The holy Ba’al Shem Tov taught the following parable: There were once many ministers and servants who all assembled together before the king to praise and sing the royal anthem before him. Each one had his own appointed time to personally sing and praise the king, each according to his station of importance. This was all set to take place so long as the king was pleased and in a good mood. However, if the king were to become angry, heaven forbid, and his face would fill with fury, then they would fear to praise him at all as it says in the Kinnos (9 Av #7): “How can you praise the king at a time of anger?” Due to this fear, the servants and ministers each approached and quickly said their praise and quickly departed, before the king should get angry or his fury be kindled by some matter.
Now, when the king’s beloved son, the prince, entered to praise his father the king, then the king was filled with joy and his heart was filled with love and delight; his anger abated and there was no doubt at all that he would not be angered again, so long as his son the prince was in his presence. The prince therefore had nothing to worry about, so he could stay and praise as long as he liked, because he knew his presence only augmented his father’s joy.
The Ba’al Shem Tov then asked, “Where did the anger go?” If previously the king was angered and his son’s presence caused the anger to depart, where did it go to? Even if you answer that it is only natural that if the father delights in his son, his anger departs, nonetheless the question remains: where did it depart to? The answer is that when love and joy overcome anger, then this causes the anger and fury to rise until it reaches its root source and is sweetened above, as it is known that all judgments are sweetened at their root source.
Now returning to our parable, when we say that the prince can praise his father the king for as long as he likes, we can say he is so obligated for two reasons: First, he is obliged to praise him for he is both his father and his king; second, he must praise him for being allowed to stand there and praise uninterrupted for as long as he likes with no imposed limits, since this unique opportunity is solely his, unlike the other ministers and servants who have not been granted such an opportunity. (Tzavo’as HaRivash 132; same also in Ohr Torah #202 in the name of the Maggid)
