16/09/2024
L'CHAYIM - TO LIFE!
Reb Feivel was a simple Jew. He had a little farm in the Polish countryside and lived a meagre life with his wife and four children. But he had a dream. From the minute he heard about the Baal Shem Tov, he longed to see him. For years he saved and scrimped until finally this year he had enough for the journey and to hold his family till he returned.
The weather smelled of winter. It was the Jewish month of Elul, the month of 'Teshuvah'.[1] Then the month of Tishrei with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Succos, and Simchas Torah would follow. Hundreds, even thousands of Chassidim would be there together; learning, praying, hearing the words of the Holy Baal Shem Tov, and seeing his holy face. He couldn't wait!
After a five-day journey, cramped in a wagon with ten other Chassidim, he finally arrived in the town of Mezibush, the home of the Baal Shem Tov.
What he had heard was exactly right. Even the air was different here; it seemed to be shouting, 'Rosh HaShanah is coming! The King of the Universe is near!'
He was so excited! Everyone was heading into the shule and he followed, suitcase in hand. In another minute he would see him. He would see the Baal Shem Tov in person!
But he was in for a big surprise.
The shul was packed with hundreds of excited Chassidim talking, saying prayers and learning Torah. Suddenly everyone became silent; the Rebbe was entering!
The Baal Shem appeared from a side door, gave a quick penetrating look around the room and suddenly fixed his eyes on Reb Feivel!
Feivel was in awe. This was the moment he had been waiting for. But why was the Rebbe staring at him? Everything was dreamlike; he vaguely felt that he was the centre of attention, but all he saw was the master's piercing eyes looking deeply into his very being.
Unexpectedly, the Baal Shem Tov lowered his head in deep thought, or perhaps prayer. Then he looked up once again and called out: "Reb Feivel, Reb Feivel! Fool! What are you doing here?"
The silence was deafening, the Chassidim were afraid to breathe. Something very strange was going on; something was clearly wrong.
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" exclaimed the Baal Shem Tov. "How dare you come into a holy place like this!"
Feivel was confused, his head was spinning, he tried to move but there was nowhere to go.
"Leave!" shouted the Baal Shem Tov, "leave here immediately!"
He started moving backwards, afraid to turn his back on the holy man but afraid to stay even another second, his heart was pounding and his whole body started to a sweat.
When he finally stumbled outside onto the street, he was crying and disorientated. Still in a daze, he walked right over to the carriage stand, paid for the five day journey home, climbed in and was on his way back while still in a stupor.
After a few hours, the wagon stopped in front of an inn. "What's this?" he asked the driver. "Why are we stopping?"
"We can't travel at night! So we'll stay here at the inn."
Poor Feivel was so bewildered by his encounter with the Baal Shem Tov, he didn't notice anything. He got out of the carriage still clutching his old suitcase and dragged himself into the inn.
Trying to understand what had happened, he sat at table in a corner, ordered a beer and went over the events of the day. Maybe he did do some sort of sin . . . maybe it was a punishment. He realized that he didn't learn much Torah, but that couldn't be the reason the Baal Shem Tov was so angry with him. After all, everyone knew that above everything else, the Baal Shem Tov loved every Jew, even unlearned ones.
While still deep in thought, he was disturbed by the sound of another carriage stopping, and then joyous singing from outside. It got louder and louder until the inn door opened and a group of Chassidim came pouring in. Knowing that they were only hours away from seeing the Baal Shem Tov, they were feeling good and in high spirits.
"Give us a few bottles of vodka," several said in unison, "tomorrow we'll be with the Rebbe!"
"Oy!" groaned poor Feivel bitterly, "Oy, oy, the Rebbe!" And he began to weep quietly to himself.
Feivel quietly sat in the shadows, watching the Chassidim push a few tables together, sitting down, and pouring vodka for one another, toasting l'chayim, saying words of Torah and singing.
The effect of all this joy was to make Feivel more depressed. Suddenly, he felt two of the Chassidim lift him to his feet and pull him over to their table.
He tried to resist and begged them to leave him alone, but to no avail. They had decided that he must be one of the Misnagdim (opposers of the Baal Shem Tov) - why else such a long face? They had agreed upon seeing Feivel that they had a religious duty to transform him.
So they forced him to drink and say l'chayim with them. It wasn't long before Feivel joined in with the singing and dancing, the hours passed like minutes.
"And then they heard a rooster crow - it is already dawn!'
After putting on their tallis and tefillin and davening the morning's prayer, the Chassidim got back into their carriage along with a very drunk Feivel still clutching his old suitcase, shouting, "We're going to the Rebbe for Yom Tov!" and began another song.
Five hours later, they arrived in Mezibush and were on their way to the Baal Shem Tov's shule. Two of them had their arms under Feivel's and were 'carrying' him with them.
When they finally put him down, they were in the Baal Shem Tov's shule. Feivel, still somewhat dazed, realized he was just where the Baal Shem Tov had yelled at him to leave less than 24 hours ago.
Suddenly the room fell silent, the side door opened, and the Baal Shem Tov entered the shul. Almost immediately, he looked towards Feivel. At the instant their eyes met, Feivel felt as though a bucket of freezing water had been thrown on him.
He froze in place, and became white from embarrassment. He wanted to run from the shule, but it was as if he was glued to the floor.
"Welcome, Reb Feivel" shouted out the Baal Shem Tov. "My beloved Reb Feivel, where have you been? I've been very worried about you."
Feivel was completely mixed up. "What's going on?" he thought. "Maybe yesterday never happened, or maybe now I'm dreaming!" Just then the Baal Shem Tov beckoned him to come over. The Chassidim moved aside making a path for him.
The Baal Shem Tov took Feivel's hand and explained, "My dear Reb Feivel, you didn't know it but yesterday when you entered this shule, the Angel of Death entered with you. I instantly realized that you wouldn't live to see Rosh Hashanah.
"I prayed for mercy but to no avail; it had been decreed in Heaven that your time to leave this world had come. I knew I had to do something quickly. It is known that embarrassing someone in public is like killing him, so I yelled harsh words at you with the idea that making you feel deeply ashamed of yourself would cause the Heavenly decree to be withdrawn. But I knew it hadn't worked when I saw the Angel of Death dancing over your head.
"So another idea popped into my mind. I thought that if I told you to leave, you'd probably immediately take the first carriage back to your home. Since it is a five day journey, I knew you would stop at the nearest inn for the night. Being so agitated, I assumed you'd probably stay awake, sitting at one of the tables and drinking all night.
"Now I reasoned to myself, many groups of Chassidim on their way here also aren't able to travel at night and would have to stop at that same inn. Being so excited about coming here, they also won't be able to sleep because they'd be too happy and seeing someone sad, they would probably try to cheer you up by making you sit with them and share their vodka. As we all know, when the Chassidim drink vodka they don't just make a blessing, they say 'L'Chayim' which means 'To Life!'
"Now according to the Torah Reb Feivel, when three observant Jews sit together, they have the power of a court. So when they all raised their cups to you and declared: 'To Life!' this was like a legal decision for life that overrode the power of the previous Heavenly decree.
"And, thank G*d it worked: the Angel of Death has departed. Welcome to Mezibush!" And so it was. Moshiach NOW!!!
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[1] Repentance; literally turning back to G*d.
