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BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
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THE SUDDEN
AWAKENING
".. Let G·d's community not be like sheep that
have no
shepherd.." (Numbers 27:16)
And then there was the time on the afternoon of
Shabbos Shuva (The Shabbos between Rosh
Hashono and Yom Kippur), in the year 1755 when the
Baal Shem Tov slept in his bed enjoying his "Shabbos
menucha" -his Sabbath rest. Suddenly, he gave out a
loud cry that shook his wife Rebbetzyn Chana from her
sleep.
"Yisroel, Yisroel! Wake up. What's
wrong?"
The Baal Shem Tov sat up with a start,
and then sighed with relief. "Thank G·d you
woke me! Another moment, and I wouldn't have
awoken at all!"
"What?" gasped the Rebbetzyn? "Why did
you scream out in your sleep?"
The Baal Shem Tov composed himself
and asked that the Rebbetzyn go to the homes of his
close chassidim and ask them to come to the Beis
Medrash. When they were all assembled, he related
the following:
"Each Shabbos, when I recite the silent
Mussaf prayer, my soul ascends to the heavenly
worlds. There I listen to the Torah being studied in the
Yeshiva above, and I am later able to transmit part of
what I have heard to you, my chassidim, during
shalosh seudos (the third meal).
"I have always yearned to encounter my
close friend, the great Tzaddik, Reb Nachman
Kassover, who has passed on to the World of Truth,
but I have been unable to find him."
"Today, as my soul ascended, I soared to
heavenly realms that I had never visited before. I saw
towers of gold and palaces of diamonds. The sounds
of Torah burst forth from within. As I entered, the
souls within shone with brilliance and beauty, each
one occupied in the study of the holy Torah.
I asked one soul: "To whom belongs this glory? "Who
is your Rosh HaYeshiva?"
"Our Torah study is in the honor of the chosen of
G·d, Reb Nachman of Kassover, the soul
responded.
"And where is his resting place?" I asked.
One of the holy souls led me to Reb
Nachman's Beis Medrash. There I saw Reb
Nachman aglow with fire and glory. His countenance
shone like the sun. He was dressed in white, his
tallis covering his holy head and he was surrounded
by numerous other souls. I humbly approached, and
asked, "Reb Nachman, I have been searching for you
for quite some time. Who are all the souls I see
around you?'
"My dear Reb Yisroel," he
answered, "these souls belong to those to whom I
showed the path of truth and righteousness while on
earth. Some were righteous men who had
transgressed, and others were evildoers whom I was
able to guide to the path of repentance. It is these
souls who praise and extol the Creator of All
Things."
"My dear Reb Yisroel," he continued, "Do
you wish to remain here with me? You simply can
relinquish your soul. You will not even have to
experience the pangs of death. The tzaddikim will
take you to your eternal resting place. The decision is
yours."
"How I was tempted to remain in the
heavenly realms! But I could not decide. I went back
and forth in my mind. On one hand, I desired to be
buried in Eretz Yisroel, for a soul buried in the Holy
Land ascends higher than one buried outside its holy
boundaries.
When I spoke this desire, Reb Nachman
revealed to me, "Your fate is not to be buried in the
Holy land but in the land where you were born. I
cannot disclose the reason, but if you decide to
remain here with me, I will be then able to reveal to
you this and many, many other secrets."
Then my thoughts turned to those whom I
would leave behind. Could I leave loved ones, my holy
Rebbetzyn and my dear children? My students? My
Chassidim? Could I leave them without directions
and without guidelines for the future?
I decided I could not. Each person has his purpose to
fulfill on earth, and I felt that I had not yet completed my
assigned avodah (service).
I told my beloved Reb Nachman that I was not yet the
time for me to leave the physical world. He did not
agree. He begged, cajoled, over and over until I could
stand it no longer, and screamed with all my might."
"That scream woke my
Rebbetzyn from her sleep, and thank G·d she
woke me just in time. I could not have withstood Reb
Nachman's pleadings any longer. She succeeded in
returning my soul to its rightful place in my physical
body."
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a Sifrei Besht as
translated in Stories of the BAAL SHEM TOV by Y.Y.
Klapholtz.
