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The great Chassidic master Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov would pray for many hours every day. His disciples, who had long concluded their own prayers, would form a circle around him to listen to the melody of his prayers and feast their eyes on the spectacle of a soul soaring in meditative attachment to its Maker. It was an unspoken rule amongst them that no one abandoned his post until their master had concluded his prayers.
One day, a great fatigue and hunger befell them. One by one, they slipped home for a bite and a few moments rest, certain that their master's prayers would continue for several hours more. But when they returned, they found that he had finished praying while they were gone.
"Tell us, Rebbe," they asked him, "why did you conclude your prayers so early today?"
The Baal Shem Tov answered them with a parable: Once, a group of people were journeying through a forest. Their leader, who was blessed with a keen eyesight, spotted a beautiful bird perched atop a tall tree.
"Come," he said to his companions, "I wish to capture this beautiful bird, so that we may delight in her song and gaze upon her wondrous hues."
"But how can you reach this bird you see," asked they, "the tree being so high and ourselves held captive by the ground?"
"If you each climb up onto the shoulders of your fellow," their leader explained, "I will climb on to the shoulders of the topmost man and reach for the treasure that beckons to us from the heights."
And so they did. Together, they formed a chain reaching from the earth toward the heavens, to raise their leader to his aspired goal. But they soon wearied of the exercise and went off to eat and rest, and the man who had sighted the bird tumbled to the ground.
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By Eliezer Steinman More articles... |
From Be'er HaChassidut by Eliezer Steinman; from the Hebrew by Yanki Tauber
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Posted: Nov 2, 2010
an other kind of ladder
I was reminded of an other story: Once, a chossid went to his Rebbe for advice as to how to conquer his evil inclination. The Rebbe told him to go to a certain town and be the guest of a person he named. The chossid duly went and was graciously received by this person, but the chossid could not fathom why the Rebbe had sent him to such a plain man to learn from. In the morning, the man left for work after his prayers and breakfast, and the chossid was left alone in the house. He had nothing special to do, and looking around, he noticed a window, very, very high placed. Intrigued, he found a ladder and climbed up. His eyes met a dreadful scene. When his host returned at night, the chossid told him what he had seen through the window after climbing up to it: a scene of blatant immorality. The host replied:" I have lived in this house for many years, but never have I peeped through this window." The chossid had his answer.
Posted By Anonymous, brooklyn, ny
Posted: May 19, 2010
What a great story. The community is needed by the leader to actualize mutual needs, it is only on the backs of supportive others that the greatest among us are carried; without that chain we fall together, and even the greatest fatigue and fall.
Posted By HGross
Posted: May 10, 2010
the story
Maybe it refers to when the chassidim left while the Baal Shem Tov was still praying the Baal Shem Tov couldn't pray anymore because there was no point of praying without his chassidim. So too if there is no bottom on the ladder, it can't balance, like the chassidim were the Rebbe's bottom of the ladder.
Posted By Anonymous, worcester, Ma
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