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ORIGINS OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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OBST 16
In the last installment, the Baal Shem Tov continued telling the story of how Reb Yoel of Zameshtesh gained fame in the world of Jewry
Everyone was now ready to recite grace. Reb Boruch offered the wine cup to his mechutan Reb Aharon. Reb Aharon stood up and said:
"Worthy friends. I am no more than the lowly moss growing on the wall. I would never have dared to suggest my daughter to the mighty cedar, the brilliant son of the noble and titled Reb Boruch, descendant of holy saints and tzadikim. Reb Boruch would likewise never have conceived of marrying his son to the daughter of a pauper such as I. But Reb Yoel, the Baal Shem of Zameshtesh, wished it so and I submit to his will.
"There sits amongst us an agent who is here to represent Reb Yoel. Since a person's agent is considered as himself, I beg permission of my mechutan Reb Boruch to let me honor him with leading the grace after meals."
Reb Boruch agreed and handed the cup to his guest. All eyes were turned to him. Reb Yehuda Zusya, as he was called, became confused and turned to the mechutan and said, "I'm not used to bensching before a crowd. Could I have a siddur, for I am accustomed to pray only from the siddur."
All the scholars present shot astonished glances to one another. They were not used to such behavior. And when they heard the manner with which the guest recited the blessings, they were all the more astounded. He pronounced the words with difficulty as if he didn't understand their meaning. His voice gave the impression of a boor. All those assembled lowered their heads in embarrassment, most of all Reb Moshe.
Reb Moshe felt the need to comfort Reb Boruch and whispered in his ear, "I join you in your sorrow, that your rebbe, Reb Yoel, caused you such embarrassment by sending such a boor to your simcha. I am surprised he didn't send a more accomplished man who would not have disturbed you on your day of joy."
But Reb Boruch felt no need to be comforted. "Don't worry," he answered, "If Reb Yoel sent this particular representative, he is surely the one best suited for the task. I don't feel for one moment that he has disturbed my celebration. If the Baal Shem had told me to take another girl for my son's wife, I wouldn't have hesitated a minute. Not I, nor my wife, nor my son. We do not question the words of the rebbe. Now that he has chosen Reb Aharon's daughter we are very satisfied and happy. The callah is an accomplished young girl and as for her father he is a man dedicated to disseminating Torah. I consider this shiduch a very worthy one."
Reb Moshe listened intently to Reb Boruch's words and was left speechless. He had nothing more to say. If Reb Boruch thought the shiduch was good, what had he to add?
Reb Boruch saw everything in the best light. Not so the guests. They were amazed and couldn't figure out the whole matter. Even those who were also followers of Reb Yoel did not see how the representative could be considered suitable. He was so uncouth in manner and appearance. They could hardly believe that he had indeed been sent by the Baal Shem.
Reb Moshe had received a firm clear answer from Reb Boruch that he was satisfied with the situation. But Reb Moshe himself could not make peace with the
situation, nor with Reb Yehuda Zusya. Since there was nothing for him to do, he remained silent.
Meanwhile the preparations were made for the wedding at Reb Boruch's expense. It took place with much pomp and lavishness. Great scholars and important people who did not usually go to weddings, attended. People talked about the event much in advance. As Reb Moshe prepared to go he wondered to himself what would happen this time with the Baal Shem's representative. Would the same Reb Yehuda Zusya come or would another, more presentable man take his place?
Reb Yehuda Zusya surprised everyone by coming dressed in fine new apparel. Everyone looked at him and treated him as a talmid chochom, though they had not forgotten his poor performance at the engagement celebration. Reb Boruch welcomed him warmly and honored him with a place at the choson's right hand. During the time that the mechutonim said a Torah lecture, he just listened and didn't open his mouth. After the chupah, the choson spoke, displaying his vast knowledge. The custom was to discuss the speech when he finished. Now, however, Reb Yehuda Zusya rose and asked to be permitted to speak. He discussed the choson's sermon, posing difficult questions and then answering them, revealing an expert command of Torah knowledge. Now the guests understood that Reb Yoel's envoy was indeed an exalted person and that his fine clothes did justice to his greatness. Until now he had been an unrevealed tzadik, but now his greatness had come to light. They were further surprised to notice how his very voice had changed from a coarse stutter to a clear sweet tone.
