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ORIGINS OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
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OBST 17
When Reb Boruch returned to Posen he found out that the evil spirits in Avigdor Tuvia's house were doing wilder things than ever at nighttime. The whole neighborhood was terrified. The building lost all its tenants. They all fled for no one wanted to risk staying there any longer. Things reached such a state that the magistrate of Posen, a religious Christian, came to Portugal St. to see for himself what was going on.
When he reached the place and heard the voices and the roaring, dancing, and Jumping coming from within he was panic stricken. He immediately called for the bishop and commanded him to do something to chase away the spirits. The bishop gathered some priests and made a service in his church. He performed certain religious ceremonies with crosses and "holy" pictures. Then they came and encircled the house and sprayed the walls with "holy" waters while they prayed. In the midst of the ceremony the windows flew open and strange frightening faces peered out. They stuck out long red tongues and burst out laughing and cursing the priests in coarse language. A deadly fear seized the priests, many fainting on the spot, many fleeing away, while the bishop fell down unconscious. The whole city was in an uproar. When Reb Boruch returned he saw it as an opportune occasion to sanctify G-d's name by revealing Reb Yoel's power.
He gathered the heads of the community together and told them what his rebbe had commanded. They found the heirs of the house and succeeded in con-vincing them to transform the house into a House of Study in the name of Avigdor Tuvia and Sara Gitel.
Reb Boruch called together ten of Reb Yoel's followers to start the procedures for the dedication of the new Beis Hamedrosh. As they took the Sifrei Torah from the city shul and began walking to the new shul, hundreds of men and women, Jews and non-Jews, followed along, all curious to see what would happen this time.
When the ten men reached the house gates they could hear wild howling laughter from within. The sounds resembled the barking of dogs, cackling of roos-ters, howling of cats, and the braying of donkeys. Pear seized the hearts of the people who had followed along. Only Reb Boruch and his disciples remained fearless. They felt themselves firm, trusting in their holy rebbe's command.
They called out three times to the spirits, com-manding them to leave the place. When the spirits were not quieted, two of the young men broke down the front door and the six carrying Sifrei Torah entered the apartment. The instant they crossed the threshhold they heard the sound of shattered glass. The windows splintered and through them burst forth an immense horde of such frightful creatures that the whole crowd was terrified. But it was the creatures who fled from fear of the living. The building was cleared of all evil. The only remaining vestige was a sickening stench that disappeared as soon as they began the prayers.
The news of the Baal Shem's power spread quickly in all of Posen. The magistrate and the bishop also found out of the wondrous deed and they were very impressed. This episode should have facilitated the acceptance of the Baal Shem's philosophy in the city, but this was not the case. The misnagdim's jealousy and opposition flamed higher. They disapproved that such an incident with spirits and demons should serve to strengthen the following of the nistorim and that their way of life should be accepted throughout the city and in the neighboring villages.
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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A BUNDLE OF GREENS
Reb Eliezer Lippa was a simple but devout Jew who lived in the town of Taranow in Galicia. He was not well versed in Torah and didn't know the meaning of most of his daily prayers, but he always prayed with the minyan (prayer quorum) and he was scrupulous to say all the proper responses to the prayer leader. He never conversed about worldly matters in the Shul and he accorded the Torah scholars and Rabbi their due honor.
Reb Eliezer Lippa was a laborer who knew many trades, but he was most well known as a water carrier. He worked hard, and managed to make a decent living, as he had four steady customers who were well-to-do merchants and paid him above the average rate for his services.
One day, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov arrived in Taranow. This was before the Chassidic master had revealed himself to the world, and he appeared as a simple itinerant, but with a gift for telling stories. He used to congregate with the other laborers and tell them stories from the Talmud. He would also speak to them about how much G-d was pleased with the sincere prayers and straightforward faith of ordinary Jews.
Reb Eliezer Lippa was guiding his wagon with its full barrel of water through the center of town when he spotted his friend and fellow water carrier Reb Zalman Dov along with some other men, gathered around a simply dressed itinerant and listening intently with heads inclined to catch his every word.
His interest sparked, Reb Eliezer Lippa went over to join the circle of listeners. The Baal Shem Tov was telling the story related in the Talmud of a wealthy man who lived in the days when the Holy Temple in Jerusalem still stood.
"The wealthy man was taking a fattened ox to the Temple for a sacrifice. It was a massive beast, and when it decided, for reasons of its own, to stop still in its tracks, nobody was able to convince it to walk further towards their destination. No amount of pushing and prodding could make that animal budge.
"A poor man who was on his way home was watching the scene. In his hand was a bunch of freshly picked greens. These he now held to the muzzle of the ox, and when the animal began to nibble, he drew them away and thereby led the animal to its destination at the Holy Temple.
