176. The Baal Shem Tov And The 3 Robbers

00:16 Good ‹Moiet› Kinderlach. I share with you a beautiful story with the Baalshem Tov. The story is recorded in the Sefer Keser Shem Tov, famous Sefer that has a lot of the torahs of the Baalshem Tov written by ta- Chasidim who were very close to the time of the Baalshem Tov, and they recorded a lot of his teachings and a lot of... and some of his stories. And the guy who wrote the Sefer said that he heard this story from a very trusted person who was very close to the story. In the time of the Baalshem Tov, there was a Jew who was a tzadik who lived in a city, and he became very, very sick. And the doctors couldn't help him. When the Baalshem Tov visited that town, people came to him, family members of the tzadik, and asked the Baalshem Tov to give a bracha and to daven for him, that he should get well again. Baalshem Tov gave a bracha, and then he left town, but nothing changed. The tzadik remained sick and did not get better. A year later, the Baalshem Tov came again to visit in the city. And again, his family members, the family members of this tzadik and other people in the community came to the Baalshem Tov and asked Baalshem Tov again for a bracha, for tefillahs. He should daven that this tzadik should get well. Baalshem Tov again gave a bracha, but he didn't give any promise, but he just gave a bracha, and, and then he

02:05 left town. But again, nothing happened, and the tzadik did not get better. Matter of fact, he got sicker and sicker. Finally, when Baalshem Tov came the third time, and again they came to him, and Baalshem Tov again just gave a bracha. So one of the talmidim of the Baalshem Tov that was close to the Baalshem Tov said to this, to his Rebbe, "Rebbe, I think you need to do something, something to help this tzadik. Do a miracle, a moefes, a nes. Make sure that he recovers because people see that you're coming to town already three times, and you give a bracha, and nothing happens. So first of all, he's a tzadik. He doesn't deserve to be sick like this. So it's... it would be right for you to daven and make a miracle and make sure that he recovers. And also, people see that your tefillahs and your brachas don't really work. You're not what people say about you. People say about you that you're a tzadik, you can do miracles, you can heal the sick, and here it's not happening. So they begin, they begin to doubt whether you are a real, uh, tzadik that can give brachas and you can really make miracles." So Baalshem Tov saw that this talmid was pressuring him about this issue, so he told this talmid, "Okay, I see I have no choice. I have to tell you the truth." And that's how he reveals to him something which the Baalshem Tov did not want to reveal to

03:43 anyone. The Baalshem Tov knew about it, and he didn't want to tell. But now he sees that people are beginning to question whether Baalshem Tov is real, whether Baalshem Tov is a real tzadik, his brachas don't work. So he said, "Listen, let me, let me tell you the truth. Right near this town where this tzadik lives, there's a forest. In the forest, it's been a while that three ganavim, banditim, armed robbers are living in the forest. They're hiding in the forest, and they're waiting for Jews to travel through the forest, and they wanna kill them and rob them of all their money. And it so happened that Hashem makes a miracle, that Jews don't travel there. They don't travel through this forest, and that's why no one got hurt. And I want you to know the reason why such a nes happened, that no Jew got killed or even got hurt by these robbers, is because this tzadik is very sick, and he suffers. And sometimes the yisurim of a tzadik, the suffering of a tzadik protects the generation from all harm. They don't get harmed. So this tzadik is sick for a reason, because he's protecting all the Jews in the area that are... all the cities that are around the forest. There are a lot of Jews living in each one of those towns, and each one can be in danger if they start traveling through the forest, and he's protecting them, that they don't get caught by these robbers, and no one

05:23 got killed. Even some people may have traveled, but the robbers didn't see them, and, and a nes happened, and they didn't get killed. It's all in the zechus of this tzadik that is suffering. The suffering of the tzadik is protecting the Jews in this area. And I prove to you this because in three days from now, the government already sent soldiers to this forest to go find and catch these robbers and to take them to prison and lock them up for good. And you'll see as soon as this happens, there won't be any danger anymore from the forest. And what will happen is that this tzadik will get well because there's no reason for him to suffer anymore. The Jews no longer will need this protection." And it's exactly what happened. Three days after the Baalshem Tov mentioned this, everybody heard how the soldiers came into the forest. They searched for these banditim, these robbers. They caught them. They, they, they chained them up, and they took them to a prison, and they locked them up for life. Never will they come out again. And the whole area, all the cities and the areas around the forest, was now feeling safe, and they were no longer in danger. And as soon as that happened, within a day or two, the tzadik became well. The tzadik became completely well. So then the talmid saw that the Baalshem Tov... It's not that the Baalshem Tov's brachas don't help, or Baalshem Tov couldn't make a miracle. He knew

07:06 there was a special reason in Hashem's mind that this tzadik has to be sick to save the Jews, and that's why he davened that they should catch the banditim, the robbers, so therefore he wouldn't have to be sick. And that's a true story that happened, that was heard by the author of Keser Shem Tov, and he heard it from people that are very close to the Baalshem Tov. A gut Moiet.