Reb Moshe and the other guests looked at one another. They could hardly believe their ears. Now they were supplied with the choson's lecture to discuss as well as the guest's erudite remarks. Reb Moshe begged Reb Boruch to forgive him for misjudging the guest at the engagement. Now he understood that Reb Yoel's chassidim had their own ways. They didn't reveal their true nature at every occasion; they only exhibited their scholarliness at special times.
The new topic of conversation was now Reb Yqhuda Zusya and the revelation of his genius. Reb Moshe and many others who had formerly opposed the Baal Shem, now were drawn to him and his disciples and regarded them with a new respect.
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 translated in Tales of the Baal Shem Tov by Y.Y. Klapholtz.
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The Baal Shem Tov's Mysterious Journey to Leipzig
And then there was the time, late one Wednesday night, when Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov informed one of his younger disciples that the next morning they would be traveling to the city of Leipzig, where they would be spending the Shabbat.
The disciple was overjoyed. He was flattered to have been chosen by his master and was sure that he would learn many important things on the journey. In addition, this would be an opportunity to visit his parents, who lived in Leipzig.
They set off early Thursday morning. It was a ten-hour journey, so they had plenty of time to arrive before evening. But as they boarded the wagon the Baal Shem Tov turned to the young man and mysteriously said: "Don't count on seeing your parents, we won't have time."
The Baal Shem Tov turned to his wagon driver, Alexi, and told him that after they left the city, he could let the reigns drop and go to sleep.
The entire duration of the trip, the Baal Shem did not stop whispering words of Torah to himself. The wagon moved swiftly and it seemed they were making good time; strangely, however, after some fifteen hours of travel, as night was falling, they still had not reached their destination.
They hitched the wagon to a tree by the side of the empty road. Our young disciple fell asleep almost immediately. When he awoke next morning, the wagon was already moving, but he was certain that the Baal Shem Tov had not slept all night.
After several hours, it seemed clear that they were going nowhere and that they probably would have to spend Shabbat in the wagon as well. Suddenly a house appeared in the distance. As they got closer, the young man was overjoyed to see a mezuzah on the door. At least they would have a place to stay.
The wagon stopped before the house. An old woman, beaming with joy, appeared, called to her husband, and greeted the Baal Shem Tov with blessings.
From behind her emerged her husband, an old man with a radiant face who ran toward the Baal Shem Tov and warmly embraced him before escorting him into the house.
"Just wait in the wagon, I'll return shortly", the Baal Shem Tov said to his pupil just before he closed the door behind him.
Fifteen minutes later, he returned and they were on their way.
"I thought we would stay here for Shabbat," said the worried young man. But the Baal Shem Tov just told the driver to let the reigns drop as soon as the hut was out of sight. A short while later, the horses strayed off the road, crossed a field, then entered a forest and stopped. The Baal Shem Tov got out, took a silver cup from his bag, motioned to his bewildered pupil to follow, and after several minutes suddenly stopped and said: "Listen! Water!"
Sure enough, from within a thicket they heard a bubbling brook. They cleared away the vegetation. The Baal Shem Tov dipped his cup into the water, stood to his full height and recited the blessing over water: Blessed are You L-rd our G-d, King of the Universe, by whose word everything came to being. But what a blessing! It seemed as though the entire forest reverberated with each word the tzaddik uttered. The chassid had never really heard or seen anything like it in his life.
The Baal Shem Tov finished drinking, recited the "after-blessing" with the same deliberate intensity, and then motioned for his pupil to return to the wagon.
It was beginning to hint of sunset. A cool wind blew across the grasses and the young chassid wondered where and how they would spend Shabbat.
He was lost in his thoughts when suddenly he heard the Baal Shem Tov say to the wagon driver "Here, turn down this street!"
He looked up to see that... they were in Leipzig! In fact if they just continued straight they would be in the Jewish section. They could stay with his parents! What a miracle!
But the Baal Shem Tov had other ideas. "Here, Alexi, turn right!"
"No, NO! Not here!" The pupil cried. The street to which his master had directed the wagon driver was the infamous Shillergass, a street lined with taverns adjoining the university. No Jew dared show his face on that street. "If we turn here it will be the end of us!"
But the Baal Shem Tov paid no attention. They turned and after a few moments he told the driver to stop. "Here is where we are staying. But hurry! It's almost Shabbat."
