No. 3 - Stories to Wake Us Up

Learning dedicated by Dorothea Krieger in commemoration of the Yahrtzeit of her Mother, Chana Bat Yitzchak HaKohen (Eleanor Krieger), a"h ​ - ​ ולע״נ אאמו״ז הר׳ ישראל בן הרה״ח דוד הי״ד זי״ע

I heard from the of Polonnoye, that it once happened at a Bris at the house of the head of the Court in the holy community of Horodnya that the Besht said: “when we speak the praises of the Tzaddikim, it is likened to the ‘Vision of the Chariot’”4

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By telling stories of the Tzaddikim, we draw down the light of Moshiach and push away so much of the darkness and pain of this world...5

1 | b. Ketubot 5a דרש בר קפרא גדולים מעשה צדיקים יותר Bar Kappara taught: The handiwork of the ממעשה שמים וארץ דאילו במעשה שמים righteous is greater than the creation of heaven and earth, as with regard to the creation of וארץ כתיב (ישעיהו מח, יג) אף ידי יסדה ארץ heaven and earth it is written: “My hand also has ​ ​ ​ ​ וימיני טפחה שמים ואילו במעשה ידיהם laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has spanned the heavens”​ (​Is. 48:13​). There, של צדיקים כתיב (שמות טו, יז) מכון לשבתך hand is written in the singular. Whereas with ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ פעלת ה' מקדש אדני כוננו ידיך regard to the handiwork of the righteous it is written: “The place which You have made for Yourself to dwell in, Lord, the Sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established” (Ex. 15:17).

4 ראה שבחי הבעש״ט מהד׳ רובנשטיין, מס׳ קנח עמ׳ 256. ׳מעשה מרכבה׳, עפ״י יחזקאל א:א - וַיְִהי ִבּשׁלִֹשׁים ָשׁנָה ָבְּרִביִעי ְ ַבֲּחִמ ָשּׁה ַל ֹחֶדשׁ וֲַאנִי ְבתוְֹך ַהגּוָֹלה ַעל נְַהר ְכָּבר נְִפ ְתּחוּ ַה ָשַּׁמיִם וֶָאְרֶאה ַמְראוֹת ֱאלוק׳. ועיין משנה חגיגה ב:א שאמר שאסור למסור סודות מעשה מרכבה אלא ליחידים, ״חכם ומבין מדעתו״, וכן בחגיגה יד: שכולל מעשה מרכבה לענ׳ כניסה לפרד״ס. ויש להעיר תרי: א׳, שמעשה מרכבה של יחזקאל הינו מראה הנבואה חריגה המתרחשת בחו״ל על אף שנבואה אמורה להינתן אך ורק באדמת קודש (מו״ק כה.), שיחזקאל היה בין הגולים הראשונים אחר חורבן בית ראשון. ויש להטעים זאת שגילויו של הבעש״ט היה נחשב גם לגילוי מיוחדת אך לפי שעה, כש״כ הזוה״ק לך לך (פה:): "ואי תימא הא חמינן דאתגלייא שכינתא בבבל דאיהו לבר.. ההיא נבואה [לשעתא] הות.. ותמן אתגלייא שכינתא לפום שעתא [דאצטריכו לה ישראל לפום ​ צערייהו]" וכן נאמר בזוה״ק יתרו (פב:), שגם נבואה יכולה להיות בחו"ל לצורך הודעת הנבואה לעם ישראל: "אמאי אתגלי ​ שכינתא תמן.. אלא הכי תאנא [אי לאו דאתגלייא לא הוו ידעין]" והלא זוהי תפקידו של הבעש״ט לפי האמור בספה״ק נפלאות התפארת שלמה (source 2) - להודיע ע״י משעי הצדיקים שלא עזבה ח״ו ה׳ את עמו. ב׳, שראה יחזקאל שחקוק על ​ המרכבה הוא גם דמות האדם השפל, שלמרומים יכול להגיע, גם כמו שעלה נשמתו של הבעש״ט להיכלו של משיח. והבן. ​ 5 Nachman of (Ukraine, 1772-1810), Sefer ha-Middot s.v. “Moshiach” ​ ​ 10 ​ Besht: The Light from the Forest 2 | Gen. Rabbah, 60:8 א"ר אחא יפה שיחתן של עבדי בתי אבות מתורתן של בנים, פרשתו של אליעזר שנים ושלושה דפים הוא אומרה ושונה, ושרץ מגופי תורה ואין דמו מטמא כבשרו אלא מריבוי המקרא… "ומים לרחוץ רגליו ורגלי האנשים אשר אתו״, א"ר אחא יפה רחיצת רגלי עבדי בתי אבות מתורתן של בנים שאפילו רחיצת רגלים צריך לכתוב, והשרץ מגופי תורה ואין דמו מטמא כבשרו אלא מריבוי המקרא...6 7

3 | R. Shmuel Tzvi Hirsch of Wierzbnik, ​Nifla’ot Tiferet Shlomo​, pp. 49-50

4 | R. Shlomo haKohen Rabinowicz of Radomsk (Poland, 1801-1866), ​Tiferet Shlomo ​vol. 2, p. 282

3 |

6 וביאר בזה הראי״ה - ניצוץ אחד מאור חיי האבות... הוא נעלה ונשגב מכל הקדושה הגלויה שבתוכן של אמונה ויראה, תורה ומצוה, של ההמשך המועתק מספיחי ספיחים של בנים, "יפה שיחתן של עבדי אבות יותר מתורתן של בנים", ושיחה זו היא ​ מחיה דור אחרון באהבה מסותרת… (אורות, אורות התחיה י"ד) ​ 7 עיי״ע סוכה כא: - כי הא דאמר רב אחא בר אדא ואמרי לה אמר רב אחא בר אדא אמר רב המנונא אמר רב מנין שאפי' ​ שיחת תלמידי חכמים צריכה לימוד שנאמר (תהלים א, ג) ועלהו לא יבול: (אשרי האיש אשר לא הלך בעצת רשעים…) ​ ​ ​ 11 ​ Besht: The Light from the Forest 5 | Prof. Avraham Rubinstein, introduction to ​Shivchei ha-Besht

