|
Volume 6 Number 38
| Behar | 12 May 2011 - 8 Iyar 5771 |
|
|
|
|
 |
BAAL SHEM TOV
EXODUS
Mystical Stories on the Weekly Torah Portion
Volume 2
Two Baal Shem Tov stories for each week's Torah portion by Tzvi Meir Cohn, Founder and Executive Director of the Baal Shem Tov Foundation.
Order your copy.
|
|
|
This week's edition of the Baal Shem Tov Times relates to Behar. There is the continuing selection for the Origins of the Baal Shem Tov, a Baal Shem Tov story and other teachings relating to Emor and other topics.
PLEASE help spread the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov by forwarding this edition of the Baal Shem Tov Times to a friend or relative, and making a copy for your home and synagogue.
Blessings that you should have a restful and joyful Shabbos.
Tzvi Meir Cohn (Howard M. Cohn, Patent & Trademark Attorney)
Founder and Executive Director
Baal Shem Tov Foundation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
ORIGINS OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV |
|
OBST 35
In the last installment, the Tzaddik, Reb Adam Baal Shem, caused a king that was opressing the Jews of Prague with harsh decrees to have a nightmare where the king was put into a box with only a tiny opening to feed the King.
One day a distinguished Jew suddenly appeared before him. He came closer and spoke to the king through the tiny opening.
"Would you like to get out orice again into the light of day?" he asked him in an encouraging voice.
"With happiness and tears, if I only could!" replied the distraught king.
"And what would be my reward if I freed you?" asked the Jew.
"I will give you half of my kingdom," answered the king.
"I ask not for gold nor for power. I only have one request to make and if you agree to it I shall free you. Just promise me that when you return to your kingdom you will "abolish your harsh decrees against the Jews."
The king agreed to fulfill this one request and swore to it upon his life. The Jew then revealed that he was the rabbi of the Jews of Prague. He immediately began breaking open the tiny jail and finally released its captive. He also suggested exchanging clothing with the king so that the jailkeepers wouldn't recognize him.
Several yards beyond the jail waited the Jew's carriage. They both climbed in and soon were on their way to Prague. They traveled for two days and when they neared the capital the Jew turned to the king.
"Before you enter the city you must cut your hair and wash yourself," he said. "Don your royal clothing so that your entrance will be one befitting a king. But remember, and do not dare forget, all the good I have done for you. For it is man's nature to forget troubles he has lived through. As a sign of remembrance I ask you to place the hair you cut into a box that it remain forever a souvenir of the kindness I have shown you."
The king placed his hair in his snuff box and then bade good-by to his benefactor. He reached the street of the palace and majestically entered the royal courtyard. As soon as he entered his castle to rest he suddenly awoke from his lengthy dream, utterly confused and trembling. He screamed aloud and ordered his servants to put on the lights in his bedchamber.
To be continued . . . .
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohn from a story translated in Stories of the Baal Shem Tov by Y.Y. Klapholtz |
|
|
|
|
|
"A person should not (verbally) harass his fellow Jew or give him bad advice. Since nobody can know your true intentions, you could always escape blame,) you must fear your G●d, for I am G●d, your G●d. (Leviticus 25:17)
The Parable of the Dog
In the days of the Preacher of Polonnoye (a close follower of the Baal Shem Tov), there was an informer (one who informed on their Jewish brethren to the ) in a certain city who caused great grief to the people of his town through his treachery. Finally, to everyone's relief, the informer became sick and soon died. The Preacher, G-d bless his memory, instructed the members of the Chevrah Kadisha (the burial society) to tell him the time of the funeral. As soon as they told him, he dressed in his Shabbat coat and went to the funeral with Rabbi Meir Milkes of that holy community. When the local towns people saw the Preacher going to pay his last respects to the informer, they all joined him. The informer's son was very happy that the Preacher paid his respects to his father by personally attending to the funeral.
The Preacher, followed by the townspeople, formed a procession behind the casket, as it was carried to the cemetery. When they arrived at the cemetery, they placed the casket in the tent near . The Preacher approached and stood near the dead man to eulogize him. The informer's son was very pleased. Then the Preacher began his speech with a parable: "Once a master had a dog* called a Brittany." (In those days, the rich were often referred to as dogs.)
As soon as the informer's sons heard the opening of the parable they understood that his words would shame their father. They returned to the manor house to gather the master's servants and some loafers in order to disgrace or to beat the Preacher.
Rabbi Meir was very frightened. He took the Preacher by the end of his coat and whispered to him that the informer's sons had gone to the manor house to report about him. But the Preacher did not answer him, and he affectionately pushed him back four feet. He continued speaking: "This dog had a very good time with his master. He always used to catch all sorts of animals on the hunting trips taken by his master, as is the custom among the lords. One day the dog died." And the Preacher pointed to the dead man.
"There was a great joy among the animals that were saved from being caught by that dog. The fox, the most clever animal, said to them: 'You fools, why are you so happy? If he had died before the rest of the hunting dogs learned to hunt from him, it would be proper to rejoice. Now that all the other dogs of the master have learned to hunt from him, it would have been better for you if this dog had remained alive. All the other dogs let him do the hunting since they knew that when they caught animals the Brittany would come and snatch the game from them and bring it to the master and take credit for it.' They said to themselves, 'Why should we go to any trouble and then not receive any credit or appreciation from the master for our efforts?' So all the dogs stopped hunting. But now that this Brittany is dead all the dogs will try to excel in hunting in order to gain the master's favor and reap the benefits. The result will be that several hunting dogs will be added. There is nothing to rejoice about! This is the parable, and its moral is as follows: The Brittany dog is that informer who was considered highly by the master because of his reports about the people of the city. The rest of the dogs are the other informers who learned from him his slanderous ways. When the other informers realized that the master did not give them any credit because that informer snatched all the reports in his mouth and brought them to the master by himself, they stopped informing. But now that that dog has died, all the informers know that they will get credit and will be considered important by the master. You will be watched by many informers.