They took their bags and got out in front of a door that had a big sign hanging over it saying "Tailor". The Baal Shem Tov knocked loudly at the door. A small peep hole opened. They heard numerous locks swiftly unlocking and in no time the door opened revealing an elderly Jew dressed for Shabbat with several young men standing in the brightly lit room behind him.
"Come in!" He whispered fearfully. "Who are you? Are you mad? Come in quickly!"
They entered, the old man closed the door and said as he was turning the locks, "You are fortunate that no one was in the street. These people are animals -- real animals. They study in their universities but they are nothing but bloodthirsty animals. The sight of a Jew -- especially when there is beer or vodka in their blood -- turns them into instant killers. They tolerate me here because they need a tailor -- otherwise they would kill me in a minute. Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The Baal Shem Tov promised he would explain but because it was very late he wanted to begin to lead the afternoon prayers. The tailor had seven sons and together with the Baal Shem Tov and his pupil they made a minyan (quorum of ten). The Baal Shem Tov began to pray aloud at the top of his voice.
The old tailor was astounded. At first he was filled with fear, but then he suddenly felt as though his heart was exploding with love for G-d. He had never heard such prayer before.
But when the prayers finished, the sound of bottles crashing against his door from outside abruptly brought him back to reality. The Baal Shem Tov simply walked to the door opened it and stepped outside to the drunken crowd.
"Kill him! Kill the Jew!" Someone yelled and threw a rock but it missed.
One student ran toward the Baal Shem Tov with an iron bar screaming "You dirty.." Suddenly he froze, his hand paralyzed in midair, screaming with pain. Another student drew a large knife, with the same alarming results. The two of them just stood there screaming and weeping until the crowd dropped their rocks and bottles and began begging the Baal Shem Tov to take away the spell.
The Baal Shem Tov said something, and the paralyzed students fell unconscious to the ground. Their friends carried them away. The mob scattered in fear, leaving only their rocks and bottles strewn in the street.
The Baal Shem Tov returned inside leaving the door wide open behind him and, after washing his hands, began the evening prayer greeting the Holy Shabbat.
Again the room was magically transformed, and all felt as if they were in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in the days of King Solomon. A few minutes later, a tall thin man, wrapped in a black cloak, suddenly appeared at the open door. He looked silently around the room, walked to a corner and just stood there, staring at the Baal Shem Tov and his praying.
After the prayers, they sat down to eat the Shabbat meal amidst song and wondrous words of Torah. All this time, the tall stranger stood and stared, and the Besht paid him no attention at all.
Only when they finished the meal did the man approach the tailor, asked him when they would be praying in the morning, and left as soon as he got the answer.
"That man," said the tailor to the Baal Shem Tov's pupil, "is none other than Professor Shlanger -- one of the most anti-Semitic intellectuals in the country. I have no idea what brought him here..."
The next morning, the professor returned. Again he stood silently staring at the Baal Shem Tov's praying and speaking. He left after the meal, and did not return again.
After Shabbat, the Baal Shem Tov and his pupil bade their host farewell, boarded their wagon and in less than five hours were back home.
"You see, I told you that you wouldn't have time to visit your parents." The Baal Shem Tov said with a smile. The young man, however, was burning with curiosity.
"Who was the old man whose house we stopped at on the way? Why did you wander into the forest to drink a cup of water, and what did we accomplish by spending Shabbat at the tailor's house?" he asked.
The Baal Shem Tov hesitated for a few seconds and then said:
"The man I spoke to is one of the thirty-six hidden righteous individuals in whose merit the world exists. He will be the first to know when Moshiach is supposed to arrive, and that is what we spoke about.
"The reason we stopped in the forest was because I saw that, since the beginning of creation no one had ever made a blessing on the water in that stream. In another few moments it would have been too late -- the spring would have died without fulfilling its purpose in the world.
"And what we accomplished in the tailor's house you will know one day."
Twenty years later, long after the Baal Shem Tov had left this world, the disciple happened to be in the city of Minsk when a distinguished looking Jew stopped him in the street and asked him if he had been a pupil of the Baal Shem Tov and if he had ever spent a Shabbat in Leipzig with his master. When the chassid answered in the affirmative, the stranger embraced him and kissed him. "I was the professor who visited you that Shabbat. I was at a turning point in my life at the time, full of unanswerable questions as to my purpose in life. When I heard of how your teacher paralyzed those students I knew I had to see him for myself.
