THE HOLY MIKVEH YID

"And if you denigrate My decrees and grow tired of My laws, then you will not keep all of My commandments, and you will have broken My covenant. I will then do the same to you. I will bring upon you feelings of anxiety, along with depression and excitement, destroying your outlook and making life hopeless."
Leviticus 26:15,16

And then there was the time that the Mezritcher Maggid (Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezritch, the successor to Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov) invited a few of his Chassidim to accompany him on a long journey by carriage to console the widow of the Mikveh Yid of Lemberg. A Mikveh Yid was a simple Jewish man whose main job was to care for the Mikveh (ritual bath), keep it warm in the winter and to provide an understanding ear to the Chassidim that use it daily. While the Chassidim were excited to accompany the Mezritcher Maggid, they quietly asked each other, "Why is the Rebbe taking such interest in a mere Mikveh Yid (Yiddish for Jewish person)?"

The Mezritcher Maggid heard their mumblings and finally said, "So you are all wondering why I would interrupt your Torah studies for a simple Jew. Let me tell you a story." As the Mezritcher Maggid recounted the following story, the long trip to Lemberg seemed to take only a few moments.

"Years ago, there lived a Jewish tailor, Reb Moshe, in a village nearby to Mezeritch. He was a fine tailor and even made clothes for the local non-Jewish noblemen. Besides his skills as a tailor, he had a knack to make everyone laugh. A budding comedian."

Once, one of the local noblemen was being fitted for a new suit in his shop. After hearing some jokes that made him nearly cry from laughter, the nobleman said, "Moshe, why not come to my castle and tell a few jokes. Look, I'm having a special party tonight and I'd just love for you to come and entertain my guest. And I'll pay you for your time of course." Reb Moshe reluctantly agreed.

Later, when he sheepishly told the news to his wife Channah, she wasn't happy about this turn of events. "Moshe, this isn't something we Jews do." But Reb Moshe was very excited and they agreed, "But only tonight." He quickly forgot this promise as he thought over and over during his long walk to the castle, "I'm going to be a performer."

Even though Reb Moshe was very nervous, the jokes went over extremely well. And afterwards, with everyone in a jovial mood from Reb Moshe's performance, they gathered around and heartily congratulated him. Suddenly a glass of wine was placed in his hand while "his new friends" all raised their glasses in a toast to Reb Moshe. Reb Moshe unhappily thought, "This is probably non-kosher wine." But then he thought, "I don't want to embarrass my new friends." So he drank non-kosher wine for the first time in his life.

Just as he finished the wine, a waiter handed him a sandwich filled with steaming, roasted white meat. "The Count sends this to you and congratulates you with the success of your performance tonight," said the waiter. As Moshe glanced over at the smiling Count, he thought, "Oh my G·d, white meat, it's probably from that roasted pig that they're slicing right now. But my new friends are so nice to me and I don't want to throw my Jewishness in their face!" So he took a bite. Shortly thereafter, Reb Moshe returned to his home and his wife and forgot about the incident.

A few weeks passed, and another nobleman, while being fitted in his tailor shop, invited him to perform at a party he was giving. Reb Moshe immediately agreed, "Oh Count, I'd love to entertain your friends at the castle."

But when Reb Moshe told his wife Channah of his intention to perform again, she became really upset. She started to plead, "Moshe, you promised last time not to go again, it's against our ways, please Moshe, please don't go." But Moshe wasn't listening to her. Instead, he was thinking about his new friends and that, 'They really like me and love my humor."

This time Moshe was more relaxed and he was even funnier. Both his old friends and new acquaintances were rolling in the aisles. And again Moshe ate and drank non kosher food against his better judgment. But "Good G·d, what's the big deal once or twice?" he thought.

Soon, he became a sought after guest at the frequent parties given by the noblemen. Not only did he eat and drink non-kosher food and wine, but he started staying later and later and even getting drunk. Then one night, he started looking at all of the beautiful women and noticed how they were hanging on to his every word and even flirting with him. "They really like me and look at them looking at me, even casually touching me," he thought. "And at home, there is Channah that Yenta (gossiper)."

