Once, Reb Yaakov of Kaiden told the following story: "I was a teacher in the village of Yanov, which is near Kovno. At that time Reb Chaim Mordechai Margolios was the rabbi there, and he owned several forests on the outskirts of the city. He used to come to inspect the woods, and on one of those trips he came to Kovno. Many wealthy and learned men came to greet him, and they exchanged words of Torah. I was privileged to be present and I listened to their learned discourse. At one point the conversation got around to the topic of Chasidut. There were some who spoke very disrespectfully of several of the great Chasidic Rebbes. One man even spoke out against the Baal Shem Tov himself.
"At that, Rabbi Margolios spoke out crying, 'My dear friends! Please do not speak in this way! I refuse to allow any negative comments about the Baal Shem Tov. Don't misunderstand me, I am as opposed to Chasidut as you are, but the Baal Shem Tov is different; he is completely beyond reproach. Why, he is considered as great as the Talmudic Sages, as great as the famed Kabbalist, the Ari Zal himself!'
"The people were shocked to hear these words spoken by their rabbi, and they begged him for further explanation. 'What was the Baal Shem Tov really like?' they asked. 'If he was truly so great, why was there such controversy about him? And why did he act so strangely, so different from the other great rabbis and scholars of his time?'
" 'You are asking very good questions. It is true that his behavior was at times very strange and his Torah interpretations were definitely unusual. However, you may not challenge his interpretations, even when they seem to deviate from the traditional understanding of the verses. He was a unique individual and he was given the power from Above to do as he pleased with his interpretations. I will explain this to you with a story:
" 'Once there was a great king who loved his only son very much. Out of his great love, he entrusted his son with the keys to his vaults where he stored all of his most valuable possessions. One day, the officers of the royal guard appeared before the king with a complaint: "Your Majesty, you have given all of your royal treasures to your son, the prince. We are sure that Your Majesty has done the best possible thing, by bestowing this honor and responsibility upon His Highness, the Prince, but we want to tell you, Sire, that with our small intellect, we cannot understand what the Prince is doing with the treasure. His arrangements are so completely different from anything Your Majesty has ever done before, it seems very strange to us."
" 'The king nodded his head in understanding, saying, "I have given my dear son all of my treasures to do with as he sees fit, and I am fully confident that he will not betray my trust. In his deep wisdom, he has a plan for all of his actions, and that plan is good and just."
"This," Reb Yaakov concluded, "was how Rabbi Margolios described the greatness of the Baal Shem Tov, whom G-d entrusted with His greatest treasures of the Torah."
The Rabbi of Kadinov used to say that the main goal of the Baal Shem Tov was to learn the Divine service that would exist in the Era of Moshiach. From the time of the Baal Shem Tov onward, the spark of Moshiach began to burn in the souls of the leaders of the generations.
This is how we can understand the verse in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 96), "The last two thousand years of the world will be the era of Moshiach." The word thousands in Hebrew is "alafim," which can also be connected to the title "aluf chochma," which translates, "teacher of wisdom." The Baal Shem Tov taught himself the special wisdom which will characterize the Era of Moshiach - Chasidut - which consists of the two basic doctrines of humility and joy.
One day a childless woman came to the Baal Shem Tov weeping and beseeching him for a blessing. He promised her a son; however, since she was truly unable to bear a child, and his promise disturbed the natural course of events, he was punished. The verdict was that he would lose his portion in the World to Come.
When the Baal Shem Tov heard this sentence pronounced upon him, he rejoiced, for he would now be able to serve his Creator without possibility of reward. His decision to now continue his Divine service for entirely pure motives elevated his soul to the most sublime heights. Then, he was told by his teacher, the prophet Achiya Hashiloni that this had all been a test given to him in order to achieve spiritual perfection.
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