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ORIGINS OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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OBST 9
In the last installment, the Baal Shem continued telling the story of how Reb Avraham Moshe helped his great uncle Moshe return to the the path of Torah and Mitzvahs and the Divine Providence and effect of Moshe doing the mitzvah of washing his hands in a spring on his property.
In the year 5261 a certain Spanish Jew called Reb Yossef Yozpa came to settle in the city of Cracow. An unmarried man of solitary habits, he was highly respected in the community for his righteousness. His days were spent entirely in study and prayer.
Thirty years after he had come to live in Cracow something occurred which was to change his whole way of life.
There lived at that time in Cracow another man by the name of Reb Yossef. He was a young, successful merchant, respected in the community. His business dealings brought him into contact with the noblemen of the area who both liked and trusted the generous and clever Yossef.
The Jews availed themselves of his contacts with the noblemen many times and he never refused to put in a good word in the high places when necessary to help a fellow Jew.
One time, as he was traveling with his manservant to a distant country on business, he was attacked by a band of thieves. They murdered him and his servant and robbed them of all their belongings. The entire city of Cracow mourned its great loss and grieved at the terrible fate that had befallen the unfortunate Reb Yossef.
Reb Yossef left behind him a childless widow. She was obliged to have Chalitzo - the mitzvah whereby the deceased man's brother releases himself from the obligation of marrying the widow and having children to carry on his brother's name. In Cracow, this mitzva was fulfilled in a large public ceremony. At the gathering, the Shamos of the shule announced that anyone who wanted to marry the widow should declare his intentions. No one stepped forward to offer their hand in marriage to the widow.
Six months passed and the widow remained alone. One day, Reb Yossef Yozpa the Tzadik, although an old man by this time, came to shule and announced his intention to marry the young widow. The Beis Din sent a messenger to fetch the widow. When she came before the bais din, she burst into tears of relief. When asked to explain her tears, she told of a recurring dream where her deceased father came to her in his Shabbos clothes, blessed her and instructed her to marry Reb Yossef Yozpa. She was embarrased to approach Reb Yossef. Finally, her father had insisted that she send a message to Reb Yossef asking for his agreement to get married to her. Before she had a chance to follow her father's instructions, she heard that he wanted to marry her and she was overjoyed.
The entire community rejoiced and came to participate in the elaborate wedding. The choson and kallah marched down to the chupah between the two rows of all of the Kohanim in the city, who were dressed in their immaculate white kittels. They blessed the couple with the Birchas Kohanim.
The local community provided the unusual couple with a home as well as their other necessities. After a year, they were blessed with a son whom they named Eliyohu after Eliyohu Hanovi.
At the age of two, the boy was already learning Torah with his father. Reb Yossef Yozpa r taught him until the age of Bar Mitzvah, in holiness and seclusion from mundane matters.
Two weeks before the boy's Bar Mitzvah, Reb Yossef called his wife to him and told her that he will leave the world before the Bar Mitzvah. He asked her not to cry or mourn over him too much. Further, he instructed her that she must permit their son to follow the path he desired without any interference from her. He also told her that Eliyohu Hanovi had appeared to him at the time her first husband was deceased. At that time, Eliyohu Hanovi told him that he was to marry her in order to bring to earth a certain pure soul whose task it was to help the Jewish ciommunity.From that time on until they were married, he had learned Torah with Eliyohu Hanovi.
Reb Yossef then called all the heads of the community to him and asked them to continue supporting his wife and child as they had done so generously until then after he departed. He thanked them for their kindness and his soul left his body in purity.
The young Eliyohu said Kaddish and studied Mishnayos for his father's soul. All who saw and heard him were convinced of his greatness and piety.
Young Eliyohu's Bar Mitzvah was celebrated by the entire community. Several weeks later, Eliyohu told his mother that he wished to leave home and wander. Remembering her husband's words, she agreed to let him go, blessed him and sent him on his way.
During the next forty years, from 5310 untill 5350, no one knew of Eliyohu, where he was or what he did. When he finally settled in Worms, Germany, he was already famous as Reb Eliyohu Baal Shem.
To be continued . . . . .
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story in Sefer Hazichronos by Reb Yossef 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 and the Orchard in Winter
And then there was the time that the Baal Shem Tov was traveling during the winter in Russia with one of his close disciples, Rabbi Moshe Shoham. Being that the country roads In Russia were usually covered with snow during the winter, they were traveling in a sleigh.
One day, they realized that it was the 15th of Shvat, and they had no fruit with which to celebrate the holiday. So the Baal Shem Tov told his wagon driver, Alexei, to drive the sleigh off the main road and into the fields.
They went for a short distance and came upon a field that not only was not snow-covered, but had in it an orchard of oranges. Moreover, it not only was not cold there, but the climate was tropical!
They immediately went over, picked some of the oranges, and joyfully made the blessings, including shehechayanu, to celebrate the holiday.
Rabbi Moshe Shoham also took a few oranges back to the sleigh, to have for later. All this time, he did not even wonder how it was possible for an orange orchard, with a tropical climate, appear suddenly in the Russian countryside in the middle of winter! In fact, oranges do not grow in Russia at any time of the year! But being that he was often in the company of the Baal Shem Tov, he was so used to seeing miracles that this miraculous event did not even cause him to marvel!
As they started to walk back to where Alexei was waiting with the sleigh, Rabbi Moshe regretted that he had not taken several more oranges.
They got onto the sleigh and started back to the main road. When they reached the main road, the Baal Shem Tov announced that he wanted to rest briefly before continuing the journey.