In truth, Channah was very pure and had a very holy soul. But Moshe, having strayed from the path of Torah and Mitzvot, had fallen so low and become so coarse that he could no longer appreciate her refinement. He even changed his name to Michal.

And so Michal started to only come home for fresh clothes. He felt so guilty that he often had screaming arguments with Channah. He would yell, "Why are you always glaring at me? There's not one friendly word coming from your miserable mouth. You won't even go to the mikveh any more!" She would argue back, "Please, please Moshe why are you doing this, you're a Jew, we're married, what about our parents?" Finally, one night, as she clung to him begging him not to go, he pushed her away and never returned home again.

Soon thereafter, one of his patrons told him privately, "Michal, I just wanted to tell you as a friend that we all feel, well to be blunt, that you're jokes are getting, how should I say, a little stale. Maybe you should get some new material."

Michal felt dejected. And nothing funny was coming to him.

A few days later, the village was buzzing. "Did you hear, the Holy Baal Shem Tov is coming for Shabbat? And I'm sure he'll give us all his blessing. Tell everybody there's a special dinner with the Rebbe on Shabbat night."

Michal had a great idea. He'd develop a show imitating the Baal Shem Tov. With all of the miracle stories circulating around, everyone, even the non-Jews, was curious about the famous Holy man.

So the next Shabbos night, when the Baal Shem Tov was in town, Michal, instead of partying with his new friends as was his new custom on Friday night, went to the synagogue to study the behavior of the Baal Shem Tov. He thought, "All I have to do is mimic this Holy man, how he sways when he prays, how he jumps when he dances, and how he moves his hands when he speaks."

So Michal carefully studied the Baal Shem Tov, but nothing struck him as being funny. The only thing he really noticed was that the Baal Shem Tov's joyful mood. Michal found himself both confused and mysteriously moved in the presence of the Baal Shem Tov. So he thought, "let me relax and watch him eating dinner with the Chassidim".

Later that night, the Baal Shem Tov invited the local villagers to join him for Shabbat dinner. Michal tried to get into the room crowded with the followers of the Baal Shem Tov but they weren't about to let him in. Everyone knew he was no longer living according to the Jewish laws and moreover, he had forsaken his wife. "Get out of here you filthy swine!" they yelled at him.

Only after Michal threatened them, "You'd better let me in or I'll speak with some my noblemen friends!" did they let him in. Michal wasn't satisfied with just being in the room. He pushed through the crowd until he was sitting across from the Baal Shem Tov. The joyful way the Baal Shem Tov made Kiddush and ritually washed his hands before eating the challah (Shabbat bread) didn't provide him any help in creating humor about the Baal Shem Tov's actions. As the evening progressed, the Baal Shem Tov started to speak thoughts of Torah. Michal felt his heart break as the Baal Shem Tov's words penetrated through the thick shell that had formed around his heart from his behavior.

And then the Baal Shem Tov began teaching, "Before we are born, while we are still in the womb, an angel comes with a candle and teaches us the entire Torah that is ours for this lifetime. And then, when we are born, the angel makes us forget all the Torah that was taught to us. Lucky is the person who finds a Rebbe that teaches word by word the Torah they learned and forgot before their birth."

Just then, Reb Moshe (he stopped thinking of himself as Michal) thought, "The Baal Shem Tov is speaking the Torah I learned before I was born." And then he could feel the Baal Shem Tov's words flow into his heart. Suddenly Reb Moshe realized, "Oh my G·d, my life as a comedian is empty and a curse." He felt completely lost and confused.

Right after the Shabbat dinner, Reb Moshe rushed over to the Baal Shem Tov and asked, "Rebbe, I beg you, guide me to do Teshuvah (return to the way of Torah and Mitzvot).

The Baal Shem Tov told him, "Go to the synagogue and pray, fast and study Torah for the entire week until next Shabbat. Then, go home for Shabbat and afterwards begin the fasting again."

"But how will I know when to stop the weekly fasting?" asked Reb Moshe.

The Baal Shem Tov answered, "HaShem (G·d) will give you a sign. Now go."

