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Volume 6 Number 48
| Pinchas |
15 July 2011 - 13 Tammuz 5771 |
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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.
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This week's edition of the Baal Shem Tov Times relates to Pinchas. There is the continuing selection for the Origins of the Baal Shem Tov, a Baal Shem Tov story and other teachings relating to Pinchas 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 |
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ORIGINS OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV No. 44 |
In the last installment, the Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov commented that the feat of Rabbi Adam Baal Shem Tov was greater than he was able to accomplish.
Reb Boruch Weisner was the only tzadik nistor who was also a wealthy man. He established a large guest house that very often accommodated other tzadikim nistorim who came to visit Reb Boruch.
This was the time when Reb Yoel, the Baal Shem of Zameshtesh, disciple of Reb Eliyohu of Worms, became renowned. Reb Nochum Aharon the nistor who was Reb Boruch's steady guest, was close with Reb Yoel and an ardent admirer of his. He used to tell Reb Boruch many tales of Reb Yoel and his greatness. Reb Boruch then decided that he must visit Reb Yoel and get to know him firsthand.
Reb Boruch executed his decision and traveled to Zameshtesh to Reb Yoel Baal Shem, where he stayed for six months. When Reb Boruch returned it was evident from his appearance that he was spiritually and physically refreshed, and that he was satisfied with his trip.
Reb Boruch.."'dedicated himself further to the study of Kabbala and introduced this study to the ten young men that he supported to study Torah. Ten years passed since his visit to the Baal Shem and during these years he kept contact with Reb Yoel's disciples who wandered among the cities and villages where the nistorim lived. In the meantime Reb Boruch announced that he intended to leave the house he had occupied for fifteen years. He sold his property, and bestowed houses and gardens to the ten lamdonim he had supported all the while. He also distributed charity to important Torah institutions in the city and then left the place together with his family.
He went to live in a place near Slotzk, where he opened a Beis Medrosh and a guest house. After several months he selected ten men whom he again agreed to support, that they might be free to study Torah. In his new community he told no one where he had come from. All they knew of him was that he was a great scholar and a righteous man. Since Reb Boruch had always yearned to give a lecture for exceptional students, he took the opportunity to build a yeshiva and to lecture there.
His yeshiva had a high standard. The students he accepted were only exceptional boys of fifteen, never younger, and not older than sixteen. They had to commit themselves to at least six years of study during which they were not permitted to leave the yeshiva even for one day. They also had to commit themselves to study diligently and steadily and to behave as they were instructed.
Reb Boruch took it upon himself to support them during this time, to provide lodging, food and clothing.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohn from Eretz Chaim as translated in Stories of the Baal Shem Tov by Y.Y. klapholtz |
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THE BAAL SHEM TOV'S SUCCESSOR
"Moshe spoke to G-d saying: "Let Adon-y, G-d of the spirits, appoint a man over the community who will go forth before them, so that the community of Adon-y shall not be sheep that have no shepherd." (Pinchas 27:15-17)
AND it happened that just before the Baal Shem Tov passed away and returned to his Heavenly abode, he told his only son Hirshele Tzvi, "My son, don't be afraid to take my place. I promise you that whenever you need me, whenever you call, I'll always come to help you."
The first Shabbos after the Baal Shem Tov died, the inner circle of Chassidim were waiting and expecting Reb Tzvi to expound on the Torah. But he was mourning his father and Rebbe's death and felt shy and inadequate to speak. The Chassidim kept urging him. "Reb Tzvi, after all, your father always spoke Torah on Shabbos." But he kept shaking his head no. Finally, the time for the third Shabbos meal arrived and the inner circle of Chassidim were sitting together with Reb Tzvi. During this time, the Baal Shem Tov always spoke deep mysteries of the Torah to them, his closest followers. The Chassidim became insistent. "Reb Tzvi, your father always spoke at this time. Don't you remember when he said this and when he said that?"
"You see father," said Reb Tzvi, "the Chassidim have already lost respect for me." Just then, the Baal Shem Tov began to take form before all their eyes. Everyone froze in their seats.
"Reb Tzvi," they said, "We didn't mean any disrespect for you or, G-d forbid, to insult you. We're just so used to hearing your father, the Rebbe, speak words of Torah at this time on Shabbos, that we started to remember them ourselves."
After that Shabbos, Reb Tzvi started to wear his father's white cloak, a symbol of leadership, and expounded on the Torah.
The next Shavuos, exactly one year after the Baal Shem Tov had passed away, Reb Tzvi and the Chassidim were sitting together and discussing the Torah.
Suddenly, Reb Tzvi got up and said, "My father appeared and told me that the Shechinah (G-dly revelation) now dwells in Mezritch." Then Reb Tzvi removed the white cloak of leadership and put it onto the shoulders of Reb Dov Ber of Mezritch. And so, Reb Dov Ber, who later became known as the Mezritcher Maggid, assumed leadership of the Chassidic movement.
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found in SIPUREI CHASSIDIM and translated in STORIES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV by Y.Y. Klapholtz.