Rabbi Moshe immediately decided to take the opportunity to return to the orchard. He followed the path of the sleigh tracks to that field, but when he reached it, there was no orchard!
And when he returned to the sleigh, the few oranges he had picked and put in the sleigh had also disappeared. When he asked the Baal Shem Tov about this, the Baal Shem Tov told him, "When I felt unhappy about having no fruit and not being able to celebrate Tu BeShvat, I brought-- by mystical means-- an orchard from the Land of Israel here. But since the whole point was to perform a mitzvah, not for personal benefit, the orchard and the few fruit you had taken disappeared afterward."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohn (Patent Attoney) from a story translated by Maggid Yitzchak Buxbaum
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SEFER BAAL SHEM TOV
The Teachings Of The Baal Shem Tov On Prayer
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Now all the wells that his father's servants had dug while Abraham was still alive, the Philistines had sealed them up, and filled them with earth. (Toldot 26:15)
This is the mystery of all the wells that the Forefathers dug in order to find water - meaning, Torah - in the "earth" - i.e. on the lowest level.1
For each of them, by perfecting his character traits, brought forth a revelation of Torah - "a well of living water" (ibid. 26:19) - from the earth and the lowest levels, so that it not be covered over again.
However, after Abraham died, these revelations were sealed up by the "earth" that covered the "water." This was due to the Philistines - the impure shells that reasserted themselves. But Isaac came and redug the wells, as it is written: He redug the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham" (ibid. 26:18). This too refers to the revelation of Torah by Abraham and Isaac. And even today, Torah lies hidden in those very deeds of Abraham and Isaac.
And all of this was to repair the future generations, for were it not for the Forefathers, it would be impossible to have any understanding of Torah, and to draw close to G-d at all.
Me'or Einayim, Vayetze
1Water is a common metaphor for Torah, as in the verse: "Ho, every one that thirsts, come you for water. . . " (Isaiah 55:1). Earth is considered the lowest of the four elements of fire, air, water and earth.
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DIVINE LIGHT
The Mystical Light Of The Baal Shem Tov
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6. The author of Toldos Yitzchak, Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Weisz of Neshchiz (1824-1894) said, in the name of his father, that not all of the miracle stories told about Tzaddikim are authentic, for many seem implausible. Not so are the stories of the Baal Shem Tov because even if the miracle attributed to him didn't actually happen, the Baal Shem Tov could have done it.
Zichron Tov, p. 9b
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-a4 When the impure shells hear the voice of one's prayer, they try and interrupt the person's prayers with foreign and empty thoughts.
When the Jewish people pray and attach themselves to G-d, a voice calls out, "Go out and see, O' Daughters of Zion."1 If you are not ready or able to make this union, they tell you to "go out," but if you are ready, you will "see."2
When the impure shells hear this voice, they try to interrupt a person's prayers with foreign and empty thoughts. But a smart person will cling to their Creator in love and fear. This uplifts the sparks of life within these thoughts. Ask yourself, "Why should I cling to the material aspect of the things when it is better to cling to its inner essence, which derives from G-d's Chochmah? Is it not written, 'You have made them all with wisdom?'"3
Kesser Shem Tov, part 2 p. 19b
1Song of Songs 3:11
2Referring to spiritual perception
3Psalms 104:24
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 26
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
Since the Shechinah (the Divine Presence) encompasses all worlds - the inanimate, the plant, the animal, and the human worlds - including all types of creatures, good and evil alike, and the Shechinah is the Absolute Unity, how can two utterly opposite entities exist in one thing? For good and evil are complete antitheses, while the Shechinah is an Undifferentiated One.
However, evil is actually a vehicle of good. An example is when Pharaoh pursued the to the Red Sea, regarding which the verse says that, "Pharaoh came close"1 - literally, brought them close.2 Another example is when one sees how the wicked behave, and then one is grateful that one is not that way, in which case, the evil brings him the pleasure and satisfaction of being righteous. In fact, evil is virtually elevated in this way, only that as soon as the evil is thus elevated, its evilness is dissipated.3 An evil thought is also a vehicle in this fashion.4
Also, sometimes a soul descends from the world of Atzilut [the spiritual world closest to G-d] into the world of Asiyah [representing the physical world] and sees how people are not respecting the honor of the King of world. This soul is greatly distressed by this lack of respect for the King's honor, but then he has pleasure that he is not among those people.
This explains the verse, "G-d said to Abram"5 (Abram symbolizes the soul, as stated in the Zohar I 80b ), "Go away from your homeland," that is, from the world of Atzilut to the world of Beriah [the world immediately below Atzilut], "and from your birthplace," that is, from the world of Beriah to the world of Yetzirah [the world below Beriah], "and from your father's house," that is, from Yetzirah to Asiyah, which is, "the land that I will show you." That is, there you will see how the people of the world of Asiyah disrespect G-d's honor, and you should rebuke them.
1
Exodus 14:10
2 By causing the Israelites to fear for their lives and to cry to G-d, Pharaoh was thus responsible for bringing them closer to G-d.
3 Toldot Yaakov Yoseph, Lech Lecha 1.
4This teaching can be understood within the context of the teaching that everything that G-d created is good - including the evil inclination (Midrash), and the existence of evil in this world is actually only from our perspective. Hence, when one reaches this realization, and uses "evil" for its true purpose of being a vehicle in various ways for reaching G-d, its evilness dissipates.
4 That is, if one realizes that the thought was only sent to him for the purpose of his realizing that it was sent from G-d, this very realization brings him closer to G-d.
5 Genesis 12:1
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