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THE ORIGINS OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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OBST 3
The two days preceding Wednesday were for the great Reb Chaim Rapaport very exhausting, and were it not that the Baal Shem Tov had forewarned Reb Moshe Meshel to make sure that the rabbi arose at sunrise, he would surely have overslept.
Wednesday morning proved to be a nasty day. The skies were overcast and a heavy rain poured from the heavens. Just as the Reb Chaim put his foot on the wagon, lightning and thunder furiously burst forth, so frightening the horses that they refused to move even after being beaten by the wagoner. The rabbi urged the driver on and the driver urged the horses, but they wouldn't budge. They remained at a standstill for a long time until finally the furious storm had somewhat subsided. They continued on their journey but were
delayed over and over. Once it was a wheel that fell off the wagon. Another time an axle broke, and all this while, the heavy downpour continued with no let-up.
The journey took several hours and the wagon driver was at the end of his strength. He could no longer manage the horses. So, Reb Chaim climbed up on the driver's seat and held the reins. Within minutes they had steered off the road into a ditch. It took a great amount of heaving and lifting, pushing and pulling, until they finally
succeeded in freeing the wagon.
When they finally arrived at their destination, it was two o'clock in the afternoon.
Reb Chaim had barely stepped out of the wagon when a gigantic flash of lightning lit up the whole sky and was followed by heavy peals of thunder. The sky grew black and the driver shook with fear.
"Save, me Rabbi!" cried the wagon driver, terrified. "I'm scared to death!"
Reb Chaim explained that "G-d has done this so that we may fear Him."
He sat himself down under a tree and immersed himself in his study. Instantaneously the storm passed. The sun came out and shone in all its glory. He sat there for four hours engrossed in his study. Then he suddenly felt jery thirsty. He looked about him and noticed that he had been sitting at the edge of a clearing lined with rows of tall trees. He noticed the rotted ruins of a large house that had once stood there. Reb Moshe and the wagoner went looking for some water and their search was rewarded with a well which they found nearby.
After mincha they returned home. Reb Chaim requested Moshe Meshel to stay for Shabbos, but he refused and left the following morning according to the Baal Shem Tov's instructions. He walked to the end of the city and got a lift from the first wagon that came along. He rode until Mezibuz without saying a word, as the Baal Shem Tov had explicity instructed.
He alighted and went straight to the Baal Shem Tov's house. As he entered the courtyard he saw him standing by the window motioning to him to come in. Reb Moshe entered the study of the Baal Shem Tov and received further orders. He was to finish the entire sefer Tehilim three times, adding some other significant prayers, but was not to utter a word to anyone or to smell any snuff until he had finished all that was alloted to him.
The Maggid of Mezritch, who was present when Reb Chaim Rapaport later came to report what happened to the Baal Shem Tov, recounts how grateful Reb Chaim was. Reb Chaim told that since that stay in the forest, his eyes and heart had been opened to G-d's Torah and service. From then on, he had enjoyed the holy light of a saintly soul.
That Shabbos, at the evening meal, the Baal Shem Tov told the background and the meanings of all the preceding events. It proved to be quite a lengthy story.
To be continued . . . .
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story found in Tales of the Baal Shem Tov by Y.Y. Klapholtz
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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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THE CANOPY OF FIRE
It was Simchat Torah at the synagogue of the Baal Shem Tov. After the evening, Yom Tov (holyday) prayers, the Chassidim left the synagogue to eat the special Yom Tov dinner and then returned to join their Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, in the festivities. They gathered in the study hall of the synagogue and danced and whirled and twirled around in a circle for many hours while they passed the Sefer Torahs from one to another, sang the traditional Simchat Torah songs, and drank lots of wine.
By early morning, the faithful were feeling very b'simchah (joyful) and some even a little shicher (drunk). They begged the shammos (synagogue caretaker) to bring up more wine from the Baal Shem Tov's wine cellar.
When Chana, the Baal Shem Tov's wife, heard the commotion from the study hall and the Chassidim pleading with the Shammos caretaker to bring up more wine from the wine cellar, she became worried that there wouldn't be enough wine left for making the blessing over Kiddush and Havdalah (brief ceremony to separate the weekdays from the Sabbath or Holy days).
So, she quickly went into the private study of her husband, the Baal Shem Tov, and requested of him, "YIsrael, go into the study hall and tell your Chassidim to stop drinking and dancing because we won't have enough wine for making Kiddush and Havdalah.
The Baal Shem Tov chuckled and said, "Chana, I agree. Would you please tell them to stop and go home?"
She immediately went into the study hall to give the Chassidim the message from the Rebbe. But when she entered the hall, she saw them still dancing in a circle with flames of fire burning above their heads in the shape of a circular canopy. She immediately collected the empty wine containers scattered around the hall, went down to the wine cellar to refill them, and brought them back to the dancing Chassidim.
A while later, the Baal Shem Tov inquired, "So Chana, did you tell them to go home?"
Chana answered, "Next time, Yisrael, it might be better if you tell them yourself."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaKohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story entitled The Dance of the Chassidim from In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov.
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov on the Torah
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In the beginning - Bereshis (Bereshis 1:1)
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
When the Moshiach comes, may it be speedily in our days, he will expound upon the letter combinations of each word in the Torah, from beginning to end.1Then he will combine the entire Torah into one word,2 so that the letter permutations will be infinite. Then he will expound upon all the combinations.
Teshuos Chen, Tazria
1The letters of the Torah, though inscribed in a pattern that tells the story of the creation of the world, and the history and laws of the Jewish people, are not fixed. It is possible to rearrange the letters to gain new insights into the meaning of the text, and G-d's will for man. Furthermore, the letters of Torah represent the creative energies of G-d that enter the world, and arranging them in different patterns can affect the flow of energy from above. By meditating on the letters, in their different combinations, mystical states of consciousness can be obtained. There are various techniques for letter combination, such as tzerufi osiyos, letter recombination; gematria, using the numerical value of each Hebrew letter, roshei tevos and sofei tevos, words derived from the first and last letters of words in a verse; the division of letters into their component parts. Thus, there is an infinite amount of meaning that can be derived from the Torah.
2See Zohar 3:36a: "The Torah is all one holy Name of the Holy One." Also, ibid. 2:90b: "The Torah is really all one Name of G-d. Fortunate is the lot of one who merits it. One who merits the Torah, merits the holy Name." See also ibid. 3:73a, 3:268b, 2:144a. See, also, Bris Menucha, Introduction, p. 3c: "About this, they said that the entire Torah is all one Name, and all the words are Names that can cause effects."
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