35. The Baal Shem Tov’s Baal Teshuva Pesach Tzvi

00:16 Hello, kinderlach. Today, I'm going to tell you a beautiful story with the Baal Shem Tov. This story was told by the previous Rebbe. The previous Rebbe in his memoirs tells the story. The Baal Shem Tov had many talmidim, many Hasidim, and one of them lived in a city called Horki. Horki was in Poland. In, uh, in Horki there, there lived many Jews, and one of them was named was Reb Nisan. Reb Nisan was a talmid of the Baal Shem Tov. Horki also had forests around the city, and there were other towns near the forest, other cities. And there was a Parets, he was a prince. He was related to the King of Russia and he was i- control... He owned everything, all the cities, the towns, and the forest were all his. He was very rich. He had a lot of money. He never had to work to make money because he had plenty of money. So what did he do a whole day? Yeah, he would play games and, and have parties at night, and drink and get drunk. And then he would go sometimes hunting in the forest. He had huge forests which had plenty of wild animals in it. He would go hunting. Hunting was a hobby. He loved it. It was like so much fun to hunt and to shoot and trap animals. Well, Jews don't hunt. It's not supposed to be. We don't shoot animals for nothing. Right? This is just to have fun. But that's what Goyim do. They

01:56 go hunting. Now, this Parets, his name was V- um, Benedict Radziwiłł. Benedict Radziwiłł. Benedict Radziwiłł had also a friend. Nobody knew exactly where he's from and who he is, but he was like a very rich friend who came from France because his name was Pierre Louis. Pierre Louis is a French name. And Pierre Louis was very good friends with this Parets, with Benedict Radziwiłł, and he would come to visit him from time to time, and they would go together, hunting together and have fun. They would bring also their servants and all their friends and helpers, and they'd get a large group would go into the forest and hunt animals. And then after the hunting season, when they finish hunting, after a few weeks, they would come back to Horki and they would have a party, a big party, and they would invite all the Paretses, uh, from all around them, from all the cities and towns and the rich people, and they would make a huge party and dance and drink all night. Now, Reb Nisan, who lived in Horki, one day traveled to the Baal Shem Tov. He went to the Baal Shem Tov to be there for Shabbos. After Shabbos, he was about to go back to Horki. He went to Yechidus to the Baal Shem Tov to ask him for a bracha before he leaves back to his town. When he was inside the room with the Baal Shem Tov, the Baal Shem Tov suddenly turns to him and says, "Do you

03:42 know there's a passuk in the book of Tehillim?" Right, kinderlach, you say Tehillim sometimes. Shabbos Mevarchim or every day you say a few pesukot Tehillim. In Tehillim, there is a passuk somewhere where David HaMelech describes, "Yordeh hayom ba-aniyas." David HaMelech says there are certain people, they go into the ocean. But how do you go into the ocean? You can't just walk into the ocean. You're gonna drown. So you go on a boat. So they go down, yordeh hayom ba-aniyas. There are people that go down into the ocean to travel, but in boats. Aniyas is boats. Aniyah is one boat. Aniyas is many boats. People that go into the ocean into boats to travel through the ocean, and the boats protect them from the water. And then David HaMelech continues, "There are other people that are osey melacha b'mayim rabim." They do work in the deep, deep waters. You know what David HaMelech is talking about? You know there are people that go into the water, not in a ship. They go down deep, deep in the water. They swim all the way to the bottom of the ocean, which is a long, long, long trip to go to the bottom of the ocean. The ocean is very, very deep. But in the bottom of the ocean, you can find some special treasures. You know, they call them oysters with... It's like shells, and inside the shell is like a very, very beautiful, beautiful stone. It's like a diamond, and it's very expensive. It costs a

05:18 lot of money. If you can get those oysters and those gems, those special treasures from the ocean, deep inside the ocean, and you bring it up with you, you can sell it for a lot of money and be very rich. Says David HaMelech, some people go into the ocean, but they stay on top of the water in a boat. The boat carries you on top of the water, so you don't fall and you don't drown. But then there are people who jump inside and they do-- They know how to swim really well, and they go down to the bottom of the ocean and they find these great treasures. Says the Baal Shem Tov, "I want you to know that the David HaMelech was not speaking about real boats and real treasures. He was talking about a neshamah." That a Neshama comes down to this world, it's like going into the ocean. Why? What's the connection between the ocean and this world? Well, the ocean can be sometimes very calm and easy to travel on, and sometimes it's very dangerous because the winds start blowing and creating massive wave-- waves that can cause the ship to drown, Chas v'Shalom. So, the ocean can get sometimes very dangerous, and people would drown. But same thing with this world. The Neshama comes from a very heilike, holy, pure place in Shamayim, very close to Hashem. And then Hashem says, "No, you must go down into this world, into your body, and be born as a baby in a

