119. How Ahavas Yisroel Of Regular People Performed A Miracle That The Baal Shem Tov Couldn't

00:16 Hello, kinderlach. Here's a story of the Baal Shem Tov told by the previous Rebbe. He heard it from a old Hasid by the name of Shmuel Gurevich. He was from a city called Denburg in Russia. And when he was a child, he learned in the cheder in Denburg by an old Hasid who was his melamed, his teacher. His name was Pinchas. And Pinchas told that story, the story that he heard. He remembered the people that still were close to the Baal Shem Tov. And Pinchas told the story like this. The city of Denburg, there were no Hasidim at that time, but there was a couple, Reb Dovid Yeruchom and his wife, Basia. They moved into Denburg. They were-- Reb Dovid Yeruchom was a cobbler, a shoemaker. He was very poor, but he made a living, you know. He fixed people's shoes, and he davened in a shul called the Chevrei Kadisha Shul. The shul of Chevrei Kadisha was full of simple people that didn't know much how to learn. Reb Dovid Yeruchom didn't tell anybody how much he knows how to learn, but he would become like a teacher to many of the people in the shul. He would teach them Chumash, and would teach them Midrash, and stories in the Midrash, stories from the Gemara. And they all started loving him because he was such a special person. He would always teach them, the people in the shul, uh, all kinds of things from Torah, and they were very grateful to him. Very soon,

02:08 Reb Dovid Yeruchom became famous in all the other shuls too, 'cause he would tell stories and teach Gemaras and Midrashim, and people liked listening to him 'cause he spoke differently than all the other, you know, Rabbanim that used to come to the city and speak. He would speak to them about how important and how special a Jew is to Hashem. And even if a Jew doesn't know how to learn anything, but they really want to be close to Hashem, Hashem loves him, right? Other, other misnagdim would come to town, Rabbanim, and they would give Drashas and say, "Oh, you simple Jews, you do aveiras and Hashem is gonna punish you." But he was different. Reb Dovid Yeruchom would talk to people and say how much Hashem loves them, and they're special in Hashem's eyes, even if they can't learn much. And people liked listening to him, so he... But eventually, he told them the truth that he's actually a Hasid of the Baal Shem Tov, and he began to tell the people in the town of Denburg some amazing, awesome miracles of the Baal Shem Tov. People that couldn't have children for like thirty, forty years, and the Baal Shem Tov promised them a child, and they had a child. He would tell all kinds of stories about people that were totally sick, and they were dying, and they came to Baal Shem Tov. Shem Tov healed them. And pretty soon people wanted to travel with him to the Baal Shem Tov because he would

03:36 go to the Baal Shem Tov every like, uh, Yom Tov or something. Or when it was a special Yom Tov, he would sometimes go to the Baal Shem Tov. He took with him a lot of people from Denburg with him, and they all became Hasidim of the Baal Shem Tov. And pretty soon, most of the city of Denburg were all Hasidim. In Denburg, there was a Jew by the name Reb Moshe Chaim. His wife was Miriam. They had been married for thirty-two years, and they didn't have children. They were very sad. One day, Reb Moshe Chaim is sitting in the shul. It's after Maariv, and he hears people talking about the story with the Baal Shem Tov that just happened recently. A couple that was married for many years, they were like already fifty, sixty years old. They were quite old, and they came to the Baal Shem Tov and they wanted a child. And the Baal Shem Tov said to them that there is a Jew, a whole family, a Jew and his whole family that are in a dungeon. Uh, pirates, a very mean pirates put a whole family in a dungeon because the Jew couldn't pay his rent for his store, and the pirates put him into a dungeon. And we need money to save him. So if they were willing to give the money to save this Jew, then Hashem-- the Baal Shem Tov promises them in the zchus of this mitzvah, they will have a child. And they did. They

05:01 gave the money, and a year later, they had a child. And Reb Moshe Chaim is listening to this story, and he said, "Wow, maybe I should go to the Baal Shem Tov too. My wife and I should go to the Baal Shem Tov and ask him for a, for a bracha." So he goes home and tells his wife, Miriam, "You know what I just heard in shul? That story with this Baal Shem Tov that everybody talks about, this holy tzadik, that everybody goes to him and he gives brachas and he makes miracles. Maybe we should also go to him." When his wife, Miriam, heard this, she, um, she got very happy. She's told her husband, you know, she would help a lot the wife of Reb Dovid Yeruchom. The wife of Reb Dovid Yeruchom, Basia. Remember? I told her name is Basia. She would do a lot of mitzvahs. She would go to the homes of poor families where a woman would give birth to a child, and she would... She knew they were poor, then she would go to their house and cook food for the other children, and she would take care of the baby, and she would take care of the woman who gave birth, who was in bed, you know, because she just, just gave birth. So she had to be taken care of. And Basia would go to all the families that needed help. She would go all the sick people, she would take care of them and bring them