When he finished his speech all the people realized that he was correct, and there was a great cry among those who stood there. After that the Preacher turned the face of the dead man downward. He slapped his cheek and quickly stepped back to Rabbi Meir. He went to the wagon which stood ready for him near the cemetery and fled.
On the way Rabbi Meir heard the Preacher arguing with the informer, but he did not see the dead man. The Preacher showed him that one of the wagon's wheels could not roll because the informer was holding it while telling him that he was grateful for being shamed. But he asked him not to speak against him so harshly in the future.
The Baal Shem Tov, G●d bless his memory, said that a Brittany dog was standing nearby so that immediately after the informer was buried his soul would be reincarnated into this dog; however, the disgrace contained in the Preacher's eulogy saved him from that punishment.
I forgot the main point. After the Preacher finished explaining the moral of the parable, he said: "This is the meaning of the phrase Wherefore I praise the dead that are already dead.' If he had died before the rest of the informers had learned from him, his death would have been found praiseworthy. But this was no longer possible. The living could not rejoice at his death because of the other informers who were still alive."
And so it was.
Adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story in Slumbering Souls. |
|
|
|
|
SEFER BAAL SHEM TOV
The Teachings Of The Baal Shem Tov On Prayer |
...the Levites shall have an eternal redemption. (Behar 25:32).
The Levites are called the aspect of "intermediary," which is the aspect of da'at and spirit. They redeem the world.[1]
Degel Machane Ephraim, Emor
[1] The word olam means both "world" and "eternity." The words "eternal redemption," ge'ulas olam (גאולת עולם), can thus mean "the redemption of the world." |
|
|
DIVINE LIGHT
The Mystical Light Of The Baal Shem Tov |
34. RABBI Yaakov Tzemach, a renowned Kabbalist, 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 allto 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.[6]
[2] Evil inclination
[3] Leviticus 19:11
[4] Leviticus 19:36
[5] Connecting the spiritual essence of the physical world with its spiritual source
[6]
Imrei Noam |
|
|
HEART OF PRAYER
Anthology of the Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov on Prayer |
10-2 The belief that G-d's glory fills the whole world.
WHEN a person knows and believes that G-d's glory fills the whole world and that everything - each and every movement and thought - is from Him, then "all the workers of iniquity will disband."[1] This is the meaning of, "Know the G-d of your fathers."[2]
Tzafnah Paneach p.86b
|
|
|
KESER SHEM TOV
An anthology of Teachings on the Torah by the Baal Shem Tov |
Kst 78 the evil inclination
"What is the onus for slaughtering? One opinion says for coloring, and another opinion says for taking life. [The opinion that says for coloring means for coloring and not for taking life? No, he means also for coloring."[1]
The Baal Shem Tov taught:[2]
We are taught that the evil inclination will be brought to justice in the Future. The question is, How can it be held responsible for doing what it was created to do? The answer is, It will be brought to account for disguising itself as the good inclination.[3]
This is alluded to in the above teaching, "What is the onus for slaughtering?" This refers to the evil inclination that slaughters man's soul. Why is it held responsible, since this is what he was created to do? The answer is, because it "colors" itself and disguises as the good inclination, and is thus able to trick man and take his soul.
This is also alluded to in the verse, "The words of his mouth are evil and deceit"[4]: evil refers to sin, and deceit refers to fooling man into believing he is doing a good deed. As a result, as the verse concludes, "He refrains from understanding to improve": man does not repent from his "sins," because he believes them to be good deeds, and one does not repent from doing good deeds.
[1] Tractate Sabbath 75a-b.
[2] Ben Porath Yoseph 127a.
[3] If the average person would be confronted by something about which he was absolutely sure was improper conduct that he could not justify to himself, let alone to others, he would not have the temptation to do it. So the evil inclination fools man into rationalizing away his negative behavior, denying its true nature, and perceiving it as impeccable conduct with the noblest motivations. |
|
|
Sign Up
Tell A Friend
Quick Links |
The Baal Shem Tov Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, uses emails, teleclasses and other material to spread and publicize the Torah of the Baal Shem Tov throughout the world. Please visit us at www.baalshemtov.com to learn more about the Baal Shem Tov and the work of the Foundation.
The goal of the Foundation is to hasten the imminent coming of the Moshiach (Messiah) by acting on the answer of the Moshiach to the Baal Shem Tov's question: 'When are you coming Master?' (The Moshiach answered) "When your teachings have become well-known and revealed throughout the world, and when your well springs have spread outwards, imparting to others what I have taught you, so that they too will be able to perform contemplative unifications and ascents of the soul..." [quoted from a letter from the Baal Shem Tov to his brother-in-law Rabbi Gershon Kitover.]
One of the major projects of the Baal Shem Tov Foundation is the World Wide Mezuzah Campaign whose goal is to insure that every Jewish person in the world has a kosher Mezuzah attached to the doorpost of their home. Please visit www.mezuzah.net for more information.
Tzvi Meir is always available for questions and to support your work in this area.
Tzvi Meir Cohn (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney)
Suite 300, Pepper Pike Place
30195 Chagrin Boulevard
Cleveland, OH 44124
800-613-0955
bst_times@baalshemtov.com
www.baalshemtov.com
|
|
| | Yisrael Ben Moreinu Rabbeinu HaRav Rav Eliezer KoesB (presently in) Mezibush | | Signature of the Baal Shem Tov |
|
|
|
|
|
