49. The Baal Shem Tov And The Neshama

00:16 Hello, kinderlach. Today I'm gonna tell you a story that is somewhat related to the Parsha in general. The Parsha is about the Mishkan and all the pieces they needed to make a Mishkan, and the type of work, the avoda that was done in the Mishkan. And the menorah is amongst the things that were built, and that Aharon HaKohen was supposed to light it every day, and it's related to Aharon, Aharon HaKohen, as we'll see later. The story was told by the previous Rebbe in Hasicha in the name of the Alter Rebbe, that the Alter Rebbe told that story. An awesome story. In the time of the Baal Shem Tov there was a woman, uh, she was married to a man by the name Reb Yaakov. Reb Yaakov lived in a city called Pinsk, and he was a hidden tzadik, and from the talmidim, from the close talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov. The woman... Uh, the husband and wife didn't have any children for many years, and they came to the Baal Shem Tov and cried and begged they should give them a bracha, they should have a child. The Baal Shem Tov gave them a bracha. And, uh, he says, "In a year from now you'll have a child. You have a son." Baal Shem Tov predicted they'll have a son. The woman went back very excited and her husband was also very excited. Reb Yaakov, the hidden tzadik, the tzadik nistar, the Baal Shem Tov is, um, giving such a clear bracha that

01:57 for sure it'll happen. And indeed, after a year, Reb Yaakov and his wife were blessed with a son. The son was a beautiful son, very, very, very, um, bright, very smart. The parents had a lot of joy raising the child. When the child reached a few years old, uh, two years old, they brought him... The parents brought him to the Baal Shem Tov, "You should give him a bracha." The Baal Shem Tov took the child, picked him up and gave him a kiss, and then he gave him back to his parents and said, "Please, go back home right now." It was very strange. The Baal Shem Tov would tell people who just came to him just now, they just arrived to get a bracha. The Baal Shem Tov, the Baal Shem Tov picks up the child, kisses him with great love, and then he hands him back to the parents and says, "Go home." When the parents got home, they understood why the Baal Shem Tov told them to go home, because the child a little while later died. Suddenly. The parents were totally broken, upset, crying, and very sad. They came back to the Baal Shem Tov and they said, "Why did this happen? We thought he gave us a bracha we'll have a child that we can raise." So the Baal Shem Tov said to them, "Sit down. I wanna tell you a story and then you'll understand the answer to your question. Why did this happen?" Baal Shem Tov told them that

03:37 there was once, many years ago, a great powerful king. He had everything he wanted, but there's one thing he didn't have. He didn't have a son who will inherit the throne, a son that will be king after him. The Ba-- The king didn't know what to do. He went to doctors and asked them how can they make sure that he should have a child. Nobody could help him. Finally, some of the advisors told the king, "We have an idea for you. The Jewish people, they have a record. They, they... When they, when they daven to their God, uh, he listens to them. I suggest that you make a, a terrible decree against the Jews. Tell the Jews that they must daven that the king should have a son, and the king has to have a son within a year, and if not, by the end of the year the king will drive all the Jews out of his country. They can no longer live in his country. They have to leave their houses and all their belongings back in their c-- in their old country, and they have to leave alone, poor, to a new country." That would be terrible. When the Jewish people... And again he said, "Unless I have a baby boy within a year, because I need to have a baby boy that he would be the next king. If I don't have a baby boy, then who's gonna be the next king?" The Jewish people heard this and they fasted and

05:08 davened and prayed to Hashem, "Please give the king a son, because otherwise we'll all have to leave and leave all our belongings behind, and we'll have no money, nothing to eat, and people will die. It'll be terrible." The Yidden davened and davened, and their voices were heard in Shamayim. And a big commotion started, "What do we do?" The king wasn't meant to have a child, but if he doesn't have a child, the Jews will suffer. So there was one neshama there in Gan Eden, a very holy neshama, that wasn't able to watch the pain and the suffering of the people, of the Jewish people in that country. So this neshama went in front of Hashem's, uh, heavenly throne, so to speak. Of course, Hashem doesn't have a physical throne, but he went... He cried before Hashem, and the neshama said, "Hashem, you're the master of the universe." Please send me down to this physical world. I'll be the son of this king. Even though I'm a neshamah, a Jewish neshamah, but I'll go mesirus nefesh. I'll become the child of a goyishe king just to save the Jews so they wouldn't have to suffer. I'm going to sacrifice my life, and I'm gonna become... I'll be raised in a goyishe home, even though it's very painful for the neshamah. The neshamah wants to do Torah and mitzvahs, not live in a goyishe home, but yet eat chazat zeiv and do terrible things which a Yid shouldn't do. But I'm willing to go mesirus nefesh to

