|
BAAL SHEM TOV STORY
Following the Weekly Torah Reading
|
|
THE NAMING
"And one (son of Moses) was named Eliezer
(ELohay avI be'EZRi,)
because
[Moses said,] "The G·d of my father came to
my aid and rescued me....." Exodus 18:4
And then there was the time that Rabbi Eliezer, the
father of the Baal Shem Tov, escaped from the
Moslem country where, after being kidnapped and
sold as a slave, he was later elevated to the position
of the second-in-command to the King.
After crossing the border with a large sum of money
and a box of jewels, he headed for home feeling safe
and free. But on the way, bandits took his jewels and
money and were about to kill him when the chief of the
bandits decided (purely by whim), to spare him. Now
penniless, he traveled on to the holy community of
Jassy.
As soon as he arrived in Jassy, he went to the
synagogue. There he heard a voice calling, "Welcome,
Reb Eliezer, blessings of peace." He looked up and
saw a man standing at the synagogue door,
beckoning to him. Puzzled, Reb Eliezer thought, "Who
is this man and how does he know my name?" As
soon as he responded, "Blessings of peace upon
you," Reb Eliezer knew. This was Elijah the Prophet,
looking as he always appeared on earth, a poor man,
with a knapsack and walking-stick.
"I have come to tell you," said the prophet Elijah, "that
because you were faithful to your religion and your true
wife while you were living in the Moslem country, the
Almighty together with His holy ones in heaven, have
decided that a son will be born to you and your wife
Sarah, and he will lead, guide and inspire the Jewish
people."
The old man and Reb Eliezer went into the synagogue
as it was time for the afternoon prayers. After praying,
Reb Eliezer looked about but Elijah the Prophet had
disappeared.
An old man sitting in shule struck up a conversation
with him. "Shalom Aleichem. You are a stranger aren't
you? Why are you here and where are you going?"
Reb Eliezer didn't want to relate how he had been
kidnapped, was sold as a slave and became second-
in-command to the King in a distant Moslem land. The
old man kept asking his questions, until he simply
answered, "I have been through many troubles and
experiences. Just before I came here, a small fortune
of money and a box of precious jewels were taken
from me by bandits."
The man wanted to comfort him and raise his
spirits. "Let me tell you a story," he said, "about the
birth of the famous Talmud scholar MaHarSha (Rabbi
Shmuel Eliezer Edels, 1555 -1631).
In the town of Ostra, famed for its great Talmudic
scholars and its high level of Torah study, the
residents wanted to build a new synagogue. The rabbi
of the community undertook the responsibility to
gather the money for building it.
When he announced that the cornerstone would be
laid for the new synagogue on the market-day, when
Jews came from neighboring towns and villages to
sell their wares, a large crowd gathered at the site of
the new synagogue. Everyone waited eagerly to see
who would be given the great honor to put the
cornerstone in place.
The rabbi announced, "Whoever gives the weight of
the corner-stone in gold would have the great privilege
and honor."
Everyone was stunned. How could the rabbi ask for
such a huge sum of money? And who even had such
a large amount of money?
Just then, a man from a nearby village came forth and
said, "Put the stone on one pan of the balance-scales,
and I will put enough gold on the other pan to balance
it."
The rabbi was deeply moved at such generosity for
the sake of a mitzvah, a religious good deed. "Is there
anything you want?" he asked the villager, "anything
that I may be able to do for you? Ask, and with
Heaven's help I will do it for you at once."
The villager burst into tears. "My wife and I have no
children," he sobbed, "no one to leave, when we die,
to say the mourner's prayer of kaddish for us."
"Very well," said the rabbi. "Come and see me in three
days, and I will give you an answer." The cornerstone
was put in place, the rabbi spoke eloquently, and the
people went back to their everyday lives.
Three days later, the villager came to the rabbi's
house. "Listen well," said the rabbi. "Originally, it was
decreed in heaven that you and your wife were not
meant to have children. But your wife will give birth to a
son if you both accept the following three conditions:
(1) You will lose all your wealth; (2) Before the child is
born, your life will end; and (3) Very soon after the child
is born, your wife will leave the world."
As he heard this, the villager's face turned
white. "Rabbi" he cried. "What kind of conditions are
these?"
"I am deeply sorry," said the rabbi, "but this is what
has been revealed to me. There is nothing else I can
tell you."
The man buried his head in his hands. "However
much I want a son," he said at last, "I cannot agree to
these conditions without first asking my wife." And with
that, he returned home.
