Avraham Gershon of Kitov (brother-in-law of the Baal Shem Tov)

Rabbi Avraham Gershon of Kitov was the brother-in-law of the Baal Shem Tov.

Biography

Rabbi Avraham Gershon was born in Kitov, where his father Rabbi Ephraim lived. In his youth he settled in Brody, moving there at a young age to study Torah, and became one of the leading scholars of the Kloiz of Brody — an elite circle of Kabbalists and Talmudic masters. He was renowned as an outstanding gaon (Torah genius) in both the revealed and mystical dimensions of Torah, and was considered the finest Lithuanian-style scholar in Brody.

At first, Rabbi Avraham Gershon opposed the Baal Shem Tov, and even sought to cancel the match between him and his sister — particularly after his father Rabbi Ephraim died suddenly in the midst of the betrothal proceedings. In time, however, he grew close to the Baal Shem Tov and his path, becoming one of his foremost disciples. He eventually moved into the Baal Shem Tov's home in Mezhibuzh, where he served as teacher and educator to the Baal Shem Tov's son, R' Tzvi.

In 5503 (1743), at the directive of his brother-in-law the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Avraham Gershon emigrated to the Land of Israel — with two goals: to meet Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, whom the Baal Shem Tov held in the highest esteem, and to establish a Chassidic community in the Holy Land. Upon his arrival he settled in Hebron, where he was greatly respected by the local community, but later chose to move to Jerusalem, from where he maintained an ongoing correspondence with the Baal Shem Tov.

In the Land of Israel, Rabbi Avraham Gershon worked to spread the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and succeeded in drawing ever more followers to Chassidus. He passed away in Jerusalem around 5520 (1760).

The Baal Shem Tov's Letter to His Brother-in-Law

The Baal Shem Tov maintained a close correspondence with Rabbi Avraham Gershon, though most of those letters have not survived.

Of those that have, the most celebrated was written in 5507 (1747). In it, the Baal Shem Tov describes a mystical ascent of the soul that took place on Rosh Hashanah of that year, during which he encountered the soul of Moshiach (the Messiah):

On Rosh Hashanah of the year 5507, I performed an ascent of the soul, as is known to you, and I saw wondrous things in a vision, the like of which I had never seen since the day I came into my own... I ascended from level to level, until I entered the palace of Moshiach, where Moshiach studies Torah together with all the Tannaim and the righteous... I asked Moshiach: "When will the master come?" And he replied to me: "By this you shall know — when your teachings become widely known and revealed in the world, and your wellsprings spread outward, that which I have taught you and which you have attained, so that others too will be able to perform unifications and ascents of the soul as you do — then all the forces of impurity will cease, and it will be a time of goodwill and salvation."

— Published in Kesser Shem Tov at its opening

The most famous phrase from this letter - "when your wellsprings spread outward" - became the rallying call of the spreading of the wellsprings, one of the central missions of Chabad Chassidim: to disseminate the wellsprings of Chassidic teaching founded by the Baal Shem Tov, and in doing so to hasten the coming of Moshiach.