06:45 save the Jewish people from that country. And you know what? Hashem listened to the neshamah's prayers, and within a year, this neshama came down into the world, and the king and the queen had a baby boy. The king and the queen were overjoyed, and they immediately, of course, uh, took away the decree against the Jews. They said, "Jews, you could stay. Thank you very much for praying. I see your prayer works." And he was all happy. This little baby boy who nobody knew had this very, very heilige neshamah, but of course, it looked like a goyishe child. He was born from goyishe parents. So the b-- the king, the father, saw that this child is very, very smart, and he loves learning. He's a very special kid. He hired a very, very important professor to teach his son everything: science, history, languages, and the child was eating it up. He loved every minute of it. And since he was very, very smart and had a great memory, he was able to learn so much, till it got to the point where the child said to his father, "Hey, Father, I can no longer learn with these professors. They have nothing to offer me. I know everything already. I need to go to another place where there is some greater professors, people that are even smarter than these ones. They can offer me new things because these guys have nothing else to offer. I already learned everything." So the father said, "You know what? I'll send

08:24 you to the biggest, the wisest person amongst the Goyim, and that's the Pope in Rome." The Av Od Avodah Zarah. And, uh, father sent him to Rome. He sent a letter with him to Rome, says, "Please, uh, Popes-- Pope, why don't you do me a favor and teach my son?" The Pope said, "I'm agreeing to teach your son on one condition. There's two hours in the day when your son may not come into my room, and he has to give me privacy. I have to be alone because these, these two hours, I'm the Pope, you understand? I'm a very holy Pope." Of course, a shmendrik, but he thinks he's a holy Pope. "And I'm going up to sh-- to heaven during these two hours, so nobody's allowed to be there. So you have to tell your son I'm happy to learn with him all day long except for two hours. There's these two hours in the day where he cannot come in." The son started learning with the Pope, and he started looking at books and reading, going to the library, and he learned and he learned and learned. He was so excited. He loved learning. He became so wise, so smart. One day, this-- the prince, the son of the king, was very curious. "Why is it that two hours in the day I cannot go and see the Pope and my teacher? Why, why can't I see him? What is he doing that's so secretive? I wanna know." He was very curious. And

09:51 so one day he decided he'll find the keys to the private room of the Pope, and he'll find a way to copy the keys so that one day he'll be able to walk in in the middle during these two hours and see for himself what this Popesl is doing. So... And that's what happened. He got a copy of the keys, and one day, right in the middle of these two hours when the, when the Popes wanted to be by himself, he walked in on him. He broke his secret. And what did he see? He couldn't believe it. He saw the Pope sitting by the table with tallis and tefillin on. He had a tallis and tefillin on and with a siddur and with a sefer. He was learning Torah and davening. He couldn't believe his eyes. Now, this prince already knew about the Jewish people, and he had a desire to become Jewish. He didn't know why, but you understand because he had a neshamah, but he didn't know that he had a Jewish neshamah. But when you have a Jewish neshamah, then you wanna be Jewish. He didn't understand why he wants so much to be Jewish, but he wanted to be Jewish. Now that he sees that the Popesl himself is actually Jewish, it's a secret, but he, he doesn't tell anybody. He's acting like the Popes, right? The head of the Christians, and now he's actually a Jew, and he's davening every day, putting on tallis and tefillin. He was totally, like,

11:36 shocked. And then he said-- And the Pope, when he sees him, uh, he walked in on him like this. He, he discovered his secret. He was terrified because if the church finds out that the Pope himself is actually Jewish, and he davens every day with tefillin and tallis, they'll kill him. So he says to the prince, the student, and he says, "Well, why did you come in? How dare you come in? I told you not to. Now look what you did. Now you know what I'm doing. And now you know who I am. You know my secret now." And the prince says to him, "Don't worry, don't worry. I won't tell anybody, I promise you. But I want you to do one thing for me." I've been many years that I've wanted to be Jewish. I don't know why, but there's this unusual desire in my heart. I'm not sure why. I know the Jews are oppressed, the Goyim don't like them, and they give them a lot of trouble, and the Jews suffer a lot. But I still wanna be Jewish. I don't know why. Can you please teach me now that I know that you're Jewish? You're a secret Jew. Hey, maybe can you teach me? S-so the Papal said, "You know what? I'll teach you. But you may not tell anybody about anything that you saw or anything that we are doing. It's gonna be totally private where nobody can come in. Once a week or twice a week, I will teach

