The Baal Shem Tov's Trip To Heaven

The wife of the Baal Shem Tov was awakened with a start when she heard her husband cry out in the middle of a Shabbat nap. She ran to his side and shook him, asking, "What is the matter?" "Thank G-d you woke me up, because if you hadn't I might never have woken up again. Please call my students right now, so that I may relate to them the wondrous things which I just saw when my soul ascended to the Heavenly Academy."

When they arrived and stood around his bed, the Besht proceeded to tell this tale:

"Every Shabbat when I pray the Musaf prayer my soul rises to the upper realms, and there I can hear how Torah is being studied there. When I return to my body, I am able to transmit many of these teachings to you, my students, when we eat the third Shabbat meal.

"I have a certain friend, Reb Nachman Kassover, a great Tzadik, who passed on, and I miss terribly. I have tried many times to find him in the world of souls, but I never succeeded.

Today, when my soul ascended Above, I found myself in a part of the Heavens which I had never seen before. There I saw palatial structures which shone with precious diamonds and rubies. There were towers of sapphire and houses of study which shone like the sun. When I entered them, they were occupied with dazzling souls that sparkled like angels, and each of them was busy in his own realm of Torah study.

"I asked one angelic soul, 'To whom does all this belong?' And he replied, 'All of this is the glory of Reb Nachman Kassover.' I asked to see him, and before me was a soul that sparked fire and whose brilliance outshone anything I had ever seen. 'My dearest brother,' he said, 'these are the souls of those people I brought to the study of Torah and the ways of righteousness while I was on earth.' And he continued, asking me if I would like to remain there with him.

"'If you remain here with me, you will never have to experience the pangs of death, and you will enjoy the bliss of the Divine Presence. The decision is yours to make.'

"I thought for a moment, torn as to which decision to make. Finally I replied, 'I would like to stay, but I want to be buried in the Land of Israel.'

"'You are destined to be buried outside of the Holy Land,' he replied, 'for reasons I cannot reveal. But if you decide to remain here, many things will be revealed to you.'

"I stood there confused and unable to decide. If I remained, I would be deserting my wife, my son and daughter, and all of my students and disciples. How could I leave so quickly without even a last will and testament? No, I decided, I must return. Before I die I must prepare for my departure, not just abandon my loved ones.

"My good friend didn't want to take no for an answer. He continued to beg and plead with me to remain there with him. Finally, I couldn't stand it one more second, and I uttered a loud cry. This is the cry which woke you up. If you hadn't run to me and awakened me when you did, I would have lost my will to return and my soul would have remained Above."