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ORIGINS OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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OBST 6
It was still in the Maharal of Prague's lifetime that the Rebbe Eliyahu Baal Shem became famous. Unfortunately, a great controversy raged about him, sparked by the disapproval of the elderly Torah Sage, Reb Pinchas Zelig of Shpeier. Reb Pinchas's learned son, Reb Shamai Zundel, traveled through many lands to proclaim, in his father's name and the name of many other famous great men of the times, a "Chairem" or prohibition, against Reb Eliyohu's philosophy and his Torah.
The Maharal and his son, the great Reb Betzalel, traveled to Worms to determine for themselves what Reb Eliyohu was really like. When they returned, the Maharal expressed his opinion in favor of Reb Eliyohu Baal Shem. From that time, Reb Eliyohu's following in Prague and its surroundings continually increased.
When Reb Yehuda Arye came to Prague, the head of the community was Reb Shmuel, the son of Reb Betzalel, the only son of the Maharal. He had already filled this post for some eighteen years, ever since he had been chosen to replace the charitable Reb Mor-dechai Meizel upon his death.
Reb Shmuel carried the honored title of Rosh Ha-kohol, head of the community, for eight years during the lifetime of his grandfather, the Maharal, who passed away at the age of ninety-seven years, on the eighteenth day of Elul 5369.
Reb Shmuel was a very wealthy man. He used to donate to the community chest the same amount that all the other members together contributed. Half of this contribution was sufficient to cover the tax assessment for the poor, who shared with the others the burden of three taxes; the state tax, the city tax, and the community tax.
Reb Shmuel's good name traveled far, for besides his public and private philanthropy in Prague to all institutions and individual cases, he sent huge sums for the support of Yeshivos in Poland and Germany and contributed handsomely to the Yeshiva of Reb Eliyohu Baal Shem in Worms. When Reb Eliyohu established Yeshivos in Grodna, Chelm, and Lublin, he supported them generously from his own pocket, for his grandfather, the Maharal, had predicted that Reb Eliyohu Baal Shem Tov's yeshivos would become beacons of Torah to all Jewry.
Soon after Reb Yehuda Arye moved to Prague the news spread that Reb Eliyohu Baal Shem was coming to settle with one of his yeshivos. Reb Shmuel, the community head, and Reb Yehuda Arye, his deputy, sent a special representative to Reb Eliyohu Baal Shem with a sum of money to cover travel expenses for him and his talmidim. Even before Reb Shmuel and Reb Yehuda Arye had bought property for their personal living quarters they provided for the holy Reb Eliyohu Baal Shem and his yeshiva.
The Baal Tosfos Yom Tov, already a renowned scholar of fifty at the time, nevertheless joined Reb Eliyohu's yeshiva, and was numbered among the twenty seven exceptional talmidim. Reb Eliyohu would say of these talrnidim that they were the twenty seven letters with which the Torah was given and with which Hashem created the world.
These twenty seven elite students, would concentrate mainly on the study of the revealed Torah along the lines of Reb Eliyohu's philosophy, though from time to time Reb Eliyohu would teach them Kabbala. They excelled in good midos - character traits - and their circle grew from day to day with the most capable. students.
Among these students who .studied both the revealed and the mystic Torah, as taught by Reb Eliyohu, was also included the young man, Reb Avrohom Moshe, Reb Yehuda Arye's grandson.
When his teacher saw his great fear of G-d, his adherence to the particulars of the mitzvos, and his yearning for the study of Kabbala, he set aside certain times to teach him and to explain complicated and deep concepts in Kabbala. One sefer in particular made a deep impression on Avrohom Moshe, "Sefer Hapardes" - The Orchard of Kabbala - and he studied it until he practically knew it my heart. He studied diligently for years until his fame grew and he was singled out from among the great scholars and students of mysticism, with Reb Eliyohu Baal Shem including him among his top students.
Reb Yehuda Arye forgot his brother and his sinful- ness and his health improved.
There lived in Prague, an elderly man who had been a friend of Reb Yehuda Arye's father. When he heard what had become of Moshe, his friend's son, he grieved much. When he met Reb Yehuda Arye he told him in a sobbing voice;
"I warned your father not to be lenient in Halachic decisions and not to speak ill of those who learned Kabbala and were G-d-fearing men. He used to laugh at me and say, 'You too, Elimelech, are among those who foresee what is not to happen?' He denied the Kabbala and received his just punishment by having a son who is wicked and abominable.
"Just consider and see," Reb Elimelech would say to his friend's son, Reb Yehuda Arye, "the justice of G-d's punishment. The fruit of your father's sin is a punishment worse than death. Your father was a famous scholar, ever studying, but he was too lenient in, keeping the mitzvohs and he mocked those who kept them punctiliously. He dared to speak against men who studied Kabbala and was therefore punished with a son whose Torah knowledge is profound but who transgresses all the commandments without compunction."
The old man would thus speak to Reb Yehuda Arye without knowing that these words pierced deeply into his heart.
Reb Yehuda Arye honored Reb Elimelech and visited him regularly, disregarding the pain that the old man caused him with his words.
To be continued . . . . .
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story in Sefer Hazichronos by Reb Yosef Yitzchok of Lubavitch, Zal as written in Tales of the Baal Shem Tov by Y.Y. Klapholtz.
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THE BESHT CHOKES ON HIS FOOD
And then there was the time that the Baal Shem Tov, G-d bless his memory, and several of his students were attending a seudah mitzvah (an obligatatory festive meal) celebrating a Pidyon Haben, the redemption of the first born.
At the end of the meal, the Baal Shem Tov took a piece of bread and began to chew it. Suddenly, his face turned bright red and he appeared to be very upset.