When his wife heard the three conditions she sat
silent for several minutes. Then she spoke: "Look. We
have this flour-mill so we are wealthy and growing
richer. But what good is our life? Even if we live
another hundred years, what pleasure will we have?
And what will we achieve if we die without children and
no one to say kaddish for us? I say it is better to have
a son."
"Without another word the miller went back to the rabbi
of Ostra to give him his answer.
"Now that you have accepted," said the rabbi, "there is
one thing I can tell you. Your son will be a wonder-
child, and, he will grow into a famous Talmud scholar.
A few weeks later, the man's flour-mill collapsed in a
fierce storm. With no way to earn a living, he soon lost
all his money and was reduced to begging charity.
And a few months later, he took sick and died. Left
alone in the world, his wife took to going on to nearby
fields to pick potatos and fruit, and in that way she kept
herself alive. But as the time came to give birth to her
son, she decided it would be best to go to the nearby
city. There she might find the help she needed. But
since she was so poor now, without proper clothes to
wear, she would not go in the daytime, when
neighbors might see her. In the dark of night, she took
her few belongings and set off for the town.
At the edge of the town stood the baker's house, all lit
up because the baker and his wife were busy baking
bread for the townspeople who wanted them early in
the morning. Too tired and weary to go further, the
poor woman knocked on the door and asked if she
might come in and rest.
The baker and his wife recognized her at once, since
they had often gotten their flour from her husband's
mill. With great friendship, and invited her to stay. They
took care of her as though they were her own mother
and father, although they had an infant baby daughter
of their own and both had to work at the baking.
In time, a son was born to the miller's wife. The baker
and his wife arranged the bris (circumcision) for the
child to enter the Covenant of Abraham and become a
member of the Jewish people. The child was named
Shmuel Eliezer.
When the baby boy was three months old, his mother
became very sick. She knew that she would not get
better. Two of the three conditions had already come
true. Now it was time for the third condition: she had to
leave the world.
One day, as she lay on her sickbed, the baker's wife
said, "Let us make a solemn agreement and shake
hands on it: When your son and my daughter come of
age, let you and I agree now that they must marry each
other." The sick woman smiled, and the two shook
hands, wishing each other and their children mazal
tov (good fortune in life).
The next day the poor woman died and the good baker
and his wife raised the little boy as though he were
their son. The years flew by. On his thirteenth birthday
the baker and his wife celebrated the boy's bar-
mitzvah. As usual on such occasions, the boy gave a
talk on a topic in the Talmud, to show how learned he
was. It was obvious to all the Talmud scholars that
this boy's grasp of the Talmud was extraordinary (just
as the rabbi of Ostra had foretold). The baker and his
wife were filled with pride, knowing that soon enough
the boy's reputation for Torah learning would spread
far and wide.
The next day, however, the baker's wife spoke
earnestly to the boy: "You know, it will not be long
now before you will be a young man and with your
brilliance in Talmud study, rich men will want to have
you as a son-in-law for their daughters. But I want you
to know that before your mother died, she and I made
a solemn agreement that when you grow up you will
marry my daughter Devorah, and we shook hands."
"Certainly I will honor my mother's word," said the
boy, "and especially if it is your wish. You have been
more than a mother to me, raising me all these years.
Being that your name is Edel, when I am grown I will
call myself Sh'muel Eliezer Edels, because you raised
me."
As he sat in the synagogue of Jassy listening to this
story, Reb Eliezer was deeply affected. Suddenly it
occurred to him that there was a parallel. The first
severe test that the father of the MaHarSha had
passed was to accept poverty, in order to have such a
son, who would say the mourner's prayer of kaddish
for him when he died. Well, he too had seen the
bandits take all his money from him, and he had
accepted it cheerfully. And right afterward Eliyahu
haNavi appeared and foretold that a son would be
born to him. It was a good sign.
When Reb Eliezer returned home at last, his
wife's joy was indescribable. For years she had not
known if he was alive or dead, if she was a wife or a
widow.
Reb Eliezer told her all his adventures in full, including
the unfortunate way that he had lost all his money.
Finally he told her of his meeting with Eliyahu HaNavi,
and the prediction that Eliyahu had made: that they
would have a son.
Then Reb Eliezer told her the story he had heard
about the birth of the MaHarSha. 'When he finished,
the two sat quietly, lost
in thought. Both were praying in their hearts that they
should not have to meet the same conditions as the
parents of the Maharsha, and leave their son an
orphan in the world.
