The Epistle: The Letter From The Baal Shem Tov To Rabbi Gershon Kitover, reprinted with the kind authorization of:
By Rabbi David Sears
The Baal Shem Tov’s LETTER that describes his “ascent of the soul” on Rosh Hashana is one of the few original writings of the founder of Chassidus that has survived. The LETTER was written during the last years of the Baal Shem Tov’s life to his brother-in-law, the Torah scholar of repute, Rabbi Avraham Gershon of Kitov, who had immigrated to the Holy Land. However, for some reason, the LETTER was never delivered. Thus, Rabbi Gershon Kitover’s loss was posterity’s gain. The precious document remained in the Baal Shem Tov’s immediate circle until its publication some 30 years later in Ben Poras Yosef, a collection of Chassidic discourses by Rabbi Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polonoye. The LETTER also appears as the first entry in Kesser Shem Tov (Crown of a Good Name, 1794), Rabbi Aharon HaKohen of Zhelikhov’s classic anthology of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings gleaned from the works of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonoye.
The LETTER bespeaks the mystical experiences to which its author was privy, as well as the directness, intimacy, and emotional warmth with which he related to family members and disciples alike. Its contents attest to two central points of the Baal Shem Tov’s legacy: the belief that the dissemination of his unique path of divine service is of Messianic import; and that it was (and is) the Baal Shem Tov’s mission to bring the mystical dimension of Jewish religious practice to the entire Jewish people, from the greatest Torah scholar to the humblest untutored laborer. (It should be mentioned in passing that this refutes the idea, recently advanced, that the Baal Shem Tov was simply a “private mystic” of a fairly conventional type.) To a great extent, the former goal has been accomplished by the various Chassidic leaders who succeeded the Baal Shem Tov; however, the fulfillment of the latter remains something of a mystery.
Although many of the Baal Shem Tov’s values and concepts have been instilled in a broad spectrum of the Jewish religious community – in particular, the striving to increase in ahavas Yisrael, to serve G_d with joy and a whole heart, and to regard the spiritual life as a privilege and not a burden – his mystical practices, for the most part, seem to have “fallen through the cracks.” Most Chassidim today may be religiously devout, but not much more concerned with mysticism than their non-Chassidic peers. Nevertheless, when one explores the spectrum of Chassidic teachings, the experiential aspect of the Baal Shem Tov’s path still may be discerned.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the Baal Shem Tov’s great-grandson, advocated hisbodedus, secluded personal meditation and prayer, ideally practiced in the fields or forests at night for an hour or more. It is known that the Baal Shem Tov used to practice hisbodedus regularly. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and his successors in the Chabad Chassidic dynasty taught hisbonenus, a unique method of guided contemplation that can open the gates of higher perception. The Komarno tradition takes a more liberal stance toward the use of kavanos (“intentions”) and yichudim (“unifications”), two categories of Kabbalistic techniques formulated by the sixteenth century master Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, known as the holy Ari. In more recent times, Rabbi Kolonymus Kalman of Piacetzna included meditation and visualization practices as part of his highly original Chassidic teachings. Although the Piacetzna Rebbe perished in the Holocaust, his manuscripts miraculously survived, and have been birth to a regeneration of Chassidic spirituality that transcends any one group or community.
To find proper guidance along any of these paths may be a challenge – but as the sages of the Talmud state of all those who strive to learn Torah: “If someone tells you, ‘I tried, but I did not succeed,’ do not believe him; if someone tells you, “I tried, and I succeeded,’ believe him!” (Megillah 6b). In the Breslov and Chabad communities there are qualified individuals who teach the practices of hisbodedus and hisbonenus; in Kabbalistic circles the kavannos and yichudim still are employed; and in both Brooklyn and Jerusalem, contemporary teachers have formulated their own more eclectic approaches, rooted in the path of the Baal Shem Tov. We look forward to the day when hisbodedus and such practices will be as commonplace as the daily prayer service. Then, at last, the Mashiach’s assurance to the Baal Shem Tov will be fulfilled.
THE LETTER
To my beloved brother-in-law, my friend who is dear to me as my own heart and soul, the exalted rabbi and Chasid, renowned for his Torah scholarship and fear of Heaven, our master, Rabbi Avraham Gershon, may his light shine. Peace unto him and his family, his modest wife, Bluma, together with all their children; may they be blessed with life, amen, sela.