06:54 family, and there you must do Torah and mitzvahs." And this world, Hashem tells the Neshama, should know it's not a simple world. It's a world that's like a wild ocean with big waves. You're always... If you listen to your Yetzer Hara, you can drown in a world of evil, of bad things. So don't listen to the Yetzer Hara. Make yourself a boat, a boat that will protect you. What is the boat that protects the Neshama from all the bad things in the world? That's Torah and mitzvahs. That's the boat for the Neshama. Aniyah means a boat. Aniyah is made out of two words, Ani, Yud Hei, I am Hashem. Where is Hashem? In Torah, mitzvahs. So when you make Torah, mitzvah-- You do Torah, mitzvahs, then you're like in a boat, in Aniyah, and you're protected against all the evil from the Yetzer Hara and from the world around you. But then says the Baal Shem Tov, Tov Meidel teaches us, sometimes a Jew must jump out of the boat, go into the ocean, the dangerous ocean, and go all the way down, down, deep, deep, deep in the bottom of the ocean. And what are you gonna find there? Neshamas. A Neshama that fell down into not such a good place. In fact, he says some Neshamas are born in families where they teach them Torah and mitzvahs, and they go to Cheder, they go to Yeshiva, and they learn, and they grow up to be good Yidden, good Jews. They daven, and learn,

08:33 and do mitzvahs. But then there are a lot of Jewish people who are Neshamas that came into the world, they were born in a family that doesn't know about Torah, mitzvahs, and they don't teach them any Torah, mitzvahs. They grow up just like the Goyim. They do what the Goyim do, the same thing. They don't know other than-- What it means to be Jewish. And sometimes they grow up in non-Jewish communities, in a city where there are no Jews. And these Neshamas don't have a boat. They don't have Torah, mitzvahs to protect them against the waters, against the evil of the world. So they fall into the water, deep, deep inside the water. So it's-- Those Neshamas who are fortunate to be born in a boat, that means in a frum Jewish family where they learn Torah and do mitzvahs, you should jump out of the boat and go find these Neshamas and bring them up, and bring them into the boat. That means you teach them Torah, mitzvahs, and make them also good Jewish people. Says the Baal Shem Tov to Reb Lisen, "You are one of those Neshamas that need to jump out of the boat and find these Neshamas that fell very deep into very deep, evil, bad places." Reb Lisen didn't understand why the Baal Shem Tov is telling him this. What's the purpose? What did he mean to tell him? Then the Baal Shem Tov says to him, "You know, one of those Neshamas that fell deep inside the ocean,

10:05 that means they're very-- in a very bad place, they're not doing Torah, mitzvahs at all, is a man in your-- that comes to your city from time to time. His name is Pierre Louis. You know, you've heard of him. He comes hunting with the Paritz, Benedict Radziwill. That's his best friend. That guy, Pierre Louis, is actually Jewish." And Reb Lisen says, "He's Jewish? He doesn't look Jewish. He acts like a Goy. He dresses like Goyim. He looks like the Goyim, and he parties all night like the Goyim. He's-- He doesn't sound Jewish." The Baal Shem Tov said, "No, no. He's a Jew. His real name is Pesach Tzvi, and he's a Levi. He comes from Shevet Levi. When he was born, his mother gave him a bris. But then when he got older, his father didn't wanna do Torah, mitzvahs, so his father raised him like a Goy. And he became rich, but he lived a life like a Goy. No Torah, no mitzvahs, nothing. He became best friends with this Vlad-- with this, uh, Benedict Radziwill, and they go hunting and partying all day. He eats treif, and everything. He's, he's not keeping Torah, mitzvahs. So you must find a way to save his Neshama and bring it into the boat, bring it into Torah, mitzvahs." And then the Baal Shem Tov hands him this, uh, envelope, a sealed envelope. He says, "Listen, this envelope should keep sealed, closed. Don't open it up until one day you'll hear that the Paritz is coming to

11:42 town after a hunting season, and Pierre Louis will also come, and all their helpers and servants will also come from the hun-hunting trip in the forest, and they'll come to the town to celebrate and to have parties. Well, you'll find-- You sh-you sh-- You'll know when to open the envelope. You'll know when to open the envelope." And so Reb Nisan took the envelope, went back to Harki, and forgot about it. A few months passed, and everybody in town is getting ready. Oh, the poet's, uh, benedict, Radziwill is coming to town again. He just went on a hunting trip to the forest around Harki, and he took his friend Pierre Louis with him, and they had a great time. And now they're coming back with all the people that came with them, and they're coming back to Harki to have a party. And you know where they're gonna have the party? They're gonna have the party in the house, beautiful, big mansion house of the Galach. The Galach in the town invited them to come to his house and to have a party. But something terrible happened. As the poet's benedict was crossing the threshold, he was going into the house of the Galach, he tripped on the threshold, which is by the entrance of the door, and he fell down so hard that the gun that was stuck in his belt, he had a gun, where-- but because of the fall, that he fell so hard, it shot out a bullet straight into his stomach,

