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Weekly Chasidic Story #1397 (5784-54 ) 13 Elul 5784 (Sep.16, 2024) This Week "The Cosmic Twin of the Baal Shem Tov" "This Friday night in shul, look among the crowd of beggars waiting near the door to be invited for the Shabbat meal. One of them will be a hidden tzadik!" the Baal Shem Tov told his brother-in-law. Why this week? This Shabbat, Chai [18th] Elul, is the birthdate of the Baal Shem Tov and the anniversary of his first revealing the Chassidic movement. Story in PDF format for more convenient printing THE COSMIC TWIN OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV
It is a tradition that in every generation there are Hidden Tzsadikim ("righteous ones") who conceal their greatness from the eyes of men and live amongst us disguised as simple, ignorant folk. Rabbi Gershon Kitover once asked his famous brother-in-law, the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chasidic movement, to reveal to him one of the hidden righteous. At first, the Baal Shem Tov refused. But Rabbi Gershon persisted in his request until the Besht finally relented. "This Friday night in shul, look among the crowd of beggars waiting near the door to be invited for the Shabbat meal. One of them will be a hidden tzadik," the Baal Shem Tov told Rabbi Gershon, and described the righteous pauper. "But you must promise not to let on in any way that you are aware of his true identity." Rabbi Gershon readily identified the tzadik-in-disguise and invited him to share his Shabbat meals. However, that evening, though he carefully scrutinized his guest's every word and deed at the table, he was unable to discern anything beyond the ordinary behavior of a wandering pauper. Finally, he could not resist the temptation to ask his guest to grace the table with some words of Torah. "Me?! Speak words of Torah? A beggar the child of beggars, who has scarcely seen the inside of a cheder? Whatever gave you such an idea, anyway?" asked the guest, a note of suspicion in his voice. Rabbi Gershon quickly let the matter drop. On Shabbat day though, at the noontime meal, Rabbi Gershon could not resist another attempt. Finally, he thought, I have one of the greatest people of the generation at my table-should I indeed learn nothing from him? Again he pressed his guest to speak words of Torah, hoping that would reveal something of his well-concealed greatness. This time, the hidden tsaddik seemed to hesitate somewhat, as if tempted to accede to his host's request, but only for a fleeting moment. He immediately resumed his ignorant- beggar pose of the night before, protesting that the very request was ridiculous. But at the third Shabbat meal in the late afternoon, Rabbi Gershon seemed to have finally made some headway. When he again asked his guest to enlighten him with words of Torah, the holy beggar's face was transformed. His eyes began to glow with a Divine light, and his coarse features assumed a sublime grace. Then he opened his mouth to speak; but before a single word emerged from his lips, he suddenly closed them, and with obvious effort, wrenched himself from his seat and bolted from the room. By the time Rabbi Gershon had collected his wits and run after him out to the street, he was gone. The next day, when Rabbi Gershon came to see the Baal Shem Tov, he was shocked to learn that his brother-in-law had been ill all Shabbat. At the Friday night meal, the Baal Shem Tov's disciples had noticed that something was amiss; the next day the situation had worsened, and at one point, toward the close of Shabbat, it had seemed that his very life was in jeopardy. But the crisis had passed, thank G-d, and he was steadily regaining his strength. When Rabbi Gershon entered his brother-in-law's room, the Besht said to him: "What have you done? Because of you, I almost departed from this world. "You see, every righteous soul has two faces--one hidden and the other revealed. The tzadik who ate at your table this Shabbat is my cosmic "twin", whose greatness must remain hidden for as long as I openly serve as a teacher and guide in the service of the Almighty. "But the temptation for a hidden tsaddik to reveal himself is very great, since every person desires to manifestly influence his surroundings. Had he done so, my soul would have had to be concealed from the world, and since I am already widely known, this meant that I would have had to pass on from my present life. "Luckily, he stopped himself just in time." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why this week? This Shabbat, Chai [18th] Elul, is the birthdate of the Baal Shem Tov and the anniversary of his first revealing the Chassidic movement. Biographic notes: Rabbi Gershon of Kitov [? - ca.1760] was the brother-in-law of the Baal
Shem Tov and subsequently an important disciple. He was the recipient of the
famous letter from the Besht about his visit to the heavenly abode of Moshiach,
as well as other important correspondence. In 1747 he moved to the Land of Israel,
living first in Hebron and then in Jerusalem.
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Yerachmiel
Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor
of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories
to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells
them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.