"The sight of his praying and teaching had such a profound effect on me that a few months later I disappeared from the University, moved to another country, and converted to Judaism. I don't know how your master could possibly have known that in a Jew-hater like me dwelled a Jewish soul crying out to be redeemed."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohn (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story published by Rabbi Tuvia Bolton, a popular teacher, musician and storyteller, and a senior lecturer at Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim in Kfar Chabad, Israel
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SEFER BAAL SHEM TOV
The Teachings Of The Baal Shem Tov On Prayer
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"I revealed Myself to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as G-d Almighty, but by My name Y-H-V-H, I did not make Myself known to them. (Vaeira 6:3)
I heard from the holy Rabbi Yacov Yoseph HaKohen (who certainly heard it directly from the Baal Shem Tov), that the letters of the word "to" - el1 - refer to the Alupho shel Olam (the Master of the World), with the lamed, which is composed of three lines. This is as much as he said.
This can be compared to a flowing fountain. If the pipes that carry the water are clean, then the water will also be pure. But if the pipes are not clean, then the water will be dirty. So too, each person, depending upon his level, upon the Torah he studies and the spiritual work he does, draws a holy outflow from the Supernal Fountain through the channel of his soul. If these conduits are clean and free of damage, so that he draws through them the Alupho shel Olam, then the water and [spiritual] outflow they carry will be clean and pure. But if, G-d forbid, he damages the channels of his soul, so that the Master of the World is not revealed through them, then the outflow that descends through them will not be clean.
This is the meaning of the verse: "I revealed Myself to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." The word 'el' is mentioned before each one, for each one drew the aleph - the Alupho shel Olam - through the lamed, which is the three clean conduits of his soul.1 Thus, G-d appeared to each of them in that very same aspect of "el" - as "E-l Shakai" (G-d Almighty). This is the holy emanation that flowed out to them from the Supernal Fountain. This principle applies to the entire Torah, to laws of the permitted and forbidden, or Torah legislation, as my grandfather said, that the three forefathers are represented by the three judges (that sit on a rabbinical court).3
Degel Machane Ephraim, Vaeira
1Spelled aleph lamed.
2Referring to the three columns on the chart of the Sefiros: the right hand column embodying the Sefiros of expansiveness - Chochmah, Chesed and Netzach; the left hand column embodying the Sefiros of Limitation - Binah, Gevurah and Hod; and the middle column with the Sefiros of balance: Kesser, (Da'at), Tiferes, Yesod and Malchus.
3Every rabbinical court - a beis din - must be comprised of a minimum of three judges. The Baal Shem Tov explained that they correspond to the three columns of the Sefiros, embodied by the three forefathers, Abraham (Chesed), Isaac (Gevurah) and Jacob (Tiferes).
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DIVINE LIGHT
The Mystical Light Of The Baal Shem Tov
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13. The Baal Shem Tov was an incomparable Torah giant, involved in Torah study all of his days. He had no equal. His saintly student, Reb Yaakov Yosef HaKohane of Polonoye, the author of Toldos Yaakov Yoseph,sup>1 said that before his departure from this world he would ask G-d to credit him for all the Torah and mitzvos of his entire life with the same value He gave to the Baal Shem Tov's heavenly thoughts when the latter smoked his pipe.
Zohar Cha-Truma
1The first printed Chassidic book, published in 1780
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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9-b2 If you're unable to concentrate because of extraneous thoughts, pray like a little child from the printed text.
A wise person knows when it is right to pray with the inner mystical intentions and to delight in mystical rapture. If, however, you are in a state of constrained consciousness and unable to concentrate because of being overwhelmed by extraneous thoughts, you should pray like a little child from the printed text. The Baal Shem Tov said that he was once in a foreign country for a period of time in this state of mind for his expanded consciousness had left him. He therefore attached himself to the letters.
Katones Pasim, Balak
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 39
Rabbi Ze'ira said, "Whoever repeats the Shema Yisrael should be silenced."
Rabbi Papa asked Abayee, "Perhaps this person simply did not concentrate well the first time, and the second time he is able to concentrate."
"Does G-d have any friends in heaven? If he is unable to concentrate the first time," he answered him, "He is struck with a sledgehammer 1 until he is able to concentrate."
