#319 (s5764-10/ 1 Kislev)

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Once a poor Jewish farmer, wearing coarse ragged clothes, was praying in the little town shul long past the time when the rest of the members of the minyan finished their prayers and left for work. He continued alone, and a warm glow filled his heart as he slowly mumbled his way through the prayer book.

Just then, the Baal Shem Tov was walking through the countryside. With his acute spiritual perception, the Baal Shem Tov 's eyes suddenly riveted on the tiny, ramshackle shul he was passing in this remote, country town.

"Bless the Al-mighty, what's going on in there", he thought.

He rushed over and looked through the window. There he saw a poor Jew praying in talit and tefilin. The Baal Shem Tov went in, sat down, and studied a holy book while waiting for the man to finish his prayers, which he assumed wouldn't take more than a few more minutes.

But minutes passed, and then hours. 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, noon. Finally, at about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the man finished his prayers and took off his talit and tefilin.

"Shalom Aleichem!" "Aleichem Shalom!" they greeted each other. After they conversed for a while, the Baal Shem Tov asked the fellow why he prayed so late into the afternoon.

"Rabbi, I really don't know what the words in the siddur mean or even the right prayers to say. So, I just start at the beginning of the prayer book and stop when the rest of the men do. Today, I felt especially touched by the prayers, so I just continued after the others left and kept going until I reached the end of the book."

"My dearest friend, would you like me to teach you the order of the prayers, which to say when?" asked the Baal Shem Tov.

"Oh Rabbi, I can't tell you how much that would mean to me. But I don't want to waste your time"

"And you wouldn't. I would be honored to teach you".

And so the men sat together for a few hours while the Baal Shem Tov taught the farmer about the different prayers: the morning prayers, then those for before and after eating, for the afternoon and evening prayers, the ones for Shabbat and Yom Tov, and so on.

Between the pages, the Baal Shem Tov placed small pieces of paper with notes to remind the man about each of the prayers.

As soon as they finished, the Baal Shem Tov left, walking out of town at a brisk pace.

The farmer was so thrilled, he started to dance around while hugging his siddur filled with small pieces of paper between the pages
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Suddenly, he accidentally dropped the siddur. The pieces of paper scattered about. He stood bewildered. "Oh no!" he exclaimed. On one hand, he so wanted to know the proper prayers and when to say them. On the other hand, he was extremely embarrassed to chase after the Rabbi and ask him to take the time and show him again.

Finally he decided. He gathered up the book and the pieces of paper and started walking as fast as he could down the narrow lane on which the Rabbi had left.

For quite a while, he didn't even see the Rabbi. Finally he was standing on a hill and could barely make the Rabbi out in the distance. "Whew!"

He walked faster, but the Baal Shem Tov again disappeared on the other side of the next hill. Panicking, he began to run. When he reached the top of the hill, he saw the Rabbi standing at the bottom next to a wide, raging river.

As he hurried down the hill towards the river, the out-of-breath Jew smiled to himself. "At last! I caught up to him."

But just then he saw the Baal Shem Tov stretch out his gartel (the special sash worn by chasidic men when they pray) into the water. Then he stepped on the gartel and began walking across the river! As soon as he reached the other side, the Baal Shem Tov put his gartel back on and continued walking away without even glancing back.

The poor Jew reached the raging river and stood frustrated and bewildered, while the Baal Shem Tov walked further and further away from him on the other side of the river. He called out to him, but the distance was too great for him to be heard over the roar of the water.

So without hesitating, the man stretched out his gartel into the river. He walked across on it and as soon as he reached the other side, he started running after the Baal Shem Tov. "Rabbi, Rabbi wait for me," he yelled.

The Baal Shem Tov turned around and was startled to see the Jewish farmer he had departed from in the shul. "What are you doing here?"

The man held out his prayer book and the pieces of paper. "Rabbi. I dropped the siddur and all the pieces of paper fell out", he said in a sheepish voice.

"But what are you doing here?" repeated the Baal Shem Tov.

"Rabbi. I'm so embarrassed. Please help me and show me where to put the pieces of paper again."

"But how did you get across the river?"

"I did like I saw you do. I walked across on my gartel."

"Aha!" chuckled the Baal Shem Tov warmly. "I think that you don't need the papers. It seems that the way that you've been praying is just fine!"

[Adapted by Yrachmiel Tilles from the rendition by his friend Tzvi-Meir Cohn on www.BaalShemTov.com]

Biographical note:
Rabbi Yisrael, the Baal Shem Tov ["master of the good Name"], a unique and seminal figure in Jewish history, revealed the Chassidic movement and his own identity as an exceptionally holy person, on his 36th birthday, 18 Elul 1734. He passed away on the festival of Shavuot in 1760. He wrote no books, although many claim to contain his teachings. One available in English is the excellent annotated translation of Tzava'at Harivash, published by Kehos. An ongoing online translation of Sefer Baal Shem Tov can be found on www.baalshemtov.com.

Yrachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and editor of Ascent Quarterly and the AscentOfSafed.com and KabbalaOnline.org websites. He has hundreds of published stories to his credit.