"Do you know?" said Reb Eliezer, "I was told that my
family was descended from the MaHarSha. In fact, it
was told me that I was named Eliezer because that
was his middle name. Well, if we really have a son
with Heaven's help, and some day he will have a
daughter, I will leave instructions that he should name
her Edels after that kind woman who brought up the
MaHarSha.
And so it was.
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M.
Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story transmitted by
Rabbi Menachem Gutman.
|
|
Sefer Baal Shem Tov
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on the Torah
|
|
And all the people saw the voices, and the fire and
the voice of the shofar, and the mountain
smoking. (Exodus 20:14)
When the Baal Shem Tov would teach Torah to his
holy students, they would be surrounded by fire. The
ministering angels would gather around them, and
they could hear the thunder and lightning, and the
words "I am the L·rd your G·d," from
the mouth of G·d Himself.
This is well known to all.
Heichal HaBracha, Va'Eschanan, p. 28a
Translation
and Commentary by Rabbi Dr.
Eliezer Shore
|
|
THE PILLAR OF PRAYER
The Baal Shem Tov's Teachings on Prayer
|
|
Section 103. "You will direct their heart, You will
cause
Your ear to hear. . . . " (Psalms 10:17)
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
A sign has been given to man. If he can direct his
heart to G·d in prayer, without extraneous
thoughts, at least, or [ideally] with fear and love, each
person according to his level, then he knows that his
prayers were accepted. Thus it says: "You will direct
their heart, You will cause Your ear to hear. . . .." That
is,
when a person prays, he can know if [his words] were
accepted, and that G·d has listened.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Behaloscha, p. 138c
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Dr.
Eliezer Shore
|
|
THE LIGHT OF THE EYES
On the Greatness of the Baal Shem Tov
|
|
Section 40
There is another principle through
which a person can know if his prayers have been
answered. If his heart is joyful after he prays, and the
opposite applies if [he feels] depressed. Based on
this, I heard an explanation of the Talmud's
statement: "One day [Rabbi Buna] joined Redemption
to Prayer and a smile did not leave his face the whole
day." The question on this is famous.1
1Berachos9b.
The simple meaning of this is
that he recited the blessing: "Redeemer of Israel"
(go'al Yisroel) adjacent to the Amidah prayer.
However, since the contiguity of these prayers is a
normal part of the daily morning liturgy, the Talmudic
commentators have sought alternative ways to
understand this statement. Tosephos, loc. cit., writes
that Rabbi Buna joined these two prayer together at
dawn. He finished the blessing "Redeemer of Israel,"
and started the Amidah prayer at the exact moment of
sunrise. This is known as praying like the vatikin. The
Baal Shem Tov offers a different explanation.
Translation and Commentary by
Rabbi
Dr. Eliezer Shore
|
|
KESER SHEM TOV
Anthology of the Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov
|
|
Section 136
"Prepare their hearts so that Your ears
hear."1
The Baal Shem Tov taught2:
If one was able to prepare his heart to pray before
G·d without any ulterior motives or foreign
thoughts, or at least with love and fear according to his
level, this is the sign that one's prayers were
accepted. This is alluded to in the verse, "Prepare
their hearts so that Your ears hear," meaning that one
can know while praying if one's prayers were
accepted. This is also the meaning of Rabbi Chanina
son of Dosa's statement, "If I am able to say my
prayers fluently, [then I am sure that they were
accepted]."3
When conditions are right, and one is able to pray
properly, this level is referred to as "elevation." But at
other times, one has to make many preparations and
use many strategies so that one is able to pray
properly after great effort, and even that is not assured.
Nevertheless, one should not despair, for even when
one sees that one is experiencing a storm of
distractions and disturbances from serving
G·d, one should realize that there are many
other people right now in this level of "descent," and
they are all "limbs of the Shechinah." Thus, the
righteous person has descended at this time to unite
with all those levels, in order to elevate them, as is
alluded in the parable of the
Prince.4
1 Psalms 10:17
2Toldoth, Naso #17.
3Tractate Berakhoth 34b. The entire
reference to Rabbi Chanina is not found in the
Toldoth, and is the curator's addition.
4The story referred to in many places in
the Toldoth (Yithro #6; Emor #17; Metzora #1) is of a
prince who degenerates from his noble behavior and
eventually lives among the commoners. A variant of
the story is quoted here in #144. His father, the king,
sends one of his noblemen to try and convince the
prince
to return to the palace, but in order to do so, the
nobleman must first meet with the prince at the
prince's present
level. So the nobleman dons the clothes of
commoners,
so that the prince thinks that he is also a commoner.
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi
Yehoshua
Starrett
|
|
