The Baal Shem Tov: Difference between revisions

Before the passing of Rabbi Adam Baal Shem — the leader of the hidden circle — he was informed through a dream to transmit the writings in his possession to Yisrael ben Eliezer of Okup. He sent his son to find Rabbi Yisrael, bearing the message that these writings belonged to the root of his neshamah, and that if he was willing to learn with him, all the better. After a long search, the son found the shomer beis hamidrash named Yisrael, who was then fourteen years old. The son asked him to learn with him; Rabbi Yisrael agreed — on the condition that it appear as though Rabbi Yisrael were the student. As a result of this learning, a shidduch was arranged for him with a woman from the city of Okup — this wife passed away shortly after the marriage.

On his twenty-sixth birthday, Achiya HaShiloni was revealed to him and taught him Torah for ten years. During this time, Achiya revealed to him the inner light of both the revealed Torah and Kabbalah as it is learned in Gan Eden — until on his thirty-sixth birthday his teacher urged him to reveal himself publicly.

Unlike other ba'alei shem who preceded him, the Baal Shem Tov made no use whatsoever of the invocation of holy Names, and the kameyos he distributed contained no Names — this is among the reasons his title differs from all other ba'alei shem before him, and he came to be known specifically as the Baal Shem Tov.

On Rosh Hashanah of 5507 (1746), the Besht made an ascent of the neshamah to the higher worlds, which he described at length in the letter known as the Igeres HaGeulah. During this ascent, Melech HaMoshiach told him that his coming depends on the spreading of the wellsprings of Chassidus. The Besht described the ascent and the words of Melech HaMoshiach in a letter he sent to his brother-in-law R' Gershon of Kitov. This is the text:

 

 

At the time of the Besht's anguish, tears flowed from his eyes.

There are many points that the Besht introduced and emphasized in his approach. The essence of all his innovations is to take every matter and reveal its source — its very essence: what is its purpose, its goal, its origin, and where it leads. In this way one discovers the essence of the world's existence — continuous creation by the Ribono shel Olam. In this way one also discovers precisely what the Yid is — an essence united in the most complete sense with Atzmus Ain Sof. And since this innermost point is more openly manifest specifically in simple Jews, he drew them closest. He particularly encouraged the simple, natural ahavas Yisrael toward every Jew that flows from the very essence of the neshamah. In this way one also discovers the nature of the kelipas nogah (see Tanya, chapter 6), and so on.

 

The Baal Shem Tov's approach to hashgachah pratis is encapsulated in his famous dictum: In every single movement, the Master of the World is present. The Baal Shem Tov explains that even in the place that appears to be the greatest concealment — in the five alefs of Pharaoh's boastful words, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil — even there, those five alefs indicate that even behind these words of the kelipah stands the One, unique and singular — the Alufo shel Olam, the Master of the World.

A well-known mashal of the Baal Shem Tov, brought in the sefer of his grandson the Degel Machaneh Ephraim, concerns a king who surrounded himself with seven formidable walls, each more enclosed and fortified than the one before it. Many tried to scale and breach the walls and failed. Only the king's son — who knew with certainty that his father would never abandon him — gave over his very life to pass through all the walls. And ultimately, after giving himself over completely, it became clear to him that it was all an illusion: there were no walls and nothing whatsoever standing between him and the king. The nimshal is that if the Yid truly believes that the Ribono shel Olam is close to him, all the concealments will fall away.

Another famous teaching of the Baal Shem Tov is that even the concealment itself comes from the Ribono shel Olam, as it is written, V'anochi hastir astir panai — and therefore the punishment is that even this reality itself becomes concealed: the concealment becomes a concealment of the concealment.

The Baal Shem Tov attached extraordinary importance to the power of thought, and established that wherever a person's thought is — there he himself is entirely. In the avodah of Torah and tefillah as well, the Baal Shem Tov strongly emphasizes the importance of the thought's deveikus in the shoresh of the letters, which is the Ohr Ain Sof — and similarly guides a person to always attach his thought to the Shechinah HaKedoshah.

