What the Frierdiker Rebbe Called a Good Bedtime Story

Welcome to our weekly Motzei Shabbos program. Since Motzei Shabbos is a time to tell stories of tzadikim, especially stories of the Baal Shem Tov — as we read this morning, a neshama goes out from the holy place and comes down into a physical body, and we don't know why. It comes down just to do a favor — a person can live in this world seventy, eighty years just to do one favor. This is something we don't know.

So since it's Motzei Shabbos, I want to share with you an amazing letter — the original, handwritten letter that the Frierdiker Rebbe gave to Rabbi Mindel, written in Yiddish. He wanted him to put this letter into Talks and Tales. You know, Rabbi Mindel wrote Talks and Tales. This letter is very holy, and the Frierdiker Rebbe specially gave it to him to put into the book — I think he did put it in, I'm not sure. Some people do know the story, but today I want to read the original.

The Frierdiker Rebbe said that when putting children to sleep, it would be a good idea to read this story. And by the way, talking about Talks and Tales — the Rebbe said that when he reads "The Wonder of Nature," he gets chills — that's how holy Talks and Tales is.

So this story — I was saying a few weeks ago, not every story about the Baal Shem Tov is true, but it could be true. But a story that the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote himself — that's for sure true. This is not a story that a lecturer told, where we don't know if it's true. This story is one hundred percent true, and it's amazing — how the Frierdiker Rebbe knew to write this, what he saw, what was happening.

So I want to read this to you.

A Jewish woman came to the Baal Shem Tov with tears in her eyes and begged the Baal Shem Tov to give her a blessing to have a son. The Baal Shem Tov said to her, "Go home, and God should bless you with a son." She came home happy and told her husband about the blessing of the Baal Shem Tov, and said, "A word of the Baal Shem Tov is holy, and it's going to be fulfilled." And indeed, they had a son.

The couple had a son — born beautiful and talented — and they had much nachas from this child. When the son became two years old, they took him to the Baal Shem Tov to receive a blessing.

(I'm reading from Yiddish — I'm translating this into English.)

The Baal Shem Tov took this child on his lap, took him in his hands, gave him a kiss, and gave the child back to the parents, and told them, "Go home." As soon as the parents came home, suddenly the child passed away. They were broken. They mourned, and they sat shiva for the child. After shiva, they decided to go to the Baal Shem Tov and tell him what happened. They poured out their hearts and told the Baal Shem Tov everything.

So the Baal Shem Tov said to them, "Listen to what I am going to tell you."

(The Frierdiker Rebbe writes here:)

Years ago there lived a rich king — a king who possessed everything he needed except for a child. He had no children who would succeed him as king. So he asked his advisor for advice — what should he do? The advisor told him, "No one can help you — only the Jews can help you." The advisor told the king that the king should make a decree that within a year the king should have a son, and if the king did not have a son within that year, all the Jews should be thrown out — the way they are, they should all be expelled.

So the king gave this decree, and the Jews gathered together in all the shuls and they davened and they cried that the Aibishter, that Hashem, should help and give the king a son. Their crying and pleading split all the heavens.

So in the heavens, in Gan Eden, there was a holy neshama that could not bear to see or hear the pain of the Jews, and it stood before the Heavenly Court, before the Throne of Glory, and said, "God, send me down into the material world to be the king's son, so that the Jews should not, God forbid, suffer."

And this is how it was — before the end of the year, a son was born to the king. The king was extremely happy, and he immediately rescinded the decree.

(This is how the Frierdiker Rebbe writes it, with his own handwriting.)

The king brought a great professor to learn with the son, the prince. The prince displayed unusual talent in all the subjects he was learning, but the subject matter did not truly appeal to him. One day, the crown prince said to his father that he was not happy with his studies. So the king decided to send his son to learn directly with the Pope.

The Pope agreed to learn with him, but the Pope made one condition with the king: the only way he would learn with him is that two hours a day he would lock himself alone in a room, and no one could enter the room, and no one could disturb him — he goes up to the heavens, nobody can disturb him during those two hours. Even the king's son, the heir, should not disturb him during these two hours — that was the condition.

So the king promised the Pope that he would see to it that no one should disturb him during those two hours. From then on, the Pope learned with the prince every single day, and the son became well versed in philosophy and languages and more — except for the two hours a day when the Pope locked himself alone in the room, and no one could go in, even the prince.

One day, the prince could not hold himself back from opening the door of the Pope's room. He was curious what the Pope was doing during those two hours. He somehow made over a copy of the keys to the room where the Pope was, and he suddenly opened the door and entered the room where the Pope was. The prince became shocked at what he saw: the Pope, sitting wrapped in a tallis and tefillin, learning Torah.

The Pope was shocked that his secret was revealed — that he is a Jew. He didn't want anybody to know he was a Jew. But the prince reassured him he would not tell anybody, and revealed his own desire — that for a long time he had wanted to become a Jew. This is what the prince told the Pope, and he asked the Pope to help him convert, to become Jewish, and that the Pope should prepare him.

(This is how the Frierdiker Rebbe writes it.)

The prince traveled back to his father; he did not tell his father what happened — not the entire time. Later, the Frierdiker Rebbe writes, the prince went traveling, as he got older, to a far land, and he did not come back to his father. He converted, and he did not tell his father anything, and he lived the rest of his life as a religious Jew. And then the son passed away.

Then the Frierdiker Rebbe continues writing: When the neshama of the son went up to the heavens and stood before the Heavenly Court, no one dared to speak a bad word about this holy neshama, for he had sacrificed himself for the Jews — that's what the Frierdiker Rebbe writes. But one accusing angel argued that for two years this soul had been raised by non-Jewish hands, and this needed to be corrected. So it was decided in the heavens that this neshama should come down to this world for two years, to be raised in a Jewish, kosher home.

And the Baal Shem Tov stopped for a minute, and then he added: "Your child was this holy neshama. It was not destined for you to have children. What does it matter to you that for two years you raised this holy soul? It wasn't entrusted into your hands forever."

This is the end of the story. This is an amazing story that the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote. We can learn a big lesson here — not everything that we see is what it appears to be. There is so much good that we don't even know about, that we don't even see, and everything is for a reason, for a purpose.

Now, what did I do? I took this letter — and as you know, Rabbi Mindel wrote it in English and in Yiddish — I have letters from the Frierdiker Rebbe that he gave him, with his personal copyright for these stories. Two of them were already printed, but one was not printed, so we finished it off. I put together the cover of the story — this was out of print, and whoever is interested in donating toward reprinting this book, I would appreciate it — please let me know.

So this is the story that is on this third [letter/manuscript]. Next week we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.