Episode 143: The Marriage of Young Baruch and the Blessing of the Baal Shem Tov

00:01 So far we have heard about the distinguished family of young Baruch, a descendant of the Maharal of Prague. Baruch was now engaged to Rivkah, the daughter of Rabbi Avraham the gardener[?]. By this time, Baruch was already drawn to the path of the Baal Shem Tov and the Chassidic movement, and now their wedding was to take place. We continue the story. There was a period when the hidden tzaddikim did not know one another, and even after they came to know one another, the Baal Shem Tov sternly warned them not to reveal themselves. For that reason, no one knew that young Baruch was connected to the Baal Shem Tov, apart from his wife, Rebbetzin Rivkah, the daughter of Rabbi Avraham the gardener[?], as we related. Rabbi Baruch and Rebbetzin Rivkah’s wedding took place on Friday, 17 Elul 5503—that is, 1643 by their calendar. Although the chuppah was on Friday, 17 Elul, the eve of Shabbos Parshas Ki Savo, the wedding festivities took place on 18 Elul. This had been one of Rabbi Baruch’s conditions at the time of the engagement: that the wedding take place on 18 Elul, Chai Elul. It has been handed down to us from generation to generation that Rabbi Baruch wanted the chuppah to be on 18 Elul, but since 18 Elul fell on Shabbos that year, he said the chuppah would be held after Shabbos. Several weeks before the wedding, however, Rabbi Baruch informed his future father-in-law, Rabbi Avraham the gardener[?], that he agreed to hold the chuppah on 17 Elul, on Friday. It was, of course, Divine Providence that the wedding took place in the week of “Arise, shine,” the haftorah of Parshas Ki Savo. In remembrance of the date set for Rabbi Baruch and Rivkah’s wedding, most of the weddings of the Chabad Rebbeim were scheduled for a Friday. When ten months had passed since Rabbi Baruch and Rebbetzin Rivkah’s wedding and they had still not been blessed with a child—that is, there was still no

02:53 sign of children—Rabbi Baruch was deeply distressed. When he met his friend, the young chossid Rabbi Yitzchak Shaul, whom we already know, the son of the scholarly chossid Rabbi Nisan of Dob—Rabbi Nisan Melamed—who was then in the town of Dobromil, they decided that Rabbi Baruch should go to the Baal Shem Tov. With the agreement of his wife, Rebbetzin Rivkah, they traveled together. That is, Rebbetzin Rivkah, Rabbi Baruch and their friend Rabbi Yitzchak Shaul traveled in Menachem Av 5504 to our teacher the Baal Shem Tov in the town of Mezhibuzh. The Baal Shem Tov blessed them—we will soon hear how he gave the blessing—and promised that the following year, with Hashem’s help, in 5505, they would be blessed with a healthy baby boy. Rabbi Baruch and Rebbetzin Rivkah asked the Baal Shem Tov whether they should change where they lived. The Baal Shem Tov told them no: it was better to live in a small town, where, as the Gemara says, people sin less. The Baal Shem Tov himself customarily held a meal every year on Chai Elul, his birthday in 5458, and shared words of Torah. At that birthday gathering, during the Chassidic farbrengen, the Baal Shem Tov said in his blessing to Rabbi Baruch, “At this very time, you will be holding a son in your arms.” Here we should relate that the Baal Shem Tov knew from his teacher, Achiya Hashiloni—Achiya Hashiloni was the Baal Shem Tov’s teacher—about the task placed upon the Baal Shem Tov and his students to carry out during their years of work in this world. Their task was to refine the middos: Netzach, Hod and Yesod, and Chessed, Gevurah and Tiferes. The task of refining the intellectual faculties—Chochmah, Binah and Daas—the Baal Shem Tov knew, had to be carried out by a new soul that would descend into the world. The Baal Shem Tov knew how souls stand in the treasury of souls,