13:03 you about Torah." And so they started learning, and the son of the king was, like, absorbing everything. And the more he learned, the more he wanted to know more, and the more he was more eager and had a greater desire to want to be Jewish. 'Cause when he learned more Torah, he wanted, wanted more of it, more of it, and he, like, needed to do it soon. Finally, his teacher told him, "Listen, if you want to convert and become a Jew, you need to go home and take your bags and everything, and you'll go to a certain community. You'll dress up-- First of all, you'll dress up like a farmer. Nobody will recognize that you're the son of the king." Because it can be dangerous. In those days, if a Goy becomes Jewish, and, uh, then it can be very dangerous. The Goyim don't like it. They might kill him. So he told him, "Listen, you dress up like a peasant, like a farmer. Nobody will recognize you. You'll leave the palace, take stuff with you, and you'll go to a certain city." He told him which city to go, "And you will go to the Rav there, secretly tell him who you are, and you'll con-- he'll c- help you convert, become a Jew." And so he went home to his father and said, "Ah," and pretended everything is great. He had such a great time learning with his great teacher. And then he stayed home for a few days. Father didn't know anything,

14:35 didn't suspect anything. But one day, the son disappeared. He left the house and didn't come back. Nobody knew where he went. The father, mother, they were like, "What happened to him? Why did he leave? He didn't even tell us anything." He went to another town, and there he found a Rav, who was willing to teach him some more Torah, and he helped him convert. The Rav helped him convert to Yiddishkeit and become Jewish. And for the rest of his life, he learned Torah day and night, davened and learned in mitzvahs, nothing else. And then when he got old, he died. And when Neshama came up to Shamayim, wow, this is the Neshama. Everybody knew in Shamayim that this is the Neshama that had Mesirus Nefesh to come down into the world to become the son of a goyishe king, only to save the community, to save the, the, the Jews from the, from the country. So everybody knew what a holy Neshama this is. But in Shamayim, they said, "Listen, this Neshama can go to Gan Eden for sure, but this Neshama was raised for a few years in a palace where they fed him treif food, and they did all kinds of things that Jews don't do. This Neshama needs a few years where he can be raised as a Jew by a family that will give him kosher food and everything. So he'll have those ex-- these extra few years that he wasn't able to live like a Jew." And Hashem turned to

16:31 Rebbe Yaakov, the tzadik, and his ta-- and to his wife and said, "I want you to know that that Neshama came back to you." Because it was decided in Shamayim that this Neshama has to come down into the world for only a few years, so-- into the-- into a family that will give it all the things it needs to be a good Jew: to learn, to daven, to, to keep kashrus, and be in a holy environment, in a holy home. Says the Bashem to Rebbe Yaakov, "You guys merited that Neshama." And when the Neshama got its years, it left back to Shamayim because it was finished with his work here on Earth. Said the Bashem to Rebbe Yaakov and his wife, "I want you to know that I saw in Shamayim that you weren't gonna have children. But when I heard that in Shamayim they're looking for a family that will take on a Neshama to raise it only for a few years, I said, 'Please give it to Rebbe Yaakov and his wife. At least they should have the zechus to raise this special holy Neshama that had so much Mesirus Nefesh to raise that child and give him all the kedusha and all the holiness and all the Yiddishkeit and mitzvahs that this child still needs, these extra years.'" So when Rebbe Yaakov and his wife heard, "What? This child that we had and we raised it for a little bit, for a few years, this was actually that holy Neshama?" They started

17:59 crying. Says, "Rebbe, maybe we didn't do enough. We didn't know we had such a holy child, a holy Neshama that was part of our family. We didn't know that. Maybe we didn't do a good enough job." Hashem says, "No, no, it's fine. You did a good job. And I said to them like this..." He says, "You, Reb Yaakov, you should become a shamash in a shul." A shamash is the one who takes care of all the books and puts away all the sefarim, and cleans the shul, and take- puts all the, uh, tablecloth on the tables, and make sure the candles are there, everything is right. "You become a shamash of a shul. And make sure when you see little children that can't read in the siddur yet, they're too young, please gather them. All the young, very, very young children that can't read yet, gather them together while the minyan is davening. And when the chazan says a bracha and everybody says amen, make sure the children say amen with you. And when it's time to say Amen Y'he Shmei Rabba Mevarch Le-Olam U'le-Almei Isborech during Kaddish, you should make sure the kids say it with you loud. In Shamayim, there's great, great joy when, when, when Jews say Amen Y'he Shmei Rabba in generally, but especially children. And when they say Boruch in Kedusha, make sure the children say it too." Then the Ba'al Shem Tov turned to the wife of Reb Yaakov and said, "I want you to become a midwife who

