One Erev Shabbos, the Baal Shem Tov gathered a few Chassidim and asked them to join him on a journey. The Chassidim knew better than to ask any questions, and then all got into the back of the wagon of the Baal Shem Tov for (yet another) mysterious trip.
After traveling for a while, the wagon arrived in a particular village, and at some point, the Baal Shem Tov instructed the driver to stop at a seemingly random house. The Baal Shem Tov sensed that this was where Hashem wanted them to be for Shabbos, and he instructed his Chassidim to come out of the wagon, and they went and knocked on the door.
A Yid opened the door, and the Chassidim could tell right away that he was very frazzled and something must be going on. But the Baal Shem Tov just calmly introduced himself, “My name is Yisroel, and these are my chaveirim. We would like to spend Shabbos with you.” The Yid was very hesitant, and he told them that this week was just not a good week for him to host guests. You see, my son just became very ill, and it is a very difficult time for our family. Any other week, he would be happy to host them, but this Shabbos, the best he can do is help set them up with a neighbor.
Now it was clear that the reason Hashem sent them here was to try to bring a yeshua to this family. The Baal Shem Tov insisted and would not take no for an answer. They will be staying with this particular Yid for Shabbos!
The Yid started to realize that this was a holy and special Tzadik, and he invited him in.
As it got close to Shabbos, the Baal Shem Tov asked to spend time alone with the sick boy, and told everyone to leave him in the private room until he comes out, and they should wait for him before they make Kiddush.
The doctors had already given up hope, and the boy was unconscious, but the Baal Shem Tov had not. The rest of the house could hear passionate tefillos, Tehillim, and crying coming from the boy’s room. A long while passed, and then suddenly it got quiet in the room. Another 10 minutes of quiet passed, and then they heard the Baal Shem Tov call out, “I am being mashbia you (I am making you swear!) that the neshama should enter into the body!” and he said the boy’s name out loud.
After that, they finally heard the boy start to cry. Quickly, one of the Chassidim ran into the room to see how the boy was doing. He saw the boy sitting up on the bed, and the Baal Shem Tov lying flat out on the floor! He came closer, and he heard the Baal Shem Tov quietly saying to himself again and again, “It is k’dai, it is worth it.” The Chassid realized that he was not supposed to be in the room, and quietly backed out of the room and closed the door behind him…
Later on, the Chassid asked the Rebbe for clarification. He understood that the Rebbe davened and seemed to have even forced the boy’s neshama to go back into his body. But why was he lying on the floor, and why did he keep saying, “It is worth it”?
The Baal Shem Tov explained. “When I went into the room, I saw right away that the situation was very grim. I davened, and I davened, but the yeshua was not coming. I realized that the only thing I could do was to use the power of an oath to force the neshama back into the body. But I also knew that I was not supposed to do that, and if I would, I would certainly get punished from Heaven. That is why I was on the floor — I was getting malkus (lashes) from Heaven for using this tactic to bring the boy back to good health.
But as I received my punishment, I was reminding myself over and over again, that it was worth it! I’ll take the punishment, if that means I can save this Jewish family from heartbreak, and give a Jewish soul the opportunity to do mitzvos in this world for many more years to come!
Take It To Go!
The Baal Shem Tov taught us that the greatest thing we can do is to help out another Yid. It is always worthwhile to push ourselves to help out another Yid as much as we possibly can, and for us, it usually will not lead to malkus!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 66.