I received the letter written by your holy hand, which you sent by means of the emissary from Jerusalem, at the fair of Luka in the year 5510 (1750 c.e.). It was written with extreme brevity, explaining that you had already written at length to each of us individually and had sent those letters by means of a certain man en route to Egypt. However, the letters never arrived, and I was sorely grieved that I never saw the work of your holy hand which was written in greater detail. Assuredly this is due to the calamitous state of the many lands in which the plague has spread because of our many transgressions. Not far from our region the pestilence has reached the holy community of Mohilev, as well as Wallachia and Turkey.
[Your letter] also states that the Torah teachings and mystical revelations which I sent you through the rabbi and preacher of the holy community of Polonoye did not reach you; this, too, caused me great distress. It certainly would have given you great joy if they had reached you. I have since forgotten many [of those teachings]. However, the few details I still remember I will write to you in brief.
On Rosh Hashanah of the year 5507 (1746 cue.), I made a [Kabalistic] oath and elevated my soul in the manner known to you. I saw wondrous things in a vision, the like of which I had never witnessed since the day my mind first began to awaken. The things which I saw and learned when I ascended there would be impossible to communicate, even if I could speak to you in person. When I returned to the lower Garden of Eden, I saw many souls, both living and dead, some known to me and others unknown-their number was beyond reckoning. They were hastening to and fro in order to ascend from one world to another through the Column known to those initiated into the Mysteries. Their joy was too great for the mouth to express or the physical ear to hear. Also, many evil-doers were repenting, and their sins were being forgiven, since it was a special time of Divine favor. Even to me, it was amazing how many of them were accepted as penitents, a number of whom you also know. There was great joy among them, too, and they ascended in he same manner.
Together they begged and implored me unceasingly, “Because of the glory of your Torah, G_d has granted you an additional measure of understanding to grasp and to know these matters. Ascend with us so that you can be our help and support.”
Because of the great joy that I beheld among them, I agreed to go up with them… And I besought my master (Achiyah HaShiloni) to accompany me, for the ascent to the Supernal Worlds is fraught with danger. From the day of my birth until now, I never experienced such an ascent as this.
I went up from level to level until I entered the Palace of Moshiach, where Moshiach studies with the Tannaim and tzaddikim, as well as the Seven Shepherds. There I found extremely great rejoicing, but I did not know the cause of this delight. At first I thought that it might be due to my having passed away from the physical world, G_d forbid. Later they told me that I had not yet died, for they have great pleasure on high when I effect mystical unifications in the world below through their holy Torah. However, to this very day, the nature of their joy remains unknown to me.
I asked Moshiach, “When will you come, master?” And he replied, “By this you shall know: it will be a time when your teachings become publicized and revealed to the world, and your well-springs have overflowed to the outside. [It will be when] that which I have taught you-and that which you have perceived of your own efforts-become known, so that others, too, will be able to perform mystical unifications and ascents of the soul like you. Then all the evil klippos will be destroyed, and it will be a time of grace and salvation.”
I was amazed at this and greatly troubled, since a long time must pass for this to be possible. But while I was there I learned three segulos and three Holy Names which are easy to learn and explain. My mind was then set at ease, and I thought that with these teachings the people of my own generation might attain the same spiritual level and state as myself. They would be able to elevate their souls and to learn and perceive just as I do. However, I was not granted permission to reveal this during my lifetime. I pleaded for your sake to be allowed to teach you; but I was denied permission altogether and took an oath to that effect.
Yet this I can tell you, and may G_d assist you, that your way may pleasant to the Lord, and that you do not go astray (particularly in the Holy Land). Whenever you pray or study-and with every utterance your lips-intend to bring about the unification of a Divine Name. For every letter contains worlds and souls and G_dliness, and they ascend and combine and unite with one another. Then the letters combine and unite to form a word, and they are actually unified with the Divine essence-and in all these aspects, your soul is bound up with them. All [the worlds become unified as one, and they ascend and bring about great joy and delight without measure. Consider the joy of a bridegroom and bride in this lowly physical world, and you will realize how much greater is the joy on such a lofty spiritual level.
G_d will surely help you. Wherever you turn, you will succeed and become enlightened. “Give wisdom to the wise, and he will become wise all the more.” Please pray for my sake, that I might be privileged to dwell in G_d’s land during my lifetime; and pray for the remnant of our people who still remain in the Diaspora.
These are the words of your brother-in-law who longs to see you face-to-face, who prays that length of days be granted to you and your wife and children, and who wishes you peace “all your days-including the nights, for many good years, amen, sela.
Israel Baal Shem Tov of the Holy Community of Medzhibuzh
The Path of the Baal Shem Tov
By David Sears
Jason Aronson Inc.
www.aronson.com
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