Near the end of Shabbat, the Baal Shem Tov sat at the head of the table eating the 'Third Meal' with his Chassidim (followers). They were singing beautiful niggunim (Chassidic melodies) while he was immersed in deep thought seemingly in another dimension.
And in fact, he was in another dimension. He was scanning the entire world, everywhere where Jews were (or were supposed to be) to see what could be done to bring Moshiach (who will alleviate all pain and suffering) one moment sooner. Suddenly his face darkened.
This was no small catastrophe. One of his most talented followers; a great Rabbi, Rab Avraham, who was versed in all the holy texts and a leader of an entire town, had fallen to the depths of idolatry!! What could possibly have brought such a Tzadik to such a heinous sin? What went wrong?!
The Baal Shem Tov concentrated deeply and his soul soared to the upper realms. it was worse than he thought. This Rabbi had, somewhat like in the story of Job, been given into the hands of the Satan. But unlike Job, he had done something to deserve it.
In Rab Avraham's town lived a great Talmudic scholar that existed from community support. Once a week someone would go from house to house to collect money for him and take a small percentage for himself.
But when Rab Avraham discovered that people were using this as an excuse not to give to other causes, he expressed his dissatisfaction, which his congregants understood as an order to stop giving him donations. In time the income dwindled so that the unfortunate scholar didn't even have money to give his wife to prepare for Shabbat and when that happened he and his wife burst out in tears.
Shortly thereafter, a rich member of the Jewish community used his power and influence to try to force a simple man out of business. The latter complained to Rab Avraham who, for some reason, did not reprimand the rich man as strongly as he should have. So the injustice continued until one day the simple man had to close his store and on that day he wept.
The tears of both the scholar and the simple man burst through to the highest heavens and began to accuse; such deeds from such a distinguished Rabbi were a disgrace to both the Torah and to Judaism. Rab Avraham must suffer!! And his punishment was decided; he would be given into the hands of the Devil!
The Rabbi's custom each Shabbat, was to pray the first half of the daytime prayer alone in his home and then go to the Synagogue when the cantor began his repetition. But this Shabbat suddenly, in the middle of his prayers, he felt strange lust enter his heart. Instead of being enraptured with the greatness, the awesomeness and the nearness of G‑d as usual in his prayers, he only wanted a drink of brandy.
He stopped his prayers thinking that the idea would leave him but it didn't. It became a burning desire! Suddenly he felt that without brandy he would die! Before he knew it, he had downed three full cups, removed his prayer shawl and was running down the street in the direction of the ... church!
"I want to see the Bishop!!" the Rabbi yelled insanely as he pounded on the massive church door. "Let me in!!" the fire of apostasy was burning in his brain and heart and the Bishop, who was busy talking to some important people, heard the yelling and immediately understood what was happening.
He ordered his servants to take the Rabbi to his home and provide him with light refreshments and, of course, more brandy until he was free to deal with him. They did as they were told and as soon as he saw the food and drink he grabbed the bottle in one hand and the food in the other and began eating and guzzling like an animal while screaming blasphemies ... until he fell unconscious on the floor.
The Baal Shem Tov meanwhile was desperately occupied in the upper worlds urgently trying to find a way to save this unfortunate pupil. But the only thing that could save him were pure merits, and they were hard to find. It seems that every commandment that Rab Avraham had ever done contained some minute measure of ulterior motive. Nothing had ever been done with 100% love of the Creator. AHA!! Except for one custom! The Baal Shem Tov had found it! ... Eating the Melave-Malke meal after the Shabbat! As strange as it may seem, this was the only commandment that the Rabbi did purely for G‑d.
The Baal Shem Tov knew that he had to work fast; his only chance was to somehow get him to eat this meal before the Bishop got to him!
The Baal Shem Tov took a piece from the loaf of bread he had just eaten from, added a whole loaf from the 12 he had on the table before him at each of the Shabbat meals, wrapped them in a cloth and handed it to one of his holy pupils saying,
"Take this and go. And HaShem will help!"
The pupil had already seen such things from his master. Often a necessary ingredient to fix the world was implicit trust in G‑d.
He took the bread, put on his coat and walked into the cold Ukranian night not knowing why or even where he was going.
He said words of Torah by heart as his feet led him out of Mezibuz (the Baal Shem Tov's town) to a lone, moon-lit, forest road. Suddenly the wind began blowing and the road became strewn with rocks and pebbles making it almost impossible to proceed.
"This is obviously from the Devil" he thought to himself as he forged ahead, and began praying.
Then the road turned into deep sand but he only closed his eyes, prayed more intensely and pushed himself on trying not to become discouraged.
So it was a third time; darkness and snow engulfed him. But this time when he opened his eyes from his prayer he found himself in a different place altogether. It was as though he had jumped hundreds of miles away.
The snow was gone, in the moonlit distance he saw a Church and in just moments he was standing outside of the house that he sensed was his destination. He entered and saw an unconscious Jew lying on the floor in soiled Shabbat garments filthy with vomit and mud surrounded by idols and icons. Gevalt. it was Reb Avraham!! He recognized him! This must be what the Baal Shem Tov sent him for!
He took some water, splashed it on the poor Rabbi's face to awaken him but when he woke he began mumbling anti-Semitic remarks and demanding brandy. The Chassid, however, paid no attention and just insisted that Reb Avraham wash his hands for bread. Miraculously he consented.
"Come, now lets eat some of this bread" coaxed the Chassid. It took some maneuvering to get the Rabbi's attention away from the bottle but as soon as he took the first bite of the Baal Shem Tov's bread a startling change came over him.
He let out a deep, frightening moan, looked down at his dirty garments then at the crosses and statues that hung on the walls and stood up in amazement. "What happened to me?" he screamed. "What have I done?!! NO.. NO!!!!! What have I done!!! We must leave here quickly!"
He grabbed the Chassid's hand, staggered, weeping and moaning, out of the room, away from the house, back to the forest path from whence he came. They began running in the darkness and suddenly they were back in Mezibuz. another miracle the Baal Shem Tov had arranged.
The Baal Shem Tov was still sitting at the table surrounded by singing Chassidim when Reb Avraham stumbled in, filthy and heart-broken and collapsed on the floor. Another soul had been saved.
Reprinted from an email of “Chabad of Bel Air”.
Editor’s Note: An addition, later submitted from a different member of the group:
"Absolutely incredible! I am in a bus with almost 50 men who do not stop speaking about what happened. I want to add one more thing...
We all had immersed in the mikveh of the Arizal just minutes before. So we were all properly purified and prepared for this mitzvah! She must have been a very special person."
Editor’s Note: Rabbi Yaakov Cass is a Lubavitcher chasid living in Jerusalem. Until recently, he was a senior official in the Israel Ministry of Health.