In another case, one of the ba'alei batim of Mezhibuzh had a quarrel with another ba'al habayis. Once while they were together in the Baal Shem Tov's beis hamidrash, the man cried out that he would tear his enemy apart like a fish. The Baal Shem Tov instructed his talmidim to take hold of one another's hands and stand beside him with their eyes closed, then placed his holy hands on the shoulders of the two talmidim standing beside him. Suddenly the talmidim began to cry out in fear — they saw how the ba'al habayis was tearing apart his enemy like a fish. This demonstrates clearly that every force produces a result and an effect — whether expressed in a material garment, or in a spiritual one that can only be perceived through higher and more refined senses.

 

It follows that even darkness and evil contain an elevation and a benefit — for the darkness becomes a kind of throne for the good, and since it serves as a throne for good, it receives connection and vitality from the good; like a person's hand that reaches upward — he himself is there.

Nevertheless, one must not err and think that darkness is therefore good — for there is a screen that separates and divides between the light and the darkness. The value of darkness lies specifically in the recognition that it is darkness, and in its serving as a throne for the light. One must not mistake it for being good itself.

The Besht was an immense gaon in both the revealed Torah and the esoteric. A number of accounts of his genius in the plain dimensions of Torah were transmitted in the tradition of our Rebbeim, the Nesi'im. His practice was to express brief and profound Torah teachings in the Yiddish language. It was his talmidim who collected and recorded his teachings and sayings, and published them in various seforim:

The coming of Moshiach is necessarily contingent on the spreading of the Baal Shem Tov's Torah — as he himself wrote in his letter — that on Rosh Hashanah of 5507 he made an ascent of the neshamah and reached the chamber of Melech HaMoshiach. The Baal Shem Tov asked: Eimasai kasi mar? — When is the master coming? Moshiach replied: Leksheyafutzu mayyanosecha chutzah — When your wellsprings spread outward — referring to the wellsprings of the Torah of Chassidus that the Baal Shem Tov had revealed and taught. When his Torah is publicized and disseminated throughout the world, the Geulah will come.

In recent generations, a debate arose regarding the precise date of the Besht's histalkus — whether it was on the first day of Shavuos (Vov Sivan) or on the second day (Zayin Sivan). In the sefer Shmu'os V'Sipurim it is recorded that one Shavuos, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn was a guest in the home of the Rebbe Rashab, and they spoke of the Baal Shem Tov's histalkus. R' Levi Yitzchak mentioned the opinion that the Besht was niftar on Zayin Sivan. The Rebbe Rashab responded decisively that the histalkus occurred on Vov Sivan, while Dovid HaMelech was niftar on Zayin Sivan. R' Levi Yitzchak raised a difficulty from the halacha prohibiting burial on Yom Tov — and from the implication of the Rebbe Rashab's position that the Besht's burial was carried out by non-Jews. The Rebbe Rashab responded that the holy body of the Besht did not require the involvement of the chevra kaddisha.

In the Hayom Yom, on the date of Vov Sivan — Aleph d'Chag HaShavuos — it is written: The histalkus of the Baal Shem Tov — on Wednesday, the first day of Shavuos 5520, and his resting place is in Mezhibuzh.

A portrait has become famous throughout the world that is attributed to the Baal Shem Tov, however serious doubts have been raised regarding its authenticity. Some attribute it to a certain rabbi who was a Shabbesnik — a follower of Shabbesai Tzvi. The Rebbe stated that this portrait belongs to a different Baal Shem who lived and was active in Daytshland (Germany) — but not to the Baal Shem Tov.

The Rebbe offered a number of reasons for this position. Beyond the professional research that casts doubt on the portrait's authenticity, the primary reason is that the Frierdiker Rebbe stated that there is a mesorah that no portrait of the Baal Shem Tov exists. An additional reason given by the Rebbe is that according to the tradition, one could discern in the Besht's beard the thirteen tikkunei dikna — thirteen physical rows — and this is not reflected in the portrait.