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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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PERFECT
FAITH
In this week's Torah reading (Exodus 13:17 to17:16),
Pharaoh sent the B'nei Israel (Children of Israel) from
Egypt. After the B'nei Israel left, the Pharaoh changed
his mind and pursued them to the Reed Sea. Moses
split the Sea and the B'nei crossed. Then the
Pharaoh and his army followed them into the split
Sea. Once all of the B'nei Israel had crossed the Sea,
Moses put out his hand toward the Sea and the water
returned killing the Egyptians. When the B'nei Israel
saw the dead Egyptians on the sea shore.....
"The people. . . . . . . believed in G·d and
Moses His servant." Exodus 14:31
And then there was the time that Rabbi Dovid Leikes,
one of the Chevrayah Kadisha, was speaking with
several followers of his son-in-law, Reb Mottel of
Chernobyl (also known as the Chernobyler Rebbe).
Reb Dovid asked the followers of Reb
Mottel, "Tell me. Do you have perfect faith in your
Rebbe, Reb Mottel?"
None of the men responded.
After a pause Reb Dovid persisted, "So nu?"
Finally, one of Reb Mottel's adherents came
back with, "Who can say he has perfect faith?"
Reb Dovid nodded and continued. "My
friends, let me tell you a story about faith. Once,
several of us in the Chevrayah Kadisha spent a
Shabbos at an inn with the Rebbe. As usual,
Seudah Shlishit went late into the night."
"The Baal Shem Tov told us of the mystical
insights he had received while meditating, praying,
and studying Torah during that Shabbos. When he
finished speaking, we Benched, said Maariv and
then Havdalah."
"Immediately afterwards," Reb Dovid
continued, "we sat down together with the Baal Shem
Tov for Melava Malkah."
"After a few minutes, the Baal Shem Tov
turned to me and said, 'Reb Dovid, reach into your
pocket and take out a gulden, please, and buy us
some mead (honey wine) from the inn keeper.'"
"I was still wearing my Shabbos clothes and
of course I never carry money on Shabbos. Yet,
without thought or hesitation, I reached into my pocket
to take out the gulden, as my Rebbe had requested.
And - the most amazing thing! I found a gulden in my
pocket."
The disciples of Reb Mottel, after hearing
this story, commented to Reb Dovid, "You know, that is
really not that amazing. It's just another miracle story
about the Baal Shem Tov."
"Yes. That is so," said Reb Dovid. "But the point of my
telling you the story is not to show that the Baal Shem
Tov does miracles. My point is that my faith in my
Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, is so great that I didn't
even think to question his request. I just reached into
my pocket for the money. That it was there is
secondary."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story in Shivchei
HaBesht as translated in In Praise OF THE BAAL
SHEM TOV by Ben Amos and Mintz.
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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Then G·d said to Moses: 'Behold, I will
make bread rain down to you from heaven; and the
people will go out and gather enough for each
day. . . . (Exodus 16:4)
A poor person has the privilege of speaking to the
Holy One every day. A rich person, however, receives
all his sustenance from G·d at once, and
doesn't need to ask Him for his daily requirements -
not unless he is very righteous, and realizes that
everything he owns is worthless, without G·d
giving it life-force to sustain him. The proof is that a
sick person has all the food he needs, but still cannot
sustain himself.
A poor person, with nothing to eat, must beseech
G·d each day. Thus, he merits speaking to
Him every day. Furthermore, G·d must also
remember the poor person daily, to arrange his
livelihood. However, G·d does not need to
remember a rich person each day, for He already gave
him everything at one time.
Rav Yebi, Tehilim
Translation
and Commentary by Rabbi Dr.
Eliezer Shore
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THE PILLAR OF PRAYER
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on Prayer
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Section 102
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
When the
Jewish people pray and attach themselves
to G·d, a voice calls out: "Go out and see, O
Daughters of Zion" (Song of Songs 3:11). That is, if a
person is neither fit nor disposed to this union, they
tell him, "Go out." But one who is fit and disposed to it
will see - that is, ".... and see."1
When the impure shells hear this voice, they seek to
disrupt this person"s prayers with foreign thoughts
about passing fancies. But a wise person will cling in
love and fear to the Creator and through this, uplift the
sparks of life within these thoughts. "Why should I
cling to the physicality of the thing?" he should say to
himself. "It is better for me to cling to its inner vitality,
which derives from G·d's attribute of Wisdom
(Chochmah), as it says: "You have made them all with
wisdom" (Psalms 104:24).
Kesser Shem Tov, part 2, p. 19b
1I.e., he will have spiritual
perceptions.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr.
Eliezer Shore
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THE LIGHT OF THE EYES
On the Greatness of the Baal Shem Tov
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Section 38
Another positive trait of our Rabbi,
the Baal Shem Tov, was that the light of the Messiah
began to shine with him - a tradition we have received
from Tzaddikim, the foundations of the world. The Baal
Shem Tov himself asked the Messiah, "When will
Master come?" and the latter replied, "When your
teachings are known throughout the world." Thus
G·d arranged for many great Jewish sages to
become his students.
Divrei Shalom, Introduction
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Dr. Eliezer Shore
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KESER SHEM TOV
Anthology of the Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov
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Section 134
"When you go out to battle your enemy. . . . take his
captives."1
The Baal Shem Tov taught2 :
One must capture the evil inclination with the evil
inclination's own arguments. That is, if the evil
inclination is so diligent in executing his job of enticing
man to sin, in order to carry out the mission for which
G·d sent him, as alluded to in the Zohar's
parable
about the prostitute,3 we must take a
lesson from this for ourselves to be diligent in not
listening to his guiles, which is G·d's true will.
This, then, is the meaning of, "Take his
captives."4
1Deuteronomy 21:10.
2Toldoth Yaakov Yoseph, B'Chukotai
#4
3Zohar II 163a. The story is of a king who
had an only son, whom he warned to stay away from
evil women, for otherwise, he would not be fitting
anymore to enter into the palace. The prince gave his
word, but king wanted to test him, so the king asked a
prostitute to go and try to seduce his son. The
prostitute is following the king's orders, and does her
best to succeed - not because she wants to, because
she knows that it is in everyone's best interest that
she fail, but because the greater the prince's
temptation, the greater his loyalty to the king will be
revealed.
4That is, in order to capture the evil
inclination, one must first take something that belongs
to him, which is his diligence.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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