05:35 and that when a soul is to descend into this world at the direction of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, it must prepare for an entire year. But a new soul requires three years of preparation. When the Heavenly Court ruled that a new soul would descend into the lower world, this world, that soul’s preparation would begin. It was decided to reveal to the Baal Shem Tov that a new soul was to descend into the world. But what they did not reveal to him was who would merit having that soul born as his son, and the Baal Shem Tov longed to know. We continue with this subject. Every soul, before descending from its root and source into our world below, needs a year of preparation. A new soul, as we said, needs three years of preparation. Three years before the birth of Rabbeinu Hazaken, Rabbi Shneur Zalman, who would later be known as the Alter Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov knew that a new soul was to descend into this world. But who would merit that soul? He did not know, and he searched for it in the higher chambers. For when a new soul is to descend into this world, this is concealed even from the angels on high, so that the evil eye will have no power over it. As we said, the Baal Shem Tov knew what a soul is like above, in the higher worlds. He also knew how a soul descends and becomes clothed in a human body. But what happens with a new soul? That was what the Baal Shem Tov wanted to know. The Baal Shem Tov knew that in that year, 5505, a new soul would descend into this world. But where, and to whom, he did not know. Then, on Rosh Hashanah 5505, there was a major change in the Baal Shem Tov’s usual order of avodah. The Baal Shem Tov generally began his preparations for the month of Tishrei in Elul,

08:13 and particularly during the days of Selichos. Those were the forty days when Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, ascended to heaven to pray to Hakadosh Boruch Hu to forgive the Jewish people for the sin of the Golden Calf and to receive the second Tablets. Through this, Moshe Rabbeinu aroused the revelation of the thirteen attributes of mercy. During those days, from Elul until the beginning of Tishrei, the Baal Shem Tov’s avodah followed the path of awe. But from after Yom Kippur until after Simchas Torah, his avodah followed the path of joy. On Rosh Hashanah 5505, his students saw a great change in the Baal Shem Tov’s order of avodah, beginning with the evening prayer. As we said, this was normally a time of awe. Yet suddenly the Baal Shem Tov was filled with great joy. It could be felt in his blessing, “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year,” in the words of Torah he shared during the meal, in the order of the shofar blasts, and in the Mussaf prayer. After Yom Kippur 5505, the Baal Shem Tov was in an exceptionally elevated frame of mind, which continued until after Simchas Torah. His holy students understood that something uniquely joyful was taking place that month, causing the Baal Shem Tov such great joy that he changed his order of avodah during the Days of Awe: joy was openly apparent in place of awe. All the students naturally wanted very much to know the reason for this joy, but they could not find out. Before Rabbi Baruch and Rivkah left Mezhibuzh—that is, before returning home from their visit to the Baal Shem Tov—they went in to receive his parting blessing. The righteous Rebbetzin Rivkah, deeply moved, told the Baal Shem Tov that when Hashem fulfilled his holy blessing and granted them a healthy baby boy, she would dedicate him to Torah and avodah in the way of the Baal Shem Tov. She made a vow, as Chana had done in her time regarding Shmuel. The Baal Shem Tov saw how deeply moved she was

10:43 of the tzaddik Rabbi Baruch and his wife Rivkah. He blessed them, and they traveled home happy and in good spirits. Rebbetzin Rivkah was learned, and every day she had a fixed schedule of study, though no one knew about it except her husband, the tzaddik Rabbi Baruch. When Rebbetzin Rivkah returned home from her visit to the Baal Shem Tov, she first traveled to her sister-in-law, Rebbetzin Devorah Leah, in Vitebsk, to tell her what the Baal Shem Tov had said to her and her husband. She also told her what she had seen and heard of the Baal Shem Tov’s ways, and how she had heard that his holy disciples were very surprised by his order of avodah and conduct that Tishrei, which differed from every other year. Rebbetzin Rivkah asked her sister-in-law Rebbetzin Devorah Leah to give her a special study schedule for her regular lessons. Since she was certain that the Baal Shem Tov’s blessing would be fulfilled, she also wanted guidance for prayer and study during the months of pregnancy. In later years, the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Baruch’s son, told his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek: For a soul to descend below and be able to fulfill its mission with ease, twelve months of preparation are enough. This is the soul’s gestation Above, before its gestation in its mother’s womb. But a new soul from the world of Atzilus needs thirteen months of preparation. That is why the Alter Rebbe’s birth was delayed by a month: the union took place on 19 Kislev 5505, which was a leap year. Several stories are told in connection with the Alter Rebbe’s conception and birth. Here is one of them. Years later, when the Alter Rebbe visited Mezhibuzh, the Baal Shem Tov’s town, he found the shamash of the Baal Shem Tov’s beis midrash there, by then an elderly man. The Alter Rebbe asked him