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Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
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Therefore say: Behold, I give him My covenant of
peace. (Numbers 25:12)
According to the Zohar and Likutey Torah, Nadav and
Avihu were "two halves of a body."1
Therefore, Pinchas took both their souls, so that they
are considered as one. Thus, it is written: "Behold, I
give him My covenant of peace," for when two things
are united, it is called peace. Thus, Yesod is called
Peace, etc.,2 and "From my flesh, I will
behold G·d."3
Likewise, when there is division among
people, the one who can unite them is called "a
pursuer of peace." The reason Nadav and Avihu
sinned was because they did not ask each other's
advice [before entering the Holy of Holies]. As it
says: "And Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aaron, each
took his censer. . ." (Leviticus 10:1).4
There was no peace between them. But Pinchas
rectified this when he was given the covenant of
peace, in order to unite the souls of Nadav and Avihu
in one body.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Acharei,
p. 96d
1See Zohar 3:57b; Likutey Torah,
parashas Vayikra, by the Arizal. Nadav and Avihu
never married, thus the Zohar considers them as only
half a person. When Pinchas smote Zimri and Kosbi
during their illicit act, the souls of Nadav and Avihu
united with his own.
2Yesod is the ninth Sefirah, from
Keter down, and serves to unite the upper Sefiros with
the tenth Sefirah of Malchus. Thus, it is called "Peace."
3Job 19:26. Chasidic writings cite
this verse often, to support the idea that the physical,
emotional and mental constituents of a human being
parallel and reflect the workings of the supernal
Sefiros, through which G·d directs the world.
The
Sefirah of Yesod corresponds to the male member,
which is the organ of union. Yesod also corresponds
to the Tzaddik, whose consciousness unites heaven
and earth.
4I.e. each one took it alone, without
consulting the other.
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 127.
I heard from my Master that the main thing
about prayer in the Diaspora1 is faith.
That is, to believe that G·d's glory fills the
entire world.
Through this, you raise the "feet" of the
Shechinah.
You should also believe that as soon as
the words of prayer leave your mouth, your request is
immediately answered. And if you wonder why, at
times, you do not get what you asked for; the reason is
because it is concealed from you.2 For
instance, your request may have been fulfilled on a
universal level. And although you asked as an
individual for the problem be alleviated, really, [the
suffering] is for your own good, such as to cleanse you
of your sins, etc. Whereas if you have in mind to be
answered yourself, you have made physical your
request, when it should be purely spiritual - for the
sake of the Shechinah, and not for the sake of this
world. Therefore, it became an obstruction.
Ben Poras Yosef, p. 127a
1According to the editor of
Sefer Baal Shem Tov, this should read "prayer during
the week."
2That is, the manner of its fulfillment is
concealed from you.
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 11.
I heard that once a certain reincarnated soul came to
the Baal Shem Tov. The soul had belonged to a great
man who had lived in the time of the Arizal. The soul
had not been permitted by Heaven to go to the
tzaddikim of the previous generations. He had been
waiting centuries for the Baal Shem Tov, so that he
could be repaired.
Tiferes Shlomo, Shabbos Chanukah
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 169.
FOCUSING ON
G·D
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
It is an exalted level when one is able to constantly
have in mind that one is with G·d and that
G·d surrounds one on all sides. About such a
person the verse says, "Fortunate is the one who
does not think of G·d" - that is, if even for a
moment one does not think of G·d - "this is
considered for him an
iniquity,"1 meaning that one's thoughts
are so focused on G·d that one does not have
to consciously remind oneself every moment that one
is with G·d, but sees G·d everywhere
with one's mind's eye, seeing that G·d is the
Place of the world, and of the microcosmic world that
is man. In doing so, one lives the verse, "I set
G·d before me always,"2 as
instructed in the Shulkhan Arukh, Orach Chaim #1.
1Psalms 32:2.
2Psalms 16:8. The Baal Shem Tov
speaks about this as an exalted level, but this is
actually something we must all strive for, as instructed
in the Shulchan Aruch. In actuality, this entails a
willingness to forgo our earthly games and
aspirations, and surrendering our lives to G·d.
This
does not mean living a life of reclusion, but on the
contrary, living earthly life to the fullest, but in the
context of, and in the full awareness and
consciousness of the fact that we are living in the
presence of G·d - we are living in G·d.
It is a shift in
perception. The difficult part is stepping out of own
selves.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
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