Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The Baal Shem Tov on Ahavas Yisrael

Drawing of rabbi with Torah by Hyman Bloom


Ahavas Yisrael / Love of the Jewish People

In response to recent news from Eretz Yisrael, we are posting a few excerpts from the opening section of “The Path of the Baal Shem Tov,” with minor modifications. Sources include both early and later Chassidic traditions, including several from Chabad.


Ahavas Yisrael is the first gate which leads to the courtyard of the Creator (Likutey Dibburim II, p. 412).

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The Baal Shem Tov once reproached an itinerant preacher who had delivered a fiery sermon to a group of simple villagers. “How can you speak evil of the Jewish people?” he cried. “All day long a Jew trudges through the marketplace until dusk, when he becomes anxious and says, ‘It’s getting late for minchah (the afternoon prayer).’ So he runs off somewhere to pray and doesn’t even know what he is saying—but nevertheless, the very angels tremble at his words” (Shivchey Baal Shem Tov 128).

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The Maggid of Mezeritch taught: The Baal Shem Tov often used to say that love of the Jewish people is the same thing as love of God. The verse states, “You are children unto the Lord, your God.” When one loves the father, one loves the children (HaYom Yom, p. 81).

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“Israel in whom I will praise Myself…“ (Isaiah 49:3). God cannot be [adaquately] praised—for who can comprehend His Essence? Therefore, God brought the Jewish people into existence in order to praise Himself. Just as a father praises himself because of his children, so does the Holy One, Blessed be He, praise Himself because of Israel (Sefer Baal Shem Tov, Ki Savo 4, citing Kisvey Kodesh).

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“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18)—this is a reflection of the mitzvah, “You shall love the Lord, your God.” When one loves another Jew, he loves the Holy One, blessed be He. For the soul of a Jew is a “portion of God Above,” and when one loves a fellow Jew, he loves his innermost essence. Thus, he loves the Holy One, blessed be He, as well (HaYom Yom 78).

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[God told Avraham: I Look to the heavens and count the stars ... Thus shall be your offspring” (Genesis 15:15). The Baal Shem Tov explained: The stars appear very small, but in heaven they are really very large. The same is true of the Jewish people. In this world, they appear very small. But in the Supernal World, they are really very great (Rabbi Zvi Hirsch of Ziditchov, Beis Yisrael, Lekh Lekha 36, cited in Sefer Baal Shem Tov, Lekh Lekha 27).

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The Baal Shem Tov taught: The Holy One, blessed be He, sends a soul to the world to live seventy or eighty years, just to do another Jew a favor, materially in general or spiritually in particular (Likutey Dibburim, Vol. III, p. 1126, cited in Kesser Shem Tov, Hosafos, 130).

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The Baal Shem Tov said that a heartfelt chapter of Tehillim; the effort expended in doing another Jew a favor, whether material or spiritual; and love of one’s fellow Jew are keys which can unlock the gates to the Heavenly Palaces of mercy, healing, salvation and livelihood (Sefer HaSichos 5700, p. 73, cited in Keser Shem Tov, Hosafos, 127).

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The Baal Shem Tov taught: God loves every Jew as if he were an only child, born to his parents in their old age and even more (Likutey Sichos, Vol. III, p. 982).

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The Baal Shem Tov once said: “When a Jew sighs in compassion for the grief of another Jew, this breaks through even the most impenetrable barriers of those who denounce us Above. And when a Jew enthusiastically shares in another Jew’s rejoicing and blesses him, God receives it like the prayer of Rabbi Yishmael Kohen Gadol in the Holy of Holies” (Sefer HaSichos 5703).


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The entire Jewish people are one. [This collectivity] has a physical aspect (chomer) and spiritual aspect (tzurah). And just as the body needs the soul, so does the soul need the body. Therefore, [one who is in the category of tzurah should not separate himself from [those who are in the category of chomer]; rather, he should bind himself to them and watch over them with a compassionate eye in order to return them to the ways of virtue (Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Kedoshim).

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The Baal Shem Tov once told his disciple, the Rav of Kolomaye (father of the tzaddik, Rabbi Nachman of Kolomaye), “I love the Jew whom you might consider to be the lowest of the low more than you love your only son” (Leket Imrey Peninim 208b).

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“ ‘All nations shall praise you, for yor you shall be a land of delight,’ says the Lord of Hosts” (Malachi 3:12). The Baal Shem Tov taught: Just as the greatest wise men cannot fathom all the treasures of nature with which God has endowed the earth—for everything comes from the earth—similarly, no one can apprehend all the treasures the Jewish people contain; for they are God’s “land of delight.” I would like to enable the Jewish people to yield the kind of produce which God’s “land of delight” can surely give (HaYom Yom, p. 54, cited in Keser Shem Tov, Hosafos 44).

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We have added a teaching that does not come from that the Baal Shem Tov, but from his great-grandson, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. It has been newly translated for this website:

Rebbe Nachman taught: You should always search for whatever merit and good points that may be found in the Jewish people. Judge every person according to the scale of merit—even those who oppose you and scorn you. By doing so, you will constantly be saved from strife. Moreover, through this you will create a “crown” for the Blessed One, adorned with many types of gems [which are the good points] (Likutey Eitzos, Machlokes u-Merivah, 2).

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