about it so that the action should be truly l’sheim shomayim.” Eliyahu Hanavi immediately disappeared an ascended back to the Heavens. In Shomayim, this Jew’s great level of temimus and willingness to forgo the knowledge of when Moshiach will come in order to keep his mitzvos fully l’sheim shomayim caused a big commotion. The Heavenly Court discussed the matter and ruled that Eliyahu Hanavi should reveal himself to the man again to teach him Torah and forgotten mystical secrets.
This man became the greatest person in his generation. He was a perfect tzadik but nobody else knew about his greatness and high level of kedushah. When his time came, this man passed away. After judging him, the Heavenly Court ruled that his reward would be to return to the world again. This time, he would be forced to reveal his greatness and create a new way to serve Hashem, thus instilling the world with a new light of holiness and purity. In this way, he would be mekadesh shem somayim and fill the world with holiness, which will hasten the redemption.
The neshama of this man was the neshama of the Baal Shem Tov zy”a.
Never Veering From His Mission in Life:
On the word “tamim tihiyeh im Hashem Elokecha”, Rashi writes: “Walk with Him with simplicity. Hope to Him and do not inquire about the future. Rather, whatever befalls you, accept it with simplicity.” His intention is that a person does not know what his mission and purpose is in this world. Therefore, one should serve Hashem without question and accept whatever He sends his way. This concept is seen from the following story, related in Sefer Sippurim Nifla’im (page 27):
Rav Yehuda Tzvi of Razla zy”a had a chasid who lived in a small village. This chasid owned a tavern from which he made his parnasah, and he lived an upright, honest lifestyle. Every night, he would rise from bed to recite Tikkun Chatzos and to mourn the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh. He would then read from the Zohar, Tehillim, Mishnayos and Gemara until it was time for Shacharis. After Shacharis, he would go to work in his tavern. He also maintained an open house, hosting many needy guests, and he gave a lot of money to tzedakah.
When he reached the age of 60, he made a “cheshbon hanefesh”, as is customary amongst chasidim, and thought to himself: Why did I spend so much time amongst rowdy company in the tavern? I wasted most of my life on nonsense. Why didn’t I worry more about my Olam Haba? Yes, I set aside time to learn Torah and serve Hashem and I kept all the mitzvos, but I could have done so much more!
Therefore, he concluded that he would give his tavern over to his son and he would spend his remaining years serving Hashem all day in solitude.
This son was very different than his father. He did not welcome guests nor did he give much tzedakah. Even the little amount that he did give to the poor was given with a sour face.
One day, Rav Yehuda Tzvi of Razla came to town and went to the tavern to see his chasid. When he arrived, however, he did not find him there. Instead, he saw the man’s son serving the customers. He was very disappointed to see how different the son was from his father. He asked the son where his father was and was told that he was learning in his room.
The Rebbe went to see his chasid, who greeted him joyously. The Rebbe then asked him, “Why did you retire from your job in the tavern and give it over to your son?”
The chasid explained that he had made a cheshbon hanefesh and decided that he needed to spend his remaining years learning Torah and serving Hashem. The Rebbe replied, “Let me tell you a story. You certainly have heard of the Graf Pototsky. He had a son who was very talented and smart. When he was 20 years old, he was drafted into the army as a simple Private. In the army, everyone who is drafted is treated equally, even the son of a Graf. He was fed coarse foods that his stomach could not handle because he was used to eating fine delicacies. He was accustomed to sleeping on a soft bed with fluffy pillows but, in the army, he was given a hard mattress on the floor like everyone else. He couldn’t tolerate any of this and felt like it would kill him. Left with no choice, he escaped and went into hiding. Of course, there was a major manhunt to find him. He was terrified that he would be found and put to death, so he ran to the capital city of Vienna.
“According to the law at the time, although the draft didn’t start until a young man was 20, one could voluntarily enlist in the army at the age of 18 and he would be given very easy work. He came up with a plan to forge identity papers with a fake name and fake birthplace and to change his age to 18. He then went to the army’s enlistment office and said that he wanted to enlist. He told the officers that he was fluent in several languages and was studying to become a doctor. They tested him and were amazed by how smart and knowledgeable he was. Therefore, they immediately appointed him to be an officer. He quickly rose through the ranks, to the extent that even the Czar knew about him and would occasionally discuss matters with him, eager to hear his wise opinions. Eventually, he became one of the highest-ranking leaders of the army and his advice was taken very seriously by the Czar and his ministers.
“When the son of the Graf saw how much the Czar loved him, he decided to tell him his entire story. He revealed to him who he really was and everything that he had been through. The Czar became very angry at him and said, ‘I am stripping you of all your titles. You must return to your original platoon and go back to being a simple soldier. If I need you to be a minister, then I will know where you are and I will send for you. Since you refused to do your duty as a simple soldier because it was uncomfortable for you and you wanted to be a respected minister, this is a sign that your entire intention was to honor yourself, and not to please the Czar.’”