13:19 whether he knew anything about the Baal Shem Tov that he could tell him. The shamash told the following story: “Once, on a Saturday night, I was in the beis midrash. It was time to sleep, since it was already after midnight, so I put out the candles. Suddenly the Baal Shem Tov came in, opened the Aron Kodesh, and said, ‘I thank You, Master of the Universe, that I am whole in all my 248 limbs and 365 sinews, both physical and spiritual.’ The Baal Shem Tov woke me,” the shamash related, “so that we could go immerse in the river. I took a candle, and we went to the place where the Baal Shem Tov usually immersed. The Baal Shem Tov entered the water, and after a while the candle went out. I wondered what to do. The Baal Shem Tov said to me, ‘Why are you distressed?’ He took the candle, dipped it in the water, and it lit. The Baal Shem Tov told me, ‘He Who commanded oil to burn will command water to burn.’” The mashpia, the chossid Rabbi Shmuel Groner, related that he heard from the chossid Rabbi Avraham, the rabbi of Zembin, that this was clearly the night the Alter Rebbe’s mother immersed, when the Alter Rebbe’s soul descended into the world. Rabbi Shmuel Groner related something else in Rabbi Avraham’s name: At that time, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, a well-known disciple of the Baal Shem Tov who wrote Sefer HaToldos, was standing at his window smoking his pipe. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef looked out until a black dog approached the window. He began to address the dog with great indignation: “How much longer will you oppress the Shechinah and prevent the soul from descending? We will all gather together and eradicate you from the world.” The dog settled down on its paws and lowered its head. This, too, was connected with the descent of the Alter Rebbe’s soul into this world. Let us continue. Rebbetzin Rivkah was certain of the Baal

16:01 Shem Tov’s blessing and promise, and how happy she was to tell her husband, the tzaddik Rabbi Baruch, that the Baal Shem Tov’s blessing was indeed being fulfilled. Although they were sure the Baal Shem Tov knew his blessing was coming to pass, Rabbi Baruch and his wife Rivkah decided to let him know. At the beginning of Adar II, Rabbi Baruch traveled to the Baal Shem Tov in Mezhibuzh. Rabbi Baruch told the Baal Shem Tov that his blessing had been fulfilled and that his wife, the Rebbetzin, was expecting. The Baal Shem Tov was very happy to hear the news and took a particular interest in when the pregnancy had begun. When Rabbi Baruch told him, the Baal Shem Tov instructed him to recite the Shehecheyanu blessing without Hashem’s name or kingship, and to travel straight home and convey his mazal tov to the Rebbetzin. He also gave Rabbi Baruch several warnings, particularly not to reveal this to anyone. Rabbi Baruch returned home happy and in good spirits. Rabbi Yitzchak Dov of Kabilnik [?], one of the Baal Shem Tov’s longtime chassidim, who was with him at the time, told the following to the chossid Rabbi Moshe Vilnker [?]. Rabbi Moshe, in turn, told it to Rabbi Baruch Shalom, son of the Tzemach Tzedek. In a teaching the Baal Shem Tov gave on Purim 5505, he spoke about how the Jewish people are called “Yehudim” in Megillas Esther. Six times the word is written “Yehudiyim,” with two yuds, and twice it is written “Yehudim.” In the Torah they are called Bnei Yisroel, but in Megillas Esther they are called Yehudim. Why? It is known that the name Yehudim reflects the mesirus nefesh present in every Jew. And they are called Bnei Yisroel because “Yisroel” stands for “There are 600,000 letters in the Torah.” This gives every Jew the strength for mesirus nefesh. The two yuds in “Yehudiyim” point to the ten faculties of the G-dly soul and the ten faculties of the natural soul. Yet in the individual avodah of mesirus nefesh, each

18:41 person has his own particular avodah. The Baal Shem Tov continued: “This year, 5505, is a leap year, and so the entire world is now in a state of gestation.” After Purim, the Baal Shem Tov called Rabbi Yitzchak Dov and another Jew from L.A. [?] and told them both to go to Rabbi Baruch’s farm near Li’ozna and bless his wife Rivkah, who was then in the fourth month of her pregnancy with the Alter Rebbe.