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SEFER BAAL SHEM TOV
The Teachings Of The Baal Shem Tov On Prayer |
"Therefore say: Behold, I give him My covenant of peace." (Pinchas 25:12)
According to the Zohar and Likutey Torah, Nadav and Avihu were "two halves of a body."1 Therefore, Pinchas took both their souls, so that they are considered as one. Thus, it is written: "Behold, I give him My covenant of peace," for when two things are united, it is called peace. Thus, Yesod is called Peace, etc.,2 and "From my flesh, I will behold G-d."3
Likewise, when there is division among people, the one who can unite them is called "a pursuer of peace." The reason Nadav and Avihu sinned was because they did not ask each other's advice [before entering the Holy of Holies]. As it says: "And Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer." (Leviticus 10:1)4 There was no peace between them. But Pinchas rectified this when he was given the covenant of peace, in order to unite the souls of Nadav and Avihu in one body.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Acharei, p. 96d
1See Zohar 3:57b; Likutey Torah, Parshas Vayikra, by the Arizal. Nadav and Avihu never married, thus the Zohar considers them as only half a person. When Pinchas smote Zimri and Kosbi during their illicit act, the souls of Nadav and Avihu united with his own.
2Yesod is the ninth Sefirah, from Keter down, and serves to unite the upper Sefiros with the tenth Sefirah of Malchus. Thus, it is called "Peace."
3Job 19:26. Chasidic writings cite this verse often, to support the idea that the physical, emotional and mental constituents of a human being parallel and reflect the workings of the supernal Sefiros, through which G-d directs the world. The Sefirah of Yesod corresponds to the male member, which is the organ of union. Yesod also corresponds to the Tzaddik, whose consciousness unites heaven and earth.
4I.e. each one took it alone, without consulting the other. |
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DIVINE LIGHT
The Mystical Light Of The Baal Shem Tov |
42. The Baal Shem Tov taught:
Be very careful what you say in the morning before praying. Our Sages were strict even regarding the use of permissible words, such as greeting someone before prayer,[1] because such an action can cause a blemish. It is known that the world was created with thought, speech, and action.
The first level of creation is thought. Speech is an result of thought, and action a result of speech. When a person rises each morning, he is also a new creation, as the verse says, "They are new every morning."[2] If a person's first words are mundane, and all the more so, if they are forbidden[3], everything said later in the day will be influenced by these first words - even their prayers and Torah studies.
This is similar to the teaching of the Zohar[4] and of the Arizal on the obligation of siblings to honor the firstborn brother.[5] The fatrher's spirit resides more in the oldest son than the other sons who obtain their father's spirit from the oldest son. Due to this spirit residing more in the oldest son, they are obligated to honor him as they are obligated to honor their father.
The firstborn takes the main portion, whereas all the other siblings are as offshoots from him. Similarly, one must be very careful to sanctify and purify the first words and thoughts of the day, and attach them to holiness. Then, all subsequent words will follow their character. And when one starts to pray, amidst the joy of having fulfilled the mitzvah of sanctifying speech and thought, the spoken words of his prayer will surely be answered.[6]
[3] Forbidden words are profanity, gossip, or slander, among others.
[5] The Arizal writes that just as children are obligated to respect their parents, so must they respect their firstborn sibling. For the firstborn represents the initial creative act of the parents, from which all subsequent births draw their vitality. Thus, Jacob said about Reuben, "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength . . . . " (Genesis 49:3).
[6] Sipurei Baal Shem Tov. |
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HEART OF PRAYER
Anthology of the Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov on Prayer |
11-6 Whatever you see, remember G-d.
WHATEVER you see, remember the Holy One. If it is something you love, remember the love of G-d. If it is something you fear, remember the fear of G-d. Even when you go to the restroom, you should think to yourself, "I am now separating the bad from the good so that the good should remain for the service of G-d." When you go to sleep, think that your mental faculties go to the L-rd and will be strengthened for Divine Service. This is the purpose of yichudim[1].
Tzava'as HaRivash 22
[1] Unification of supernal elements in (and by) one's mystical devotions in prayer. |
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KESER SHEM TOV
An anthology of Teachings on the Torah by the Baal Shem Tov |
Kst 85
" 'I, G-d, have not changed,' but G-d has changed in relation to the wicked, and has become hidden behind many veils and coverings. And this is the meaning of the verse, 'I will hide My face from them.' "[1]
From them G-d hides His face, but for those who stand in awe before G-d and His presence, He never changes. And though there are many different veils behind which G-d hides Himself, the Baal Shem Tov says that when a person realizes that G-d is hiding there, He is not hidden anymore, for all evil then disappears.
This then is the meaning of the verse, "I will hide My face" [the verb is repeated] - G-d will hide the fact that He is hidden.
And this is also the allusion in the verse, "The enemy said, 'I will pursue and overtake, and split [the booty]"[2] [the first five words of the Hebrew verse all begin with the letter aleph]: This alludes to the "five Alephs,"[4] which alludes to the Aluph/Master of the world, as alluded to in the Divine Name SaEL,[5] which is numerically equivalent to the Divine Names of YHVH and ADoNaI together.
After a person realizes this rule, which is a major rule that states that there is absolutely no barrier between a person and G-d while he is praying or studying. And even if unwanted thoughts arise in his mind, they are only coverings and veils behind which G-d is hiding, once one realizes that G-d is hiding there, He is not hidden anymore.[6]
[1]Tikkunei Zohar #26, 71b.
[4]The five corresponds to the five levels of existence.
[5]This Divine Name is the source of the archangel, Samael, who is identified as the evil inclination and the angel of death, and everything associated with them. This alludes that even this angel is really only a veil behind which G-d hides Himself.
[6] 5Toldoth Yaakov Yoseph, Breishis #1 |
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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
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| | Yisrael Ben Moreinu Rabbeinu HaRav Rav Eliezer KoesB (presently in) Mezibush | | Signature of the Baal Shem Tov |
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