The time for morning prayers had passed, and all the other congregants had filtered out of the shul, ready to begin their daily tasks. Only one Jew lingered, wrapped in talit and tefilin, buried deep in his own thoughts. In truth, he hadn't even begun the prayers, so entangled was he in the doubts that had haunted him for months. Now, the black depression -- created by his own evil inclination -- had so overtaken him, that he couldn't extricate himself. His mind wandered from one question to another; no foreign idea was barred entrance to his mind. And so, the morning passed imperceptibly, and the Jew slid further and further into the dark pit he had created for himself.
Suddenly he was roused from his trance by the touch of someone's hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and to his utter surprise, the Baal Shem Tov (known also as the "Besht") stood gazing down at him. "Do you think that by thinking and questioning G-d's ways you will find the answers? Don't you recall the words of King David who said, 'For I am ignorant and know not; in simplicity I followed You and I am with You always.'
"A Jew must totally submit himself to G-d, serve Him and follow His commandments, and for no other reason than because the orders come from his Creator, not because of his own philosophical conclusions. When you begin by accepting the 'yoke of Heaven,' then, and only then, will you achieve true spiritual enlightenment. And you, too, will conclude as did King David, 'I am with You always.' First perform the mitzvot, the Divine instructions for life. Then you may think about them and delve into them to the best of your limited human ability."
The Jew sat spellbound by the Baal Shem Tov's words, which entered and cleansed his heart. "This is my advice to you," the Besht continued. "Put aside your intellect; forget it and just begin doing. Accept the fact that G-d is our King and then put all of your strength into doing mitzvot -- do them without thinking too much. If you follow my instructions, I promise that you will surely attain true wisdom and understanding."
As suddenly as he had appeared, the Baal Shem Tov disappeared and returned home to Medzibozh. The startled Jew was trembling from head to toe, but he lost no time in praying the morning service with a fervor that he had never before experienced. The depressing thoughts and doubts which had been his steady companions for months had vanished.
The Jew was left to puzzle the hows and whys of the Baal Shem Tov's sudden appearance and equally abrupt disappearance. "How did the Besht know exactly what I was thinking, exactly what was troubling me?" he wondered. "It must be just as he told me, not everything is according to human logic; there are many things which lie outside our ken. And certainly the ways of G-d are among those things."
That very same day the Jew packed up his belongings and made the trek to Medzibozh. There he became one of the Baal Shem Tov's most devoted students.