06:14 medicine and cook for them food. And so, uh, Miriam, the wife of Rabbi Moshe Chaim, would go and with her and help her. She wanted to have a share in the mitzvah too. One day they were both, um, talking, and Basia says to, to, to Miriam, "You know that my husband and I go to the Baal Shem Tov, and the Baal Shem Tov has done amazing miracles with people who couldn't have children, and he gave them a bracha, and they had a child." So Miriam says to Rabbi Moshe Chaim, who now comes home from Mayrov and says what he heard about the Baal Shem Tov. He says, "You know, I also heard from Basia, the wife of Rabbi Gedalia Boruch, great miracles from the Baal Shem Tov, but I didn't wanna bother you. I always thought we should both go to the Baal Shem Tov, but I didn't want to bother you, so I didn't tell you. But now that you're telling me that you also wanna go, so maybe we should go." It's a good idea. There was only one problem. Rabbi Moshe Chaim never left the town of Denberg. He was born there. He was always afraid to travel. He was afraid who knows some goy is gonna come in a forest and hurt him and, and beat him up or steal his money. So he was always... He had this fear. You know, some people are afraid of darkness, some people are afraid to travel on a plane, some people are afraid

07:44 to, uh, go up to a high floor. They're afraid... People are afraid of all kinds of things. Yeah, people are afraid of animals. He was afraid to travel. Rabbi Moshe Chaim never traveled outside the little-- the city that he was born in. He's there for like fifty years and never left the city. So he was afraid to go to the Baal Shem Tov, so he decided to put it off and not go. And so a few months passed by, and again, his wife says to him, "You know, we talked about going to the Baal Shem Tov. When we go?" And he says, "I'm so afraid to travel." Until one day they hear that Rabbi Gedalia Boruch and other Hasidim decided to go for Shavuot to the Baal Shem Tov. And Rabbi Moshe Chaim and his wife decided to go with them. They go a whole group. He's not afraid to go. And so they traveled to Medzhybizh where the Baal Shem Tov is, and they went there for Shavuot. And Rabbi Moshe Chaim and his wife went in for the first time in their lives to Yechidus to the Baal Shem Tov. And they told the Baal Shem Tov with tears in their eyes that they have been married for thirty-two years, and Hashem didn't bless them with children, and they want a bracha from the Baal Shem Tov. And to their surprise, the Baal Shem Tov did not say a word, didn't answer, and just wished them well and went, went away. And, and

09:12 they left. And he didn't give them a bracha for a child. Didn't even answer. And so they were very sad. So they went in again, like, uh, after Shavuot, a few days. They stayed there for a few weeks. So they went a second time to Yechidus. With the Baal Shem Tov you could go into Yechidus maybe every few weeks, so he went into Yechidus again. And again, they asked the Baal Shem Tov for a bracha. Baal Shem Tov doesn't say a word, and they leave. Then they went a third time. They ask again, "Please, please, Rebbe, give us a bracha. It's so hard for us. We don't have any children." And the Rebbe just didn't answer. And this is when the wife, Miriam, fainted. And when she woke up, she cried bitterly that she d- she sees that the Rebbe doesn't wanna answer. That apparently the Baal Shem Tov couldn't even help them. That means all the gates in Shamayim were closed to their prayers, and that it seems like that even the Baal Shem Tov can't help them, uh, give them a bracha, and they, they're not gonna have children. And she was very, very sad. She cried and cried. Rabbi Gedalia Boruch heard about the whole thing, that the Baal Shem Tov is not answering their request for a bracha. He just keeps quiet. He decided he and some of his friends that came from Denberg with him, that they're going to do something. They understood that it's a very, very bad decree

10:45 against Rabbi Moshe Chaim and his wife, Miriam, that seems like min Hashamayim they cannot have children, and even the Baal Shem Tov feels he can't do anything for them. It's a very difficult situation. So Rabbi Gedalia Boruch and his friends decided to do something. They're going to fast three days straight. That means three days not eating any food and not drinking any water, fasting. And during those three days they'll be saying Tehillim the whole time and not say a single word other than Tehillim. Not even say hello to someone, nothing. They'll just sit there and shul, and they'll daven and daven and cry to Hashem to help Rabbi Moshe Chaim and Miriam have a child. And that's what they did. They didn't tell anybody. Not e- Not, uh, nobody. Nobody knew about it. It was a secret. They were special-- They had a special room, and they closed the door, and that's where they stayed for three days straight, davening and crying to Hashem. Davening to Hashem to help Rabbi Moshe Chaim and Miriam. On the third day, on the third day of their fasting, by Mincha, it was almost the end of the three days fasting. They were about to break their fast. Maybe in a few hours later, they would break their fast because the three days were gonna be over. They finished their tefillahs, they finished their, their Tehillim, and they said so many times Tehillim, the whole Tehillim for, for, for Moshe Chaim and, and Miriam. And then suddenly the shamash