19:31 helps women give birth. And you should take care of the poor mothers who can't afford to hire a midwife. You'll do it for free just to help them, help them with their babies. And, and, uh, when they're boys, of course there's gonna be a bris. Make sure that be-- even before the bris, which is after eight days after birth, that the people every day of the eight days till the bris, that, uh, someone should say Shema in front of the child. The child should hear the words of Shema. And to pay and, uh, to give and bribe maybe, give children candies and all kinds of sweets so they would come and say brachas in the presence of the child." "And after the bris," he said to the, to the wife, "make sure that the babies, the boys have a yarmulke, small yarmulke on their heads. And also make sure that when the mothers are nursing the babies in the middle of the night, the baby's hands are washed first." Can you imagine a little infant that's only a few days old, a week old, two weeks old, a month old, every time the baby wakes up in the middle of the night to eat, you wash its hands first, netilat yadayim. That's what the Ba'al Shem Tov said to the wife of Reb Yaakov. And then the Ba'al Shem Tov concluded and said, "May Hashem bless you and give you a lot of simcha and joy and happiness and brachas in your life." So the

21:03 couple, Reb Yaakov and his wife left, and, uh, they went home. And indeed, Reb Yaakov became a shamash. He took care of a shul and-- in the, in the city of Pinsk. And his wife became a midwife. She was helping mothers, especially poor mothers, give birth to their children. They all-- The both of them did exactly what the Ba'al Shem Tov told them, to be very careful and to do these things. The, the man, Reb Yaakov, used to gather the little boys, the little children in the shul during davening. He would say Amen, Amen Y'he Shmei Rabba with them, Boruch in Kedusha. And as the Ba'al Shem Tov also told him that he should make sure that when the Sefer Torah is brought out from the Aron to lay in it, that you should lift the children and make sure they kiss the Torah. So this way they begin to love the Torah. And when you go out of shul, Reb Yaakov would lift the children up. They should be able to kiss the mezuzah. And the wife did the same thing. She started taking care of these new mothers and the new babies that were born. She would say Shema with children that used to come and visit. We're talking about girls. When girls were born, there was no bris, so they-- she just made sure that the girls would come and say Shema. Say brachas with them. She made sure they had a yarmulke on, the babies, and that they washed the baby's

22:31 hands if he woke up. So this happened for two years. Uh, for two more years. Two years they, they, they've, they did exactly what the Ba'al Shem Tov said. And after two years, Hashem made a miracle. They had a boy, a baby boy, and they called him Aaron. This Aaron became a famous tzadik later on, Rabbi Aaron of Karlin, the great tzadik, Reb Aaron HaGodol, the great Reb Aaron of Karlin. He was a friend of the Alter Rebbe and a talmid of the Mezritcher Maggid. His father was the tzadik nister, Reb Yaakov of Pinsk. The Ba-- When the Alter Rebbe told that story, he says you can learn seven things from that story. I'm gonna give you a challenge, and maybe even give you a present if you send me the right answer. The Alter Rebbe said, after telling that story, that there are seven things you can learn from this story. I'll tell you a few, and the others you are going to tell me. And if you tell me, you might get a present. You might get a present. I'm not saying for sure, you might get a present. The first thing the Alter Rebbe says is an amazing thing. You know what the Alter Rebbe said? Mesirus nefesh of the Ba'al Shem Tov. The Ba'al Shem Tov had incredible mesirus nefesh here because he had ahavas Yisroel. What is a mesirus nefesh? Because if Alter Rebbe reveals something that only the Alter Rebbe could tell us, only a tzadik like the Alter

24:04 Rebbe... Alter Rebbe said in Shamayim, up there, they punish a tzadik if the tzadik reveals the things that he knows of what's going on up there. Like if he tells people, "Yo, your neshama was already here once before, and now it's again a second time, and why it's here a second time," like the Ba'al Shem Tov did with Reb Yaakov. He told him exactly who this baby was that they lost. He was actually a great neshama that was the prince, the son of a king. Now, normally tzadikim are not supposed to tell what they know. And if they do, they reveal secrets, they get punished. The Ba'al Shem Tov knew that, that he might get punished, but he did it anyways. Why? Because he knew that if he tells them this true story behind this baby and the neshama of this baby, Reb Yaakov and his wife will feel so much better. They'll feel like, "Oh, we're such a zechus to raise such a holy, holy baby, holy neshama." He also wanted to tell them that they should know that min Hashamayim they weren't supposed to have children before. And thenMos- the Alter Rebbe said, one thing you can learn from this story, which I'm gonna tell you too, it's the second thing, is that a person has to be able to learn, has to be able to, uh, learn from a hint. There was a hint. What did the Bashemtov say? He said, "You become a shamash, take care of the children, and

