THE EXTINGUISHED WESTERN LIGHT

"Three times each year, all the men shall be seen in the presence of G-d your L-rd in the place that He will choose." Deuteronomy 16:16

It was revealed to the Baal Shem Tov that if the two great lights of the world were to meet, they together could bring Moshiach and the final redemption. From that time, the Baal Shem Tov desired greatly to go to Eretz Yisrael to meet the great Ohr Hachayim (Rabbi Chaim ben Etar).

In the year 5503, the Baal Shem Tov traveled from home in Mezibush to fulfill his long held desire to visit Eretz Yisrael and meet the great Ohr Hachayim. By Pesach, he reached Istanbul. There he prayed at the gravesite of Rav Naftali, a Tzaddik (righteous man) who had attempted the same trip at an earlier time but had only traveled as far as Istanbul. That night, Rav Naftali appeared to the Baal Shem Tov in a dream. "Reb Yisrael, it has been decreed in Heaven that you are not destined to dwell in Eretz Yisrael. If you are stubborn and attempt to continue your journey, you will die here as I did. Return home."

The Baal Shem Tov accepted the decree and embarked upon a ship headed homewards. His ship was captured by pirates, who let him off at the port of Kilya, from where he continued his journey to Mezibush.

Three months later, during the shalosh seudos meal on the Sabbath of Parsha Pinchas, immediately after washing his hands and eating a bite of challah, the Baal Shem Tov said with a sigh, "The Western light has been extinguished."

At the Melave Malkah (meal of the departing Sabbath Queen) on that motzoei Shabbos (Saturday night), the chassidim gathered their courage and asked, "Rebbe, what did you mean when you said that 'The Western light has been extinguished?'"

The Baal Shem Tov replied, "The Ohr Hachayim has died. He was known in heavenly realms as the Western light."

"How does the Rebbe know that?" one Chassid boldly asked.

The Baal Shem Tov answered, "There is a particular kavannah (intention) for the recitation of the blessing for washing hands which I have always wanted to know. However, this kavannah was hidden from me since only one person in each generation can know it, and the Ohr Hachayim had preceded me. This afternoon, as I washed my hands for shalosh seudos, I suddenly became aware of a new kavannah. I immediately understood that the Ohr Hachayim had passed from this world and now I become the guardian of that kavannah."

One other time, the Baal Shem Tov told his Chassidim of another incident related to the Ohr Hachayim. On the Sabbath that the great Ohr Hachayim departed this world, his friend in Tiberias, Reb Chayim Abulafia, mysteriously fainted, and remained unconscious for half an hour. When he finally was revived, he announced to his students 'today the Ohr Hachayim left this world. I accompanied him until the gates of Gan Eden.' "What Reb Chayim of Tiberias did not know," the Baal Shem Tov told his Chassidim, "was that the Ohr Hachayim's saintly neshamah (soul) remained in Gan Eden only for the duration of the Sabbath. The next day it descended once more to this world. The souls of tzaddikim," he explained, "receive greater satisfaction from being in this physical world where the soul can serve The Almighty on the lowest physical plane, through performing mitzvos and good deeds which brings far greater benefit to this world, and is far more pleasurable to the soul than being in Gan Eden. When Moshiach arrives, and G-dliness will be seen and felt by even the most common man, we will yearn for the days previous when we were able to serve the Almighty on the lowest level of the physical."

The death of the Ohr Hachayim occurred just two days before Reb Leib Sorahs' Bar Mitzvah. It was years later however, that the Chassidim understood that it was the Ohr Hachayim's soul that he received at the time of his Bar Mitzva from the Rebbe Reb Dov Ber (The Mezritcher Maggid).

And so it was.

Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story in GEVUROS ARI and translated in STORIES OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV by Y. Y. Klapholtz.

"And you will say, I will eat flesh." (Re'eh 12:20)

The Talmud says: "Love compresses the flesh."1 Meaning to say, love of G-d compresses and purifies the flesh, which is the body. It can also be said that love compresses and sweetens the flesh, which is Harsh Judgment; for the flesh comes from the side of Judgment, as is known.
Likutey Yikarim, p. 5c

1Bava Metziah 84a. The context of this statement is a discussion in the Talmud between a Roman matron and Rabbi Yishmael bar Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Elazar bar Rabbi Shimon, both of whom the Talmud describes as being extremely fat. The matron said to them, "Your children are not your own." They answered, "Our wive's stomachs are bigger than ours!" "All the more so!" she replied. "Love compresses the flesh," they answered her.

12-4 As soon as you pray, you should also believe that your words are answered.

THE essence of prayer in exile is faith, which means believing that G-d's glory fills the entire world. This raises the "feet" of the Shechinah. You should also believe that as soon as you pray, your words are answered. Though you sometimes do not get what you requested, that is only because it is concealed from you.[1] Perhaps, your request was fulfilled on a universal level, and even though you made an individual request, your suffering may be for your own good. By asking for yourself, you make your prayers material when they should be purely spiritual. Thus, it became a barrier.

Ben Poras Yosef p. 127a