6 | R. Mordechai of Neshchiz (Poland, 1740-1800), ​Rishfei Aish​ p. 36

7 | Iggeret Aliyat ha-Neshama { R. Yehoshua Mondshine ed. ​Shivchei ha-Besht​ (, 1982), trans. Immanuel Etkes}

I beheld wonders such as I had never seen since I was able to reason, and that which I beheld and learned upon rising there, it is impossible to recount, even in person… Yet when I returned to the lower Garden of Eden and beheld many souls of the living and the dead, both familiar and unfamiliar to me, immeasurable and innumerable, running to and fro to rise from world to world via the pillar familiar to those who know such mysteries, with such great and vast joy that the mouth does not suffice to relate and the physical ear is too heavy to hear, and there were also many wicked ones who repented and were absolved of their sins, as the hour of favor was then great; I myself was quite surprised at how many had their repentance accepted, some of whom you know as well, and amongst them too there was extreme happiness and they too ascended in the said ascendancies… and owing to the great joy I saw amongst them I decided to rise along with them… Until I arrived and rose to the actual palace of the Messiah King and I actually saw face to face what I had not seen thus far from the day that I acquired reason… and they also revealed to me wonderful and awesome things in the profundities of Torah that I had not seen or heard and that no ear had heard of for some years and it occured to me and I decided to ask him if it was perhaps because of preparations for his coming that there was this goodness and happiness and rejoicing and when will Sir be coming and the answer from his eminence was that this cannot be revealed but by this you shall know: once your learning becomes publicly known and is revealed in the world and your fountains have overflowed beyond what I have taught you and what you have achieved, and others too are able to perform Yihudim and ascents just as you can, then all the Kelipot shall be terminated and it will be a time of great favor and salvation…8

8 ראה מש״כ בהיכל ברכה, שמות ט:טז בביאור הפסוק ״למען ספ״ר שמי״ שמפרש אותו על דרך הפצת תורת הבעש״ט. ​ ​ 12 ​ Besht: The Light from the Forest 8 | “The Flute” {K’hal Hasidim ha-Hadash (Lvov, 1906), no. 18 (6a-b)} ​ ​ A certain villager used to pray on the Days of Awe in the House of Study of the Baal Shem Tov. He had a child whose wits were dull and who could not even read the letters in the prayer book, much less recite a holy word. His father never brought him along to the city, because the boy was completely ignorant. But when the boy became Bar Mitzvah, his father took him with him to the city for Yom Kippur, so as to be able to watch him and keep him from eating from simple ignorance. Now the boy had a little flute on which he used to play all the time when he sat in the field tending his flock. He took the flute with him from home and put it in his coat, and his father did not know about it. The boy sat in The House of Prayer all Yom Kippur without praying, because he did not know how. During the Additional Prayer he said to his father. “Father, I want to play the flute.” His father became terrified and spoke sharply to the boy. The boy had to restrain himself. During the Afternoon Prayer the boy repeated again: “Father let me play on my flute.” Seeing that the boy wanted badly to play on his flute, his father said to him “Where is the flute? The child pointed to the pocket of his coat. The father therefore held the child’s pocket in his hand, to keep the boy from taking out the flute and playing on it.

Holding the pocket with the flute in this way, the man stood and prayed the Closing Prayer. In the middle of the prayer, the boy

13 ​ Besht: The Light from the Forest forced the flute out of his pocket and blew a blast so loud that all who heard it were taken aback.When the Baal Shem Tov heard the sound, he shortened his prayer.

After the prayer the Baal Shem Tov said: “With the sound of this flute the child lifted up all the prayers and eased my burden. For this child does not know anything but by dint of his seeing and hearing the prayer of all of this holy day, the prayer’s holy spark kindled a fire in him and the flames of his longing burned higher and higher until his soul nearly expired. Because of the strength of his longing he played the note of his heart truly, without any distraction, for the sole sake of the Name of God. Now the pure breath of his lips was very acceptable to Him and by this means all the prayers were lifted up.

*Dr. Katz9 points out that different versions of the story exist, mitigating the subversive nature of the version quoted above. For example, cf. R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin, Sippurei Hasidim (Habad tradition): ​ ​ ​ ״...בראותו ההתרגשות הגדולה בבית הכנסת, ובשמעו הבכיות והצעקות, נשבר אף לבו בקרבו וקרא בקול גדול: קוקוריקו, אלוקים רחם נא!״ Other versions (see Yoav Olshtein, Ma’aseh Hoshev: Iyyunim be-Sippur ha-Hasidi [, 1983]) ​ ​ contain even more toned-down readings, where the boy merely recited the aleph-bet out loud. Dr. Katz ​ ​ concludes that the version in K’hal Hasidim ha-Hadash is undoubtedly the authentic version. S.Y. ​ ​ ​ Agnon’s version, printed in Yamim Noraim (Tel Aviv, 1952), p. 369, preserves the same flute motif. ​ ​ ​

9 Based upon Dr. Menachem Katz, “The Baal Shem Tov and the Boy who Played Flute on Yom Kippur”, TheGemara.com and the original Hebrew article, “Sippur ha-Halil u-Perek ha-Halil”, Derekh Aggadah ​ ​ .Heartfelt thanks to Reb Menachem Butler for his assistance .(תשס״ד-תשס״ה) vols. 7-8

14 ​ Besht: The Light from the Forest