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Session Six
God in the Mountains: The Baal Shem Tov
TEACHINGS OF THE BAAL SHEM TOV You said that you must fast. I am deeply upset at your words...
You should not place yourself in this danger. This is the way
of melancholy and sadness, and "the Shekhinah does not dwell in
sadness but in the joy of doing a mitzvah" [Talmud, Shabbat 30b]...
Let me advise you:... Every single morning while you are studying,
attach yourself to the Hebrew letters with complete attachment
in the worship of your Creator... "Do not hide from your own flesh"
[Isaiah 58:7]. You should not, heaven forbid, fast more than is
obligatory and necessary [i.e. on the fast days in the Jewish
calendar]. If you truly listen to my words, God will be with you... Today, most of us are probably not too tempted by fasting and
other kinds of self-mortification, but it can't hurt to be reminded
that a deep connection with our Creator is possible through meditation
(meditation on the Hebrew letters is recommended here) and doing
mitzvahs joyfully, while accepting our bodily existence and taking
care of our physical health. QUESTIONS for discussion forum:
Many teachings of the Baal Shem Tov have come down to us, a few
from letters that he wrote himself and many from the writings
of his disciple Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonoyye. Rabbi Yaakov
Yosef wrote the first Hasidic books and quoted the Baal Shem Tov
in them many times, always beginning "I heard from my teacher..."
It's not always clear how much of a teaching is from the Baal
Shem Tov and how much from Rabbi Yaakov Yosef himself, and of
course Rabbi Yaakov Yosef's memory was not perfect, but it's exciting
to read these teachings which are at least close to what the Baal
Shem Tov himself said as he was creating a new path in Judaism.
"DO NOT HIDE FROM YOUR OWN FLESH"
For some reason, religious teachers, including Jewish ones, often
have trouble with the fact that we are bodily beings. In the Baal
Shem Tov's time there was a strong trend of religious people depriving
their bodies through fasting, sitting in icy water, etc. The Baal
Shem Tov had a much more positive connection with his body. This
is part of a letter he wrote to his disciple Rabbi Yaakov Yosef
of Polonoyye, discouraging him from fasting. It is included in
In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov (page 65 in the English version).
1) Why do you think there is so much discomfort with the body
in religion? (Discomfort with the body manifests itself in various
kinds of self-deprivation around food, sleep and sex, and in teachings
about how the real person is the spirit and the body is low or
worthless.)
2) You may want to look up the verse the Baal Shem Tov quotes
from the Bible, Isaiah 58:7. What is the context there? What point
does the verse make in context and what point does the Baal Shem
Tov make in his quotation of it? How is the original context relevant?
