yes, but he is sleeping, and one should not
wake from their sleep to hear bad news."
Nevertheless, the Chassidim took it upon
themselves to summon their Rebbe's son. One of
the Chassidim was quickly dispatched to wake Reb
Hershel. "Reb Hershel wake up! Your holy father is
preparing to leave this world."
"No!" answered Reb Hershel with a shock.
"Reb Hershel," responded the Chassid
with a solemn voice, "the Rebbe said that he will pass
on to the next world today."
Reb Hershel quickly dressed and rushed
to his father's room. When he arrived at his father's
side, Reb Hershel began to weep. "Father, Father,
please don't leave us!"
The Baal Shem Tov reached out and took
his son's hand. "My dear Hershelah, do not fear. I am
only departing from this world. I wish to impart to you
one thing that you should know and take to heart. You
have a lofty soul. At the time you were conceived, it
was revealed to me that I could bring down from the
heavenly worlds any soul I wished. I could have even
chosen the soul of Adam Harishon (the first man).
But I selected your soul not because of what it was,
but because of what it could become. It possesses
all that you need to fulfill your holy mission in this
world."
"Please father, please bless me with a
holy teaching before you depart," asked the weeping
Reb Hershel.
The Baal Shem Tov began to address his
son in a low, whisper of a voice that Reb Hershel
could hardly hear.
"My dearest son, you should listen closely
and remember this Name."
The Baal Shem Tov motioned to his son
to come closer. Reb Hershel bent down very near to
his father and the Baal Shem Tov whispered the
Name to him. Then he said, "Whenever you
concentrate on this Name, I will come and study
Torah with you."
"But what if I forget the Name?" asked
Reb Hershel.
"Come close to me again, and I will teach
you a way to remember the Name."
The Baal Shem Tov then whispered into
the Reb Hershel's ear. He then closed his eyes and
his holy soul ascended.
And to this day, no one knows the Name
or how to remember the Name.
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane
(Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found
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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And Jacob called to his sons and said, "Gather
yourselves together, that I may tell you what will
happen to you in the end of days." (Genesis
49:1)
Jacob said, "What will happen" - because the
redemption will seem to just happen.1
Everyone will be busy with their work, not thinking
about it at all, and suddenly, the Messiah will come.
Yalkut Moshe, Vayechi
The Baal Shem Tov said that in the process of the
Messiah's coming, no one will have to die,
G-d forbid.
Midrash Pinchas, p. 28
1The word mikreh in Hebrew means "an
occurrence," and has the implication of a chance
happening.
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.a4 You can prayer with love, awe and tremendous
passion without moving at all.
At times, you can say your prayers with love, awe and
tremendous passion without moving at all, so that to
someone else it appears that you are merely saying
the words of prayer without devekus at all. Because
you are then deeply attached to G-d, you can
serve Him with your soul alone, with a great and
powerful love [of G-d].
This form of worship is better and goes
faster and with deeper attachment to G-d than
prayers that are outwardly visible in the limbs; for the
kelipot cannot attach themselves to this prayer
because it is completely internal.
Tzava'as HaRivash, 105
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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34. Rabbi Yaakov Tzemach, a renowned
Kabbalist,1 wrote that the revelation of
the soul of the Arizal was absolutely necessary for that
generation. The Arizal revealed the wisdom of
Kabbalah and provided that spiritually impoverished
generation with a shield and a shelter to serve our
Father in Heaven.
So too, the great soul of our holy Rabbi, the Baal
Shem Tov was truly Heaven-sent. He descended from
the highest of spiritual worlds to become revealed in
our time, this generation before Moshiach, in order to
illuminate the world and its inhabitants with the Divine
light of the holy Torah.
It is true that in previous generations, there were
many individuals who served G-d with all their
heart
and soul, toiling in the Torah day and night. However,
they were only able to accomplish this in one of two
ways. Either they were blessed by G-d with
prosperity,
which allowed them to set aside time for Torah study
and prayer. Or, they turned their backs on the cares of
this world and accepted poverty with love in order to
toil over Torah. Everyone else however - the poor
who could only make a living with great effort, whether
at home, in the fields, in the markets, or in the
streets - could taste nothing of the Divine light of
G-d
in Torah study and prayer. Indeed, they were very far
from it.