So Reb Moshe immediately went to a little synagogue and spent the week praying, studying and fasting. He wasn't used to fasting and became weaker by the day. By Friday afternoon, Moshe couldn't even move. He asked the shamash (caretaker) to help him home after the Friday evening Shabbat prayers. Moshe was so weak that he fell asleep. The shamash forgot about Moshe and no one else noticed him. When Moshe awoke, the synagogue was locked and he couldn't get out. He was so weak that he expected to die. He started to cry and prayed to G·d to forgive him for his sins.

Suddenly, a holy man appeared in the locked synagogue and introduced himself as Eliyahu HaNavi (Elijah the Prophet). The Prophet told Reb Moshe, "Go to Lemberg and become the caretaker of the mikveh. I promise to come and study Torah with you every night." Just as he had come, Eliyahu HaNavi suddenly disappeared.

Just then, the shamash opened the door to the synagogue. "Reb Moshe, I'm sorry I forgot you. I was already sleeping when I heard a loud knock on my window. When I got up, I looked to see who was banging on my window. I didn't see anyone but I did remember that I forgot you."

When the shamash and Reb Moshe arrived at Moshe's home, they could see the light of the Shabbat candles through the window. Reb Moshe knocked on the door and said, "Channah, it's me Moshe. Please open the door."

But Channah wouldn't let him in. Finally, with the help of the shamash, Reb Moshe convinced her he had changed. "Okay," Channah finally relented, "you can come in but you'll have to sleep in the kitchen." She knew her husband had returned to himself when she saw him make Kiddush.

So Reb Moshe and his wife Channah moved to Lemberg where he took the job as the mikveh Yid. And promised, Eliyahu HaNavi came to learn with Moshe every night.

One night, the Rabbi of Lemberg (a secret Kabbalist), noticed a luminous light coming from Moshe's house. After being confronted by the Rabbi, Moshe admitted, "the light is from Eliyahu HaNavi who is learning Torah with me every night." The Rabbi begged Moshe to ask Eliyahu HaNavi if he could join them. Eliyahu HaNavi said, "No, but you can teach the Rabbi the next day whatever we learn the night before."

At first, this arrangement was fine for the Rabbi. But then, he wanted a sign that the teaching wasn't coming from the dark side. So Eliyahu HaNavi gave him the sign through Moshe that no one in the town would die while the nightly learning continued. Then, one day, the Rabbi was called to a funeral, the first since Eliyahu HaNavi had given the sign. He knew at once that Reb Moshe, the mikveh Yid, had died.

Upon completing the story, the Mezritcher Maggid said to his Chassidim, "Now don't you agree that we should pay our respects to the Holy Mikveh Yid who did such great Teshuvah?"

And so it was.

Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story heard from Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach of blessed memory.

If you follow My statutes . . . I will give your rain in its season" Leviticus 26:3-4

According to its simple meaning, this verse can be explained as follows. The Talmud states: "Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa was traveling on the road. It began to rain. 'Master of the World! The entire world is comfortable, and Chanina is suffering!' he said. The rain stopped."¹ It turns out that the rain stopped for the sake of this Tzaddik. However, "If you follow My statutes" you will all be Tzaddikim. Then the prayers of an individual Tzaddik will be ineffective compared to those of the majority. Then your rain will come in its season.

I heard another question about [R. Chanina's] statement: "The entire world is comfortable. . . . ." Why did he have to say this? He could have put it much more concisely: "Chanina is suffering!" Furthermore, G·d forbid that we should say that he was upset because the whole world was comfortable.

I think that this can be explained with a statement of our Sages: "Every day, a Heavenly Voice issues forth and says, 'The entire world is sustained on account of (bishvil) My son Chanina, while My son Chanina subsists on a kav of carobs from Friday to Friday.'"² It turns out that Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa was the conduit that channeled blessing to the entire world. This is the meaning of "on account of My son Chanina," for [shvil] has the meaning of path and conduit.³ Just like a pathway through which everything passes, so he transmitted blessing to the world.