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
The question still remains, perhaps this person wants to repeat the verse because he was unable to concentrate the first time, and now he wants to fulfill his obligation and recite it with concentration. Furthermore, why does Rabbi Ze'ira only speak about someone who repeated the Shema Yisrael, and not about any other verse in the Keriat Shema, or any other verse, for that matter?
This can be understood by understanding what it means to accept the yoke of heaven. A person should believe that G-d's glory fills all worlds, and that there is nothing in which He does not exist. Thus, G-d's existence is inherent in all of man's thoughts, and each and every human thought is a complete spiritual structure on its own. Hence, when an untoward thought arises in one's mind during prayer, it arises so that he rectifies it and raises it back to its Source. If one does not believe this, then one has not fully accepted the yoke of heaven, for he is placing a limit on G-d's existence.
Thus, the person who repeated the Keriath Shema was because he had an untoward thought the first time. But had he known that even in that untoward thought he could have found G-d, he would not have had to repeat the verse. And this is what the Talmud alludes to by being struck with a sledgehammer: The thoughts themselves are striking the person like a sledgehammer so that he rectify them and elevate them, so why does he have to repeat the Shema, which implies that G-d could not be found in his first recitation. By doing so, he places a limit on G-d's existence, and in the acceptance of the yoke of heaven, which is why he must be silenced.
However, sometimes there are thoughts that one must push aside. The question is, then, How is one to know which to push aside and which to elevate? The answer to that is that one should take note if when the untoward thought arises in one's mind, if a corresponding thought of how to rectify and elevate it arises simultaneously in one's mind, then one should work with that thought to elevate it. However, if the thought of rectifying and elevating the untoward thought does not arise in one's mind, then the untoward thought was probably sent to him simply to confuse him and distract him from his prayers. In that case, one may push the thought aside, following the rule, "If someone is pursuing you to kill you, you may kill him first."
In conclusion, if one has recited several words of the Keriath Shema or the prayers without proper concentration, one should not repeat those words orally, but one may think those words in his mind.
1Tractate Brakhoth 33a-34b.
2The usual understanding of this phrase in the Talmud is that he should be struck with a sledgehammer, but the Baal Shem Tov explains it to be saying that he is being struck by a sledgehammer.
3 In this context, the opening exclamation, "Does G-d have friends in heaven?" means that if one could say that G-d is not Alone in heaven, then one could argue that He is not everywhere, since He has to "share" the world with other beings, but since this is not so, then He must be everywhere, as the Baal Shem Tov says here.
4 Brakhoth 58a
5This entire section is from the Ben Porath Yoseph 50b-c. The Avodath Yisrael (at the end of Terumah) also quotes the idea, but with a nuance of meaning. He says that the reason why the untoward thought arose in the person's mind was because he was anyway not concentrating properly.
Although some Chassidic texts warn against working with untoward thoughts in this way, saying that only tzaddikim should tackle this advanced spiritual practice, because one can easily get caught up in and carried away by the actual untoward thought, this warning may not apply if all one does is only acknowledges the presence of the thought, attributes it to G-d, and just lets it pass by.
1Tractate Sukkah 28a.
2Tractate Brakhoth 10b.
3In the source text (Ben Porath Yoseph 56d-57a), the Baal Shem Tov adds that whatever happens to a person is also a mirror of his inner world. Thus, G-d is constantly talking to each and everyone of us, trying to make us aware of what is going on inside us. And hence, when we see some human act "out there" that is "non-kosher," we should look inside ourselves for similar failings, rather than judge the other person.
4 "Straying birds" is an allusion to straying thoughts, which were "burnt" by Rabbi Yonathan's Torah study. Similarly, no fly, being a non-kosher creature, flew over Elisha's table, because his thoughts were always holy.
The Hebrew letters are actually symbols of the deepest spiritual secrets in Creation, and serve as conduits to transmit those spiritual energies into the world. All these different energies symbolized by the different letters ultimately all come from G-d, and are thus different expressions of the One. If one is able to enter deeply into a meditative state whereat the letters and the words that one is uttering are experienced as different expressions of the Divine wisdom and love that they indeed are, one then "unites" with G-d, as if with a kiss, since his human mouth uttering those words is then one with G-d's, so to speak.
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