The Baal Shem Tov used to take a very long time to daven Shemoneh Esrei. One Shabbos morning, some of his chassidim were getting restless waiting for him to finish davening. They decided that instead of waiting around for him to finish, they would go home, have a nice kiddush, learn a little Torah together, and come back in time to resume davening with the rest of the shul!
So it was, they went home, made kiddush, learned Torah, and came back to shul…only to discover that the Baal Shem Tov had long finished Shemoneh Esrei, and was waiting and wondering where everyone went! The chassidim apologized and explained they thought they’d be able to make it back in time, but apparently the Rebbe’s davening was shorter than usual today, of all days!
The Baal Shem Tov responded with a story. There was a group of Yidden walking through the forest, and one of them noticed a magnificent, rare bird at the top of one of the trees, and suggested to his friends that they try to get the bird, which they could sell for a lot of money. But how will they climb such a tall tree?
They came up with a plan: They all started climbing on each other in the formation of a human pyramid, and when they got high enough, the last guy started to climb to the top to grab the bird.
While he was climbing, one of the guys on the bottom row started questioning what he was doing there. He’s just one of many people in this pyramid; he’s not even at the top, so why does he need to be there? “It’s unnecessary for me to be here, I’ll leave, and everyone else will take care of the job!” he says to himself. So he crawled out of his spot, and of course, the entire pyramid of people on top of him fell down behind him.
The Baal Shem Tov told his chassidim that the reason he’s able to reach high and exalted levels during his Shemoneh Esrei is because he’s building on top of the foundation of tefillah of the others in the shul! If they just walk out in the middle of davening, the pyramid collapses behind them, and that is why his own tefillah was cut short, and that’s why he finished davening quicker than usual.
The Chassidim went home, made kiddush, learned Torah, and came back to shul…only to discover that the Baal Shem Tov had long finished Shemoneh Esrei, and was wondering where everyone went!
Take It To Go!
Sometimes we think that our avodah is at the bottom of the ladder and the Tzadikim are way up high! But the truth is that they build on us, and every Yid is a powerhouse of spiritual energy. When we come together, that’s what creates the infrastructure for the Tzadikim to climb up high. We play a fundamental role in the pyramid that enables the Tzadikim to represent us when they get to the top!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 67.