The Rebbe continued, “My son, you should know that Hashem has many types of servants. Based on the essence of each person’s neshama, He decrees what one’s mission in life is. One must do the job Hashem decrees for him, and he must do it as well as he can and with temimus. For example, if one is a shoemaker, he should think that he could serve Hashem better if he would be a tailor. So too, if Hashem puts someone in the bais medrash and he finds himself learning and serving Him all day, he should not think that he could serve Hashem better if he were a businessman and he had more resources to help others. The opposite is also true, if one is a businessman who is busy working all day, he should not think that he could serve Hashem better if he would be learning all day.
“Wherever Hashem puts a person, that’s where he is supposed to be. If He puts a person in a village where he is surrounded by spiritual challenges, he is meant to serve Hashem there. He shouldn’t think that he could serve Him better if he lived in a large city. While Hashem has many servants who are ‘high-ranking ministers’ that are great in Torah and mitzvos, He sometimes derives more pleasure from His simple servant who is living in a small village and doing his best to serve Him there.
“My dear friend, Hashem placed you here and gave you the job of working in a tavern. He has a nachas ruach from how you serve drinks to Jewish travelers and open your home to them, and from how you give tzedakah so generously. He also derives pleasure from how you set aside time to learn Torah and daven properly. Thus, He was very happy when you were running the tavern and everything was going well. Now, however, your son has taken over the tavern and he is not doing things properly. He is causing pain to the travelers and poor people who come through town by not treating them nicely. My advice to you is to return to your job. If you do, everything will be good for you, both in this world and the World to Come.”
Similarly, Sefer Divrei Meir (Parshas Mishpatim) relates that a villager once came to Rav Meir of Premishlan zy”a and said that he wanted to move to a big city, where there were more opportunities to grow in ruchnius.
Rav Meir told him, “The pasuk says (Shemos 21:30): ‘Im kofer yushas alav.’ This can be translated to mean that if Hashem decrees that someone should live in a ‘k’far’ (a small village), he must accept this and remain there. One cannot change a Heavenly decree.”
The Language of the Animals:
The same idea applies to spiritual matters. One should not try to jump to a level that is beyond him. Rather, one should stick to what he is capable of and able to do.
In this vein, it is related in Sefer Sipurim Chasidim that the tzadik known as the Mocheach of Polnoah zy”a greatly desired to understand the language of animals, birds and trees. He decided to travel to see the Baal Shem Tov zy”a and to ask him to teach him these languages.
When he came to the Baal Shem Tov’s house, it was full of people and the Besht did not even look at him. After a long wait, the Besht finally gave him shalom in an offhand, distracted way. This surprised the Mocheach since he was one of the closest students of the Besht and he couldn’t understand why he was acting like he didn’t know him. However, he wasn’t too concerned and thought that it just might not be the right time to make his request.
A few days later, the Besht needed to travel somewhere, and he asked the Mocheach to accompany him. The Mocheach was very happy, as he thought that he would now have a chance to ask the Besht for what he wanted.
At night, they came to an inn and the Besht was given a private room in the attic. The Mocheach waited until the Besht woke from his sleep and he then climbed the stairs to the attic. When he got to the top step, he saw that the Baal Shem Tov was sitting on a chair and his face was bright red. This scared him so much that he almost fell down the stairs. The Besht yelled at him, “Stay where you are and don’t be afraid. What do you want?”
Since he was so scared, the Mocheach wasn’t able to utter a word.
When they left the hotel and were back in the wagon, the Besht told him, “I know that you want to ask me to teach you the language of the animals. So listen to what I am about to say...”
He continued, “Yechezkel Hanavi saw four faces in the ‘Merkavah Elyonah’. They were: The face of a man, the face of an ox, the face of a lion, and the face of an eagle. The face of the man provides life and energy to human beings. The face of the ox provides life and energy to all domesticated animals. The face of the lion provides life and energy to all wild animals. The face of the eagles provides life and to all birds. This is the secret of Perek Shira. The way the ‘faces’ speak above is transmitted to the people, animals and birds in this world.”
The Besht proceeded to relate many more Divine secrets related to this topic until the Mocheach understood the ideas well. As the Besht went on to relate secret explanations of the Zohar and other mystical sources, the Mocheach heard him talking with one hear and, with his other ear, he heard the animals and birds speaking.
The Besht than asked if he understood and the Mocheach said that he did. The Besht then passed his hand over the Mocheach’s face and he suddenly forgot all the secrets he had been told. All he remembered was the introduction about the four faces of the Merkavah.
The Besht then told him, “If you needed to know this chochmah in order to serve Hashem, I would certainly want to teach it to you. But I only taught it to you now to satisfy your curiosity. Since there’s no reason why you need to know it, you forgot it. Tamim tihiyeh im Hashem Elokecha.”