13:26 into the poet's stomach, and the poet ended up lying on the ground unconsciously. He was like, couldn't see or hear. He was unconscious. He fainted, and there was blood coming out of his stomach. People were screaming, "Oh, what happened? What happened? Guy, call a doctor, call a doctor." And two people carried him to a bed in the Galach's house in a special room. And they called the doctor, and the doctor came and says, "Oh, let's stop bleeding. Let's stop the bleeding, otherwise he's gonna die." And he tried to stop the bleeding, but it didn't work. It didn't work. So they called bigger doctors. They sent for the biggest doctors in other cities everywhere, and they called them all together, and everybody tried to stop the bleeding, but it didn't really stop. And Vlad-- um, Benedict became more in bigger, bigger danger, and people were afraid that he's gonna die. The doctors didn't know what to do. Reb Nisan, meanwhile, hears about the whole thing that's happening in Harki, that, that the beloved poet's-- Everybody loved the poet's, uh, benedict because he was nice to everybody. And the beloved poet's just got shot by mistake in his stomach when he fell down, and that he's in very big danger, and the doctors can't help him. And Reb Nisan thinks, "Oh, I think this is the time the Baal Shem Tov wanted me to open the envelope." He goes and finds the envelope and opens it up, and he sees a note inside. The Baal Shem Tov

15:03 wrote in the note, "You know, if somebody has a wound in the stomach, this is the kind of thing you should do. You should put together in your kitchen oil and salt and pepper and sugar and, and lemon and spices and this spice and that thing." He said, "Put it all together. Mix it all together." He tells him exactly how much to take from each thing. "You mix it together in a little bottle, and then you go give it to that person. You smear it on his wound. It'll stop the bleeding and it'll make him healthy again." That's what it says in the note. It doesn't say the name of the poet or anything. Just said, "Just you should know that if somebody has this type of wound, this is a good thing to put on." And Reb Nisan realizes that the Baal Shem Tov with Ruach Hakodesh saw this in advance a few months ago. He gave him this envelope and he told him, "One day you'll know when to open it." And the Baal Shem Tov foresaw, he saw in advance that this is going to happen. And in the end of the note, the Baal Shem Tov adds, "And remember Pierre Louis, you gotta find him and, and make sure that you help him become a good Jew where he learns and davens and does Torah and mitzvahs." Reb Nisan immediately went inside his kitchen and he found the oil and he found the sugar and the salt and the this and

16:25 that. He mixed it all together and ran to the house of the Galach. When he knocked on the door, Pierre Louis opened up the door and, and he looked at this Jew. Reb Nisan had a, a big beard and payos and a big yarmulke on his head. He says, "What are you doing here? Uh, we, we-- Don't you know the poet's is dying and you're coming and bothering us? Go back to the Jewish people. Leave him a-- Leave him alone. Leave us alone." And he says, "No, no, no, I have a medicine that can cure the poet's." And Pierre Louis said, "What are you, making a joke? You're not a doctor. You're just a little Jew with, with a beard and payos. What do you know about medicine? We have the biggest doctors here that can't help him. So stop making us crazy and stop making jokes here. Just go away and, and let's close the door." But as soon as the Pierre Louis was about to close the door, the doctor that was inside the room overheard the voice of Reb Nisan. And Reb Nisan was saying that he has a cure for the poet's. So he said, "Oh, eh, eh, hey, call him in. Call him in. What can we lose? I don't know what to do. Nobody knows what to do. Maybe he has something. Who knows?" And Reb Nisan said, "Okay, guys, let me go over to the, to, to the poet's in his bed." And he took the, the bottle

17:46 and started putting on the stomach, on the belly of the poet's, where the wound was, the, the mixture that he put together in his kitchen. And then he gave a similar bit in his mouth. And within an hour, to everybody's amazement, the blood stopped coming out, and the poet's- Felt better. He woke up. He became conscious again, and he started talking. He's feeling better and better, and within a few hours, he was already sitting up in his bed, and the next day he actually was able to walk around. Everybody watched this incredible miracle, and people asked him, "So how did you do this? Uh, well, how did you know about this re- about this medicine?" He said, "It's not my medicine. It's from my rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, who a few months ago gave me that note and said, 'One day you should open it up 'cause you'll need it.'" Wow, everybody was like, "Woo, wow." Such a tzadik. He knows everything in advance. He saw