The participants of the meal thought that he was choking and they wanted to save him.
But Reb Zev Kotses (one of his close disciples)looked at his face and said: "Leave him alone."
After being in that state for a long while, the Baal Shem Tov recovered by himself. Then the students asked him: "Rebbe, what was the matter?"
The Baal Shem Tov answered: "When I ate the piece of bread, I concentrated on the kavanah (intention) of eating. Using this kavanah, I reached the spiritual level that Moses our teacher, may he rest in peace, attained from his kavanah during the first meal that Tzipporah (later his wife) served him. By holding this kavanah in my mind, Moses our teacher came here to visit me. That is what happened."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohn (Patent Attoney) from a story in In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov by Ben Anos and Mintz
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SEFER BAAL SHEM TOV
The Teachings Of The Baal Shem Tov On Prayer
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"These are the chronicles of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, faultless in his generation; Noah walked with G-d." (Bereishis 6:9)
But of Abraham it is written: "G-d, before whom I walked" (ibid. 24:40). Noah needed G-d's help and support, but Abraham strengthened himself and walked in his own righteousness.1
One of the Baal Shem Tov's disciples once asked him, "Why is it that there are times when a person clings to G-d, and knows in his soul that he is close to Him, that he suddenly loses his devekus and becomes distant from the Creator?"
The Baal Shem Tov answered with a parable. When a father wants to teach his infant son to walk, what does he do? He stands his son between his outstretched arms so that the boy does not fall, and the child walks between his father's arms. When he comes close to his father, his father backs up slightly so that the child can approach him again. This way, the child learns to walk. If his father didn't keep moving back, the child would only walk that short distance from where his father had first put him to where his father now stands. However, because the father moves back, the child walks further.
This is how G-d relates to His creatures. When a person is aflame with spiritual attachment, G-d must distance Himself from him, for if not, his devekus would be neither strong nor consistent. However, because G-d keeps moving away, the person must continually renew and strengthen his devekus. This is what King David alluded to when he said: "He will lead us eternally," (Psalms 48:15), as Rashi explains: "Like a man leads his small son slowly."
Turei Zahav, Rosh Hashanah
For this reason, G-d is called "the hidden G-d." For a Tzaddik never feels that he has reached perfection in serving G-d, and always feels far from Him. This is designed so that he comes even closer. It is the meaning of "He will lead us eternally." G-d is called "He" when He is hidden.2 This is in order that "He lead us eternally (al'mus,) - like a child (al'miah,)3 so that we keep coming closer.
Kedushas Levi, Shemos
1 Rashi, loc. cit.
2 See below.
3 In Aramaic. In Hebrew, as well, the word elem means a "youth."
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DIVINE LIGHT
The Mystical Light Of The Baal Shem Tov
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2. The soul of the Baal Shem Tov was so lofty that it would have been impossible for it to enter this world if his father had experienced any physical desire.1 Therefore, his father was one hundred years old when the Baal Shem Tov was born. His desires had already abated, and the Baal Shem Tov was only conceived with G-d's help.
Imrei Noam
1 There is a classic teaching, stretching as far back as the Midrash, that the thoughts of the parents during marital relations affect the nature of the children who are born. The soul of the Baal Shem Tov so transcended physicality that he could only be born to elderly parents, individuals who no longer had physical desires. Rashis Chochmah, Shaar HaKedusha Ch. 17
From DIVINE LIGHT by Tzvi Meir
Cohn
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HEART OF PRAYER
Anthology Of The Teachhings Of The Baal Shem Tov
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8-5 Praying with constricted consciousness.
Sometimes you pray with constricted consciousness, and suddenly in one minute, the light of your soul shines and rises to the Supernal.1 This is like a person who climbs a ladder. Thus it is written, "Send Your light and Your truth, they will lead me."2
Likkutei Yikarim p.3d
1The Degel Machane Ephraim writes a similar thought: "A song of ascents, I lift my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come?" (Psalms 121:1) "I lift my eyes to the mountains" - to the higher levels of consciousness for the "mountains" are the "Forefathers." When I see that at times this consciousness leaves me, G-d forbid, then "from where (m'ayin) will my help come?" Because I see and understand this, my heart is broken and I become nothing (ayin). Therefore, my help will come from the Infinite (Ein Sof)." The meaning of this passage is that when a person, having lost the connection with G-d, becomes humble and contrite and makes himself like nothing (ayin), then a new light shines on him from a light whose source is the One Without End.
2Psalms 43:3
From
HEART OF PRAYER by Tzvi Meir
Cohn
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KESER SHEM TOV
An anthology of Teachings on the Torah by the Baal Shem Tov
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KST. 13
"The spirit of G-d hovered above the surface of the water" 1
"The spirit of G-d," refers to the human soul, 2 which must hover over "the surface of the water," which refers to the Torah.3 Then, "G-d said, 'There shall be light,' 4 which means that G-d will then enlighten the person with the Light of the Torah.
1Genesis 1:2
2The Midrash says that this phrase refers to the spirit of the Adam and to the spirit of Moshiach (Yalkut Shimoni, Genesis #4). Actually, Adam, the first man, encompassed all mankind, and his name is seen as the acronym of A(dam), D(avid), M(oshiach). The Baal Shem Tov is adding here that this teaching, which is based on the verse that speaks about the purpose of Creation - "Let there be light" - is relevant to each and every one of us. Each of us can bring more light into our own lives, and automatically into the world, and be part of the "Moshiach," by connecting to G-d through His Torah.
3Baba Kama 17a
4Genesis 1:3
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