Furthermore, even among those people who could
set time aside for Torah study, there were few who
were wise enough to be able to find protection in the
Torah from the yetzer harah,2 the great
enemy that lurks in the heart of man.
Fortunately, G-d took compassion on us in
this
spiritually impoverished generation, when everyone is
pressed to make a living, when no one has money
and everything is expensive, when there are fewer
and fewer diligent students of Torah each day, and
when no one searches for G-d. He sent us an
angel-
like being from heaven to enliven us - our holy rabbi,
the light of Israel, the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem
Tov enlightened us so that even in the most difficult
times, we can still remember G-d and His
Torah and
be able to separate the evil from the good in
everything we do, in our actions and our
words.
Still, if we look at ourselves truthfully, we see a
complete lack of humility. Our attitudes come from the
evil inclination that has accompanied us since birth
and blinds us to the truth. The evil inclination makes
us think that we are humble, although we are only
becoming prouder. For, if we were truly humble, we
would become angry and belittle the yetzer harah. We
would consider it inappropriate to listen at all to the
yetzer harah. Perhaps we might even learn something
from the words of the Baal Shem Tov - perhaps we
might even believe, without any doubt, that they were
sent from Heaven.
Now, though, we must thank G-d for sending
us in
His great love and compassion, an angel and
redeemer to enlighten our eyes in the way of
Chassidism. For every Jew can follow this path,
strengthening themself to fear G-d even
amidst
suffering, hardship, and poverty. The little bit of
goodness that one derives from Torah study and the
performance of mitzvos will cause a great amount of
Divine light to flow through us and prevent us from
following after our eyes and heart.
The Baal Shem Tov taught that even when you are
preoccupied by daily activities and business, you can
still follow the words of our holy Torah: "You shall not
steal money; neither shall you deal falsely, nor lie to
one another."3 Likewise, he will be just
in his
measurements: "a just ephah and a just
hin,"4 because this is G-d's will
in His Torah.
Therefore, by following the Baal Shem Tov's teaching,
you are always serving G-d - the same as if
you
were actually studying Torah, being involved in
business or walking through the market. This is even
truer if one knows the secret of how to make
unifications.5 Then, you can make
unifications even
with mundane things, as the Baal Shem Tov taught
us, to the extent that one is actually considered to be
studying the secrets of Torah and the writings of the
Arizal, when involved in business, in the market, or in
conversation with people. Thus, G-d clothes
Himself
in physical desires, in order to allow people the
opportunity to elevate these very desires and
transform them into a desire for Him. However, if the
person cannot find G-d there, and comes
close to
sinning, G-d lowers Himself even more, to
clothe
Himself in the very force that now keeps the person
from carrying out the act of sinning.
Imrei
Noam
1Approximately 1610―1665
2Evil inclination
3Leviticus 19:11
4Leviticus 19:36
5Connecting the spiritual essence of
the physical world with its spiritual source
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 66
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
"I searched for my soul's beloved, but I did not find
him."1
G-d, the King of kings, conceals
Himself within many different "garments," and behind
many different walls. These include the thoughts that
distract from Torah study and prayer, as the Zohar
says, that the Light is surrounded by the darkness, as
in the above parable of the King.2
However, for knowledgeable people who know that
there is no place absent of G-d's presence,
such "concealments" are not concealments for them.
This is alluded to in the verse, "Our leaders - our
Aluph - are bearable,"3 alluding that
when we are aware that G-d - the
Aluph/Leader of the world - is in all places and all
situations, then all suffering is
bearable.4
1Song of Songs 3:2.
2On the other hand, it is only because
we live in the darkness, only because G-d
conceals Himself, that we even search for the Light
and seek to find G-d. This idea is included in
the kabbalistic teaching that G-d's constricting
the Light - the tzimtzum - was the greatest act of love
on G-d's part, for without it, man would never
have been able to find G-d.
3Psalms 144:14.
4Rebbe Nachman of Breslov is quoted
as saying, "When we lose our health, Who is taking it,
if not G-d? When we lose a child, Who takes him, if not
G-d?" (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom, Breslov Research
Institute, p. 335-336).
Translation and commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua Starrett.
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