A TRUE STORY REGARDING RAV ELIYAHU BAAL SHEM OF CHELM
Rav Moshe Duvid Shtrum of Tarnov once told how Rav Shimeleh Zelichover HY"D the famed mashgiach of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin once entered the beis medrash of Rav Aryeh Leibush of Sanz and he asked the yungeleit that were gathered there a question:
He asked them "why is that Rav Aryeh Leib does not recite LeDovid Hashem Ori, whereas in Shinuva (the son of tthe Divrei Chaim) they do recite it?! (the Divrei Chaim also did not recite it) they had no answer and he so told them "I will tell you a true story regarding Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem of Chelm:
"There was a decree of expulsion from the local squire, he was childless and he ordered all the Jews there to pray for him to have children and if they failed he would expel them all from his environs. Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem promised him a son within 12 months." The holy Rav Yisrael Baal Shem Tov retold this tale to his disciples and he told them "don't think that this came easily to Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem. At first Rav Eliyahu turned to the forces of holiness and when this failed he turned to the forces of darkness from the other side when this too failed, he laid his own life down on the line and turned to the leader of all the forces of evil himself," the Baal Shem Tov concluded "and as a punishment for forcing the hand of Heaven as it were, so to speak, don't assume that he was punished by sixty flames, instead he was told that he would lose all his nefesh, ruach and neshama, however since he laid his life down and self sacrificed himself to save the Jews, instead the heavenly decree was that two of the enacted prayers that he had instituted and they were: the recitation of LeDovid Hashem Ori and the second was the recitation of KeGavna."
Rav Shimeleh Zelichover concluded: "it is known for example the Rebbe Reb Meilech of Lizensk did not recite KeGavna whereas the Apta Rav the Ohev Yisroel did not recite leDovid Hashem Ori (in this manner the talmidei HaBaal Shem kept up the tradition of reciting these tefilos enacted by Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem while still the decree was fulfilled)." (cited from Nezer HaKodesh Minhagei Ropshitz pg147)
THE DEATH OF THE GOLEM
Rav Yaakov Emden writes: I heard from my father's holy mouth (the Chacham Tzvi) regarding the golem that was created by my ancestor Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem of Chelm. After he saw that the golem grew too strong, Rav Eliyahu feared that he would destroy the entire world.
Therefore, Rav Eliyahu removed the Divine Name that was on the forehead of the golem, by so doing the golem lost his life and became dust and earth once more. However, the golem injured Rav Eliyahu and the golem scratched his face while Rav Eliyahu was attempting to detach the Divine Name from the golem by force. I also received the tradition that because the golem was created to fight against the goyim and take retribution and vengeance against them, therefore afterwards the wicked hounded Rav Eliyahu and he had to hide from them in fear. (She'elas Ya'abetz Volume II Siman 82)
RAV ELIYAHU BAAL SHEM OF CHELM AND THE EXCHANGED CHILD
The following tale appears in the collection of kameos, amulets and segulos attributed in part to Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem, I have left out the Divine Names and incantations (lechashim):
Once upon a time during the days of the mekubal our master Rav Eliyahu who was AvBeisDin of Chelm, in the small village of Galnik, in the vicinity of Chelm there lived one by the name of Reb Gavriel. On a Thursday in Sivan Reb Gavriel's wife gave birth to a baby boy.
Reb Gavriel sent word to Chelm to announce the good news and to send for Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem to come and serve as the mohel and perform the rite of circumcion and bris milah since he was the rabbi and the mohel in those parts.
In the evening Rav Eliyahu left Chelm for Galink, as he approached the border of the town he saw more than a hundred thousand witches and sorcerers with fiery flames pouring from their mouths, the flames surrounded them and he saw them playing with new-born baby.