25:41 make sure they say Amen Yehei Shmei Rabba, and the wife should take care of the mothers and the babies." He didn't tell-- "And then Hashem should bless you." He didn't say you're gonna have a child. He just hinted, and they understood the hint, and they did everything Bashemtov said, and they were blessed with a child. Sometimes you have to understand when a tzadik gives you a hint because he doesn't wanna be very clear and explicit because he may not be able to do it. He may not be allowed to do it. Min Hashamaim, they don't let him reveal everything. So he give them a hint, and they got the hint. It's important to learn sometimes how to learn, how to understand when you're being hinted by a great tzadik. Another thing, if you want Hashem to give you a bracha, let's say somebody needs something very, very strongly, very desperately. You have a-- Somebody's sick, somebody doesn't have children, somebody has other problems, and they're crying, they want Hashem to help them. You know the best way to get Hashem to help you? Is not only crying and davening, to do something. Rebbe Yaakov and his wife, they devoted their lives to make sure that children say Amen Yehei Shmei Rabba, which causes the Shamayim a tremendous joy, tremendous joy when, when children say Amen Yehei Shmei Rabba. So he dedicated his life to this, and he, and he m- made them kiss the mezuzah and so on. And that, and his wife, the same

27:08 thing. She took care of the little babies, and she helped the mothers for free. She didn't charge them. And she would make sure the babies wash their hands before they eat. She put yarmulke, she make sure they Sh- Shema before the bris. So that shows that when you do something good in the world, action, Hashem listens to and Hashem sees, and He gives you a bracha. And the fourth thing the Alter Rebbe said, that a couple, let's say a tatti and a mammi, they're not a tatti and mammi yet, they don't have children yet, but they wanna have children. They wanna be a tatti and a mammi. So you would think, okay, let the tatti do a few mitzvahs, something very-- devote himself, dedicate his life to do good things, and that will bring the bracha for both of them because they're married. So no. Even if they're married, each one has to do their own deeds. Each one has to do their own mitzvahs in order for them together to be blessed with a child. Now, the last-- These are four, four things we learned, and the last three I'm gonna leave to you. If you can come up even with two of the three, I'll get you a present. Bli neder. Not promising, but bli neder. You see, you tell to mammi to send me a email, and you can give me the answer. Be well. Oh, wait a second. I forgot. The Alter Rebbe said-- What does that have to do with

28:40 the Parsha? Many years before that story happened, Rebbe Yaakov, before the story happened with Rebbe Yaakov and his wife, the Bashemtov giving them this special neshamah, Bashemtov said about Rebbe Yaakov that Rebbe Yaakov, he sees Hashem in everything. Bemuchal. He can actually see in everything Hashem, even in a chair, in a couch, in a window, in a, i- in a bird, in, in a person. He sees Hashem in everything. And then the Bashemtov said like this. Nobody understood it then, but later on, uh, you could understand what happened. They-- He told Rebbe Yaakov, Aharon, the name Aharon has the same letters as the word Nir Eh. Nun, Resh, Ayn, Eh. If you rearrange it, it's Aharon. It's the same letters, but just different arrangement. Nir Eh means to see. Rebbe Yaakov sees a lakut. He sees Hashem in everything. As if you see, like, a, a person in front of you. He sees Hashem in everything, like, as if it's so real, and that's the meaning of Aharon HaKohen. Aharon HaKohen, when he lit the Menorah, he brought so much light to the world. And, and he lit all the neshamas. All the neshamas became so bright that they could see Hashem with this Rebbe Yaakov saw. And that's actually written in Torah Ohd, the Alter Rebbe, in the Torah Ohd Parshas Teretzaveh, but the same thing is all these Parshas are about Aharon HaKohen lighting the Menorah. There, the Alter Rebbe says this word of the Bashemtov. Aharon is the same letters as Nir

30:15 Eh, 'cause Aharon HaKohen was able to inspire every Jew to see Hashem so real that you feel Hashem in every moment, in everything that you see. And so I'm waiting to hear your answers. Have a good day.