Story
The Ba’al Shem Tov and the Reluctant Horse Thief
The Ba’al Shem Tov had many disciples and admirers, among them, some very simple Jews. One of those students, who lived near the Ba’al Shem Tov in Medzhibuzh, suffered from dire poverty. His wife would often nag him, demanding that he should go and steal a horse from the Ba’al Shem Tov’s stable. After incessant nagging, the man reluctantly agreed to go steal a horse...
On the day that the student surrendered to his wife’s demands and decided to go to steal a horse, the Ba’al Shem Tov told his stableman to leave the stable unlocked and to go home. The man came under the cover of darkness and found the stable open. He took one horse and brought it home. He left the horse in his yard, but he was so poor that he didn’t have anything to feed the horse, and the horse remained, starving in his yard, for three days.
On the third day, the Ba’al Shem Tov turned to him and asked him, “Why has my horse been starving for three days in your yard? Bring him back to me!” The student immediately returned the horse to the Ba’al Shem Tov.
The Alter Rebbe of Chabad told this story to his son, the Mittler Rebbe. “So why did the Ba’al Shem Tov tell his stableman to leave the door of the stable open so that the student could take the horse, and then three days later tell him to return it?” the Mittler Rebbe asked. “He could have told the stableman to lock the stable and the student wouldn’t have taken it at all!”
“That is what you want to know?” the Alter Rebbe replied. “That is what you want to know? We would have to talk about that for three days and three nights!”
In this story, the Ba’al Shem Tov was in the role of the educator. If the stable had been locked, the inclination to steal would have remained in the heart of his student. If he wouldn’t have stolen the horse, he would have stolen something else and gone from bad to worse. The verse reads, “He [God] contrives terrible allegations against men.”
God “helps” a person do a sin. The Ba’al Shem Tov understood this to mean that it would be better to weave a scenario in which the student would steal, for the ultimate purpose of having him repent and eliminate his urge to steal.
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The Rebbe of Izbica, Rebbe Mordechai Yosef Leiner writes about two principles in Chasidut: One, the pus must be removed before the wound can be healed. Two, ultimately it will become clear that no Jew has ever sinned. In our story, these two principles are highlighted. The Ba’al Shem Tov, who perceived his student’s plan, took preventative measures. He left the door to the stable unlocked as if to say, “I want the chasid to steal the horse!” This turns the theft into an act of performing the Rebbe’s will. Instead of transgressing, the chasid is now doing a mitzvah. The Ba’al Shem Tov’s ability to extract the evil thoughts and desires of his student in an intentional manner also extracts his evil inclination, which had already been realized (like pus that has come out). Now the wound can be gently cleaned and bandaged so that it will quickly heal.
- Psalms 66:5