Thus he said, "The entire world is comfortable," meaning, "Since their comfort reaches them through my influence, how can there be blessing if I am suffering? It will not be a complete comfort. Perhaps, G·d forbid, the rain will not carry blessing and benevolence due to my pain. And even though he sufficed with a little, as is the way of Tzaddikim, and did not suffer over this at all, in this case, he really was suffering and was unable to bestow complete blessing. He was upset that the world would be ruined. The essence of his prayer was that the rain should stop now, but that when he arrives home, he will be at ease and able to pray that the rain start again (to convey blessing).
Likutim Yikarim, p. 6d

¹Ta'anis 24b. The Talmud continues: "When he arrived home, he said, 'Should the entire world suffer (for loss of rain) and Chanina be at ease?' It started to rain."
²Ibid. A kav is about 2.5 pints.
³The word bishvil, which means "on account of" can also be read b'shvil, "in the path of."
⁴ Chagiga 5b. The story concludes with the king asking each of them the meaning of their gestures. Rabbi Yehoshua understood the gesture of the apostate, but the apostate did not understand Rabbi Yehoshua. The king said, "A person who does not understand what is being signaled to him should not be making signs before the king," and he sentenced the apostate to death.

Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Shore

Section 120.

It is explained in the writings of the Arizal that until the Messiah comes, no two day's prayers ever share the same aspect. This is the meaning of the Mishnah: "If a person makes his prayers fixed, his prayers are not a supplication."¹

A proof of this is found in the extraneous thoughts that enter a person's mind during prayers, which derive from the mystery of the Breaking [of the Vessels] and the 288 sparks that a person must extract each day.² These come to a person in order for him to repair and uplift them. Thus, the foreign thoughts of one day are not like those of the next, as is clear to anyone who pays attention. Now, I heard from my Master a way to rectify these thoughts. If a man has fantasies about women, he should uplift them and attach them to their root in Chesed, in the mystery of the verse: "If a man takes his sister . . . and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness,³ it is kindness (Chesed)" (Leviticus 20:17). Similarly, idolatrous thoughts blemish the Beauty of Israel.⁴ Let this be sufficient. Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Vayakhel, p. 275c

¹Berachos 18b.
²In the primordial Shattering of the Vessels, 288 sparks of holiness fell into the lower worlds. Fragments of these sparks are uplifted each day through the work Torah study and mitzvos. When all of the sparks have been redeemed, the Messianic Era will arrive.
³I.e., if they have sexual relations.
⁴Tiferes Yisroel (see Lamentation 2:1). The reference here is to the Sefirah of Tiferes, embodying the Divine forces of Beauty and Harmony. Idolatry is a fallen manifestation of this force, in that the idol becomes a focus of adoration. Likewise, illicit desire is a perversion of the pure love that derives from the Sefirah of Chesed.

Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Shore

Section 4.

The holy Rabbi Yitzchok of Nechshiz, (Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Weisz (1824-1894)) author of Toldos Yitzchok, said in the name of his father, that he does not take seriously any of the miracle stories told about tzaddikim, for many are false and filled with mistakes. Not so, however, with the stories told about the Baal Shem Tov because even if the miracle described in the story didn't actually happen, the Baal Shem Tov always could have done it.
Zichron Tov, p. 9b

Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Shore

Section 152

The Baal Shem Tov taught¹:

Why was the Exodus from Egypt brought about specifically by the plague that killed the First Born?

The concept of the "first born" is connected with novel ideas that arise in the mind, that is, one should use one's mind in holiness, to come up with new ways in which to serve G·d . On the other hand, the "first born" of the handmaid represents the kelipot, which separate between one's mind and G·d . Thus, when the first born of the handmaid were stricken and the kelipoth were removed, the people automatically left exile.<sup>2

1</sup>Toldoth Yaakov Yoseph, Zot HaBrakhah #6.
²Physical exile is only a manifestation of spiritual exile, which is the result of the "kelipot"- mental blocks, distractions, and limiting mindsets. Thus, when one's mind is released from these limitations, one is "set free" from spiritual "bondage."

Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Yehoshua Starrett

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