"That night the owner of the ox had a dream. In his dream he heard a voice which called out, 'The sacrifice of the poor man, who gave up the bundle of greens he was bringing to his impoverished family, was a more desirable sacrifice than your fattened ox.'
"The wealthy man brought a large fattened ox for a burnt offering. He was so joyful at being able to bring such an animal that he also brought a sheep for a peace offering and made a huge feast for his family and friends. He also distributed the proper gifts from his sacrifices to the priests. His joy was so intense that he held back nothing. The poor man, on the other hand, had only a bunch of greens to bring home for his family. What were his few stalks compared to the fattened animal of the wealthy man?
"Nevertheless," concluded the Baal Shem Tov, "G-d desires the heart. Any mitzvah a person may do, whether great or small, simple or difficult, is judged by how it is performed. A mitzvah done for G-d's sake, with great joy and purity of heart, is very precious to the Creator. G-d cries out to the angels, 'Look at the mitzvah my son/daughter has done!' G-d, from his place in the heavens saw that although the wealthy man had offered much, the poor man had offered much more."
Reb Eliezer Lippa's mind knew no rest. How he longed to be able to do a mitzvah like the poor man in the story, with pure intention and a joyful overflowing heart! The weeks passed and still Reb Eliezer Lippa knew no peace as his heart ached with the desire to be able to do such a mitzvah.
One day, as Reb Eliezer Lippa was delivering water to one of his wealthy customers, he had an idea, an idea so perfect that his whole being became flushed with a great sense of pleasure and relief. Reb Eliezer Lippa's four wealthy customers provided him with half of his livelihood since they paid him far more than the going rate for a barrel of water. On the other hand, his friend Reb Zalman Dov supplied the town's four synagogues, which paid him half price for their water. "I can exchange four of my customers for four of his," thought Reb Eliezer Lippa. "Four wealthy homes for four synagogues." He was anxious to serve G-d by providing the water that the congregants would wash their hands with. Certainly the mitzvah was of more value than the profits he would give up.
He went home and told his wife about the story he heard from the visiting storyteller, and how doing a mitzvah with joy is like bringing a sacrifice in the Holy Temple even though it no longer stands. His wife readily agreed to the idea, as did Reb Zalman Dov who sorely needed the extra income. The deal was struck and the exchange of customers was made. No one but Reb Eliezer Lippa and his wife knew what had happened and they were overjoyed at the prospects for their new "business." There were days when Reb Eliezer Lippa's wife went to the river to participate in the mitzvah of drawing the water for the synagogues. As they hauled the water, they would concentrate on the mitzvah of preparing the water for the congregants to wash their hands with before prayers, and their joy was boundless. For they understood that G-d desires the heart.
Amongst Chassidim there is a tradition that it was in the merit of their mitzvah, Reb Eliezer Lippa and his wife were blessed with children, for she had formerly been barren. They gave birth to two sons, who grew to be luminaries who lit up the Jewish world and inspired tens of thousand to return to G-d and to serve Him with joy: Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensc and Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli, two of the most illustrious disciples of the Baal Shem Tov's successor, Reb DovBer, the Maggid of Mezeritch.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir Cohn from a story published by Rabbi Yerachmiel Tilles of Ascent in Safed 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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14. One day, Reb Dovid, head of the Ostrow Beis Din, was shown by the Baal Shem Tov the new heavens that he had created by his thoughts while smoking. Reb Dovid fell into a faint from the awe and fear that the sight inspired in him. The Baal Shem Tov was worthy of all this through constant study of Torah for its own sake, through prayer with a minyan , and through daily purification in a mikveh.
Zohar Chai-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-b3 When you are on a low level, pray from a prayer book.
WHEN you are on a low level, pray from a prayer book because seeing the letters will help you concentrate. However, when you cleave to the Upper Worlds, it is better for you to close yours eyes so as not to see anything that might interrupt your dveikut.
Tzava'as HaRivash 40
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 43
"It was said that whenever Rabbi Yonathan son of Uziel sat down to delve into the Torah, any bird straying over his head was burnt by his words."1
"No fly passed over the table of the prophet Elisha."2
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
Wherever a person's thoughts are, so is he surrounded by spiritual worlds that mirror his thoughts. If his thoughts are holy, so is he surrounded by holy worlds, but if his thoughts are impure, so is he surrounded by impure worlds.
By the same token, wherever a person's thoughts are, and whichever worlds surround him, so is he surrounded in this earthly world, be it with kosher birds and animals, or non-kosher birds and animals.3
And there are three categories of worlds: the pure, the impure, and the in-between. Above these categories is the world of pure thought, which cannot be fathomed.
This, then, is why any bird straying above Rabbi Yonathan son of Uziel was burnt,4 and why no fly passed over Elisha's table, by way of which his host knew that he was a holy man, because his thoughts were holy.
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.
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