Stories of Tzadikim with Harav yussie zakutinsky
Stay Warm!
The Baal Shem Tov once chose a few of his students to go on a trip with him. They traveled for a long time and at some point they found themselves in front of a frozen lake, deep in the plains of Russia. There was a custom then among local Christians that they would come out to the frozen lake during their winter holidays. The kids would play on the ice and engrave crucifixes in the ice, and their priests would lead mass prayers with the whole community.
This is the scene the Baal Shem Tov walked in on. The students tried to dissuade him from staying around, but he just walked out onto the ice towards the gathering, wearing his shtreimel and gartel, and with a passion and excitement he started to shuckle and daven. He remained in this state of dveikus for around half hour, and then they got back in the wagon and went back home.
The chassidim couldn’t resist asking for an explanation as to what just happened. The Baal Shem Tov went on to teach them a lesson they can learn from the trip. He explained that Hashem created the world in a way that water is the source of life. Water gives life, sustains vegetation, brings purity in the mikvah, and so on. But when water freezes over, like it did on that lake, that’s when it can become evil, and be used to engrave crucifixes and serve idols!
“I came to the world to try to fix that issue — that there shouldn’t be such a thing as water, the source of life, freezing over to be used for idolatry.” “But what can I do?” The Baal Shem Tov continued, “Will I make the entire planet warm, to prevent any water from freezing?” I can’t do that. But even though coldness exists in the world, the only reason the water froze is because the water was still — had the water been moving it would not have frozen despite the cold environment.”
The lesson the Bal Shem Tov was teaching his students was that in Yiddishkeit we always try to stay warm! But sometimes it’s cold, and it’s hard to stay warm. It could be our environment that is ‘cold’ or perhaps the cold comes from within us. Then how do we stay warm? You keep on moving! Shacharis, Mincha, Maariv; mitzvos, chessed, emunah! We stay busy, moving from one mitzvah to another, serving Hashem as much as we can. Moving waters don’t freeze, and the neshamah of a Yid who is always running from one mitzvah to the next, will not freeze. That is my mission in life, to keep Yidden warm!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 73.