12:14 of the Baal Shem Tov- Comes to their room where they were hiding, and they were secretly davening for three days and fasting, and knocks on the door and says, "The Rebbe told me to come and tell you that you're invited to a meal, a special meal, a seudas mitzvah, a mitzvah meal." So they say to the shamash of the Baal Shem Tov, "A mitzvah meal? What's today? Today is not Rosh Chodesh. It's not a Yom Tov or anything. What's, what's the mitzvah today?" The shamash says, "I don't know myself. I don't know. He just told me to tell you that he's preparing a big meal, a seudas mitzvah, and he wants you to come." It was already dark, so they could go and eat now because the three days of fast were over, and they went to the Baal Shem Tov and all the talmidim also came to the Baal Shem Tov. They heard the Baal Shem Tov is making a big meal. Nobody understood why. And, uh, during the meal, the Baal Shem Tov started saying words of Torah. In the words of Torah, he talked about "Ve'ahavta l'reiakha kamoecha." Ahavas Yisroel, the power, the power of Ahavas Yisroel. When Jews have Ahavas Yisroel for each other, that one Jew has a problem, has tzaros, has problems, and is suffering, and other Jews daven for him because they love him so much, they wanna help him, so they ask Hashem to help this Jew. In Shomayim, by Hashem, it is very, very precious, very

13:43 special. Hashem loves it so much. And what Hashem will sometimes do, He will give the-- He will accept their tefillahs. And so Reb Gedaliah Boruch and his friends realized that the whole seudas mitzvah the Baal Shem Tov did for, for them because the Baal Shem Tov knew Baruch HaKodesh, what they did for three days because they were Ahavas Yisroel for Rabbi Moshe Chaim and Miriam. And the Baal Shem Tov was very b'simcha during the whole meal, and he said again and again, "We can't imagine how powerful Ahavas Yisroel is. You really love someone, and you daven for them so that Hashem should help the other person who needs help with something. Hashem loves this so much. We can't even begin to understand and imagine how much Hashem loves that." And then he said, yeah, so then Reb Gedaliah Boruch said to Reb Shmuel and Reb Moshe Chaim, "I think the time has come for you to go over again to the Baal Shem Tov because I think that the gates of HaShe- of Shomayim, the gates of heaven are open now, and I think that our tefillahs worked because the Baal Shem Tov seems to be very b'simcha, and he sees something in Shomayim that we can't see, of course. And go over now." He went over to the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov right away gave him a bracha and to Miriam also. He said to them that you'll live a long life, and you'll have a child. And they went home

15:14 to Denburg, and Rabbi Moshe Chaim and Miriam a year later, Beis Iyar. Beis Iyar, which is the birthday also of the Rebbe Maharash. Beis Iyar, they had a b- boy, but then-- and they called him Shloime. And at the same time, around the same time, Reb Gedaliah Boruch and his wife also gave birth to a girl, and they named her Yocheved. And Reb Shloime became a big talmid chacham. He learned in yeshivas and learned Torah day and night. Became a big talmid chacham. When he was seventeen, he married Yocheved, the daughter of Gedaliah Boruch, and he sat and learned all his life, and they became a very special, famous family in Denburg with many children. Kinderlach, this is an amazing story that shows the power of Ahavas Yisroel and how much Hashem loves it when you care about your friends. You know a boy in your class is not doing well, has problems, maybe problems at home, problems with health, problems with all kinds of things. Maybe he's not doing so well in class. Maybe he doesn't have friends, and you care about him, and you do something to help him. Either you daven to Hashem. First, you help him by doing something. Go over to him. Be his friend. Show him, show him that you love him, that you care about him. And if, chas v'Shalom, it's something that you cannot help, let's say it's an issue of health, and you cannot-- you're not a doctor, you can't help him, so you daven to

16:52 Hashem. You daven to Hashem, "Hashem, please, I want this boy to get well. Help him." You can't imagine how much Hashem loves you when you do this. Hashem says, "Wow, this is such a special child. He loves his friend so much that he davens to Me that I should help him." And in that zechus, Hashem will help the boy.