Chapter 55: Baruch the Young One and the Hidden Tzaddikim

00:02 In our stories about young Reb Baruch, who would one day become the father of Rabbi Schneur Zalman, the founder of Chabad Chassidus, we are now focusing on Baruch’s connection with the hidden tzaddikim, the Baal Shem Tov’s emissaries before the Baal Shem Tov became known. Baruch felt a strong affinity for the hidden tzaddikim, and this influenced the whole course of his life afterward. During his travels through various Jewish towns, Baruch had the opportunity to meet a number of people who left an indelible impression on him. They were hidden tzaddikim who were traveling through Jewish cities and towns at the time. There were several kinds of hidden tzaddikim. Some were Torah geniuses and tzaddikim who traveled incognito to undergo exile. They wanted to suffer in this world and took various forms of self-denial and hardship upon themselves to atone for sins committed either by themselves or by others, or to bring about a rectification for the Jewish people as a whole. Other hidden tzaddikim went out among the people, bringing their spiritual gifts and good character traits with them, in order to improve the lives of ordinary Jews, both spiritually and materially. As early as 5425, there was a group of hidden tzaddikim who took upon themselves the task of strengthening and improving the spiritual condition of the Jewish people. This was before the Baal Shem Tov was born and before he began his own work, at first in secret, among the Jewish people. Poverty among Jews was then very widespread. Many Jews had still not recovered from the persecutions of 5408 and 5409. Many Jewish communities were destroyed in those persecutions, and Jewish life was thrown into chaos. Young children had to do backbreaking work to help their parents earn a living, so in those circumstances, Jewish children generally could not devote themselves to Torah study. Many children stopped attending their chadarim, and the yeshivos were almost emptied. This

03:09 inevitably meant that a generation grew up with little Torah learning, though they were G-d-fearing Jews. The hidden tzaddikim saw it as one of their goals to give these Jews great encouragement and awaken hope and faith in their own future and in the future of the Jewish people. And so these hidden tzaddikim set out, offering encouragement and comfort. Their influence was exceptionally great and important. Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov was born in 5458—that is, fifty years after the persecutions of 5408 and 5409. Our tradition tells us that, when he was only ten years old, the Baal Shem Tov joined a group of hidden tzaddikim and traveled with them through Jewish settlements, helping them in their great work. Later, when the Baal Shem Tov himself began spreading his new path, the path called Chassidus, he initially directed extensive activity through hidden tzaddikim. The Baal Shem Tov wanted first to prepare the ground so that he could later present the path of Chassidus openly. As we have already related, the Baal Shem Tov’s initial intention was to improve the material circumstances of the Jewish people, in part by guiding them toward manual labor, farming and other productive work. Once the ground had been prepared through this activity, the Baal Shem Tov became known publicly and began his holy work of elevating the spiritual condition of the Jewish people. In other words, there were two main tasks here: to improve the Jews’ material circumstances and livelihoods, and then to elevate their spiritual condition. Many stories are told about the period when the Baal Shem Tov himself traveled incognito, first as a child and later as an adult. As is known, for a time the Baal Shem Tov served as a rosh duchna, an assistant to a melamed who would take the children from their homes, bring them to cheder and take them home at the end of the school day. The Baal Shem

05:56 Tov himself related: “When I was a rosh duchna, I worked very hard to instill love for their fathers and mothers in the tender hearts of the children. I showed the children their parents’ good qualities in a way they could clearly see.” Even then, the Baal Shem Tov saw the need to forge a strong bond between children and parents and prevent estrangement between generations. Although the Jews’ material circumstances at the time were so difficult that very few parents could devote themselves to educating their children, the Baal Shem Tov and the hidden tzaddikim worked to strengthen and encourage them and bring the younger generation closer to the older one. Later, as an adult, the Baal Shem Tov continued traveling through Jewish settlements, going from house to house not to ask for donations, but to give spiritual gifts and strengthen the hearts of the Jewish people. The Baal Shem Tov dressed like an ordinary Jewish traveler, so he looked like a beggar going from place to place collecting alms. What did he do? He would stand in the marketplace, gather Jews around him, tell them stories from Jewish history and explain the teachings of our Sages, of blessed memory. The Baal Shem Tov spoke clearly, and his listeners understood every word he said. That was how he stirred and captivated their hearts. Every story the Baal Shem Tov told was imbued with Ahavas Yisroel. Every story carried a lesson that inspired hope and strengthened trust in the Creator of the world. The Baal Shem Tov did not wait for these Jews to come to him. He went to them, wherever they were. After all, not every place has a beis midrash. Not every Jew has the opportunity to go to shul, to pray, or to hear a Torah teaching or words of guidance. So the Baal Shem Tov took the approach of going to the Jew—to strengthen, encourage and teach him, and inspire him in the service of Hashem. The hidden tzaddikim, among whom was the Baal Shem Tov, would stop during their travels at batei midrash.

08:37 There they slept, and there they ate their meager meals from the provisions they had brought along. After all this, it is only natural that young Baruch, who spent much time in batei midrash during his own travels incognito, came to know these wandering hidden tzaddikim, since they saw no need to hide who they were from him. Some revealed themselves to him directly. Others spoke, whether about Torah matters or ordinary matters, and from their words Baruch recognized who they really were. Baruch learned a great deal from these hidden tzaddikim, and it is possible that he heard about the Baal Shem Tov’s path through them. Over time, Baruch attended to the needs of many of these hidden tzaddikim and carried out various errands for them. Even then, the thought took shape in his mind that, when he had the opportunity, he would make his home a gathering place for the wandering hidden tzaddikim. These tzaddikim had to sleep on hard benches in batei midrash and eat whatever food they happened to find, and they were not readily invited into people’s homes. Famous rabbis and maggidim, or visiting emissaries known for their learning and speaking ability, had many hosts who invited them into their homes and provided for all their needs. But the hidden tzaddikim, who disguised themselves as ordinary people, remained in the shadows, and no one paid them any attention.