When the Rav witnessed this scene he told his servant boy to pour him some water from his flask, Rav Eliyahu washed his hands and pronounced the awesome ineffable Divine Name. He brought seven knives and seven planks and two loaves and seven shoes, he then stabbed a knife into each shoe, he then removed his own shoes, washed his hands twice and raised the thumb of his right hand and held it in the pinky of his left hand, and then he declared that he was hereby annulling and cancelling the sorcery of these men and women, so that the child shall remain unharmed with the honor and great glory of the holy Name Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuso LeOlam VaEd uLeOlmei Ad Shem Zichro Baruch hu uBarch Shemo LoAd. This Divine Name has the power to cancel and annul all sorcery even if it was wroughts by thousands of women, for its secrets are unknown and very mysterious and deep, using this name Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem killed the sorcerers and then he took the baby and brought him before his parents. When Rav Eliyahu arrived he said the holy Divine Name and all those present witnessed how "the other baby" that was a few moments before beside his mother, was now nothing more than a mound of straw and chaff, it was only an illusion that took the form of a human baby. Then, Rav Eliyahu handed the real baby he had saved from the husks and shells of impurity - from the forces of darkness known as the klippos and handed the baby plucked like a brand from the fire, back to his mother. (Toldos Adam Siman 86)
FAMOUS TRADITIONS & LEGENDS ABOUT RAV ELIYAHU BA'AL SHEM OF CHELM
One of the most famous widespread traditions was the legend of the golem and the miraculous wonder stories about Rav Eliyahu Ba'al Shem who, it was said, created the golem of Chelm.
In Chelm's Yizkor Book the following version is written:
No one was allowed into the attic of the AlterSchul in Chelm, in fact no one even knew where the key to the attic could be found.
The secret used to be whispered from one ear to the other that up in the attic lie the remnants of the golem of the Chelmer Rav Eliyahu Ba'al Shem.
It was told that Rav Eliyahu Ba'al Shem created the golem from lime and clay. On days when the trade fair was running, the golem stood at attention in the marketplace, ax in hand. No sooner did the golem witness a peasant attempting to hit or beat a Jew, the golem would kill the peasant straight away.
The entire week the golem served the Rav and his Rebbitzen, performing menial tasks and hard manual labor in the Beis Midrash.
When the local squire, the Poritz or landowner found out about the golem's power, strength and might, the Ba'al Shem led the golem up to the attic, withdrew from him the Divine name of Hashem and the golem was left nothing more than an inert mound of lime and clay. The Ba'al Shem locked the door, took the key, and from then on then the attic door remains locked and sealed.
Many miracle stories about Rav Eliyahu Ba'al Shem have been told.
It is told that before his death he left a in his tzavaa - his last will and testament, that after his passing when his casket or coffin would be led past the Russian Kloister (there was no other way to reach the beis hachaim Jewish cemetery), and the Christian hooligans began throwing stones - as was their custom for many years - no one should run away instead, they should stop with the aron and remain standing in that place.
It was told that when Rav Eliyahu Ba'al Shem passed away his will was fulfilled. When the levaya - the funeral procession approached the Jewish bais hachaim and drew near the Kloister, the goyishe hooligans ran out of the Kloister and began to throw stones at the aron and at all the Jews who were engaged in the levaya of the great tzaddik.
No one ran, Rav Eliyahu sat up and looked into the sefer Torah that was in his aron, and a few minutes later the Kloister began to sink beneath the earth, together with all the hooligans.
Right after that the Ba'al Shem Tov stretched out in the coffin like a meis. The astonished and frightened Jews looked at one another before the funeral procession proceeded.
It was said that since then after that miracle the hooligans no longer threw stones during levayas at the Jewish funerals.
About the Kloister that sank, the cheder boys who studied in the home of the melamed Leib Paks would say that if someone would go down to the cellar and start jumping on the wooden floor boards, you can hear a kind of echo like the rining sound of a church bell which is the echos of the sunken Kloister.
It was also said that the Leib Paks house was built on the same place of the sunken church.
At the Chelm bais hachaim in a certain spot the bricks were in the circular shape of the Hebrew letter “Bais”. I saw with mine own eyes how on some of the bricks Hebrew letters were carved.
It was said that on the yahrezeit of Rav Eliyahu Ba'al Shem an angel or malach would appear and carve a letter on a brick.
Therefore, everyone was afraid to touch the bricks. That was the kever of Rav Eliyahu Ba'al Shem. There was no tombstone or matzeiva on the grave.
Sources: Yizkor Book Chelm published 1954 pgs 184-185 by Akiva Winik pg 265 by Josif Milner
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/dc2d9bf0-6498-0133-0d33-00505686d14e/book#page/109/mode/1up
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/dc2d9bf0-6498-0133-0d33-00505686d14e/book#page/110/mode/1up
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/dc2d9bf0-6498-0133-0d33-00505686d14e/book#page/150/mode/1up
The tale about the creation of the Golem was retold in the book Israel der Gotteskampfer der Baalschem von Chełm und sein Golem written by Chayim Block and published in 1920. See the Illustration from the Cover.
