18th of Elul
The birthday of the Baal Shem Tov [By Rav Avitan]]

Today is also the Hilula of Rabbi Yehuda Loew of Prague known as the Maharal of Prague. And it’s also the Hilula of Rabbi Abdallah Somech

Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov was the son of Eliezer and Sarah. He was born in the late 1600s when the morale of the Jewish people in Eastern Europe (Ukraine) was down. Before his birth, many were killed by pogroms, and there was a high rate of poverty. Many families were forced to have their children abandon Torah studies so that they could go to work and help the family. Therefore, many people at the time were unlearned. However, they were very spiritual and yearned for a way to connect to G-d.

When Yisrael was 5 years old, both his parents passed away. His father, Eliezer, although he looked like a simple Jew, he was a hidden Tzaddik. Before his death, he told his son to remember, “Fear no one but G‑d. Love every Jew with all your heart and soul, no matter who he is.” The Baal Shem Tov made sure to live his life this way.
The town raised him. Often, he would enjoy spending time in nature and talk to G-d. When R’ Yisrael was 16, Eliyahu HaNavi (Elijah the prophet) revealed himself to him and told him how much G-d enjoyed the prayers of a simple person. “Inspired by his conversation with the prophet, Yisrael made it his personal mission to engage simple Jews in conversation about mundane matters.”

There were people from other places in Europe who had the means to study Torah/Talmud most of the day. Unfortunately, some would look down at the simple Jews who didn’t have the means to study Torah because they were just trying to survive. The simple Jews didn’t feel like they had a connection to G-d. The Baal Shem Tov is known as the father of Chasidut. He encouraged the Jews to connect through prayer and speaking in their own words to G-d, versus feeling that the only way to connect to G-d is through Torah /Talmud study.

The Baal Shem Tov’s teachings of speaking to G-d and making G-d part of one’s everyday life, made the Jews feel worthy, and excited to serve G-d through Devekut (connecting to G-d mentally and through mundane tasks, such as talking to G-d while one was at work, performing tasks).

As the morale went up, the Jews were enlightened to hear more and more Torah lessons from the Baal Shem Tov.

One of the lessons the Baal Shem Tov taught (which Rav Avitan relayed a few years back) was on how important it is to judge people favorably. The Baal Shem Tov taught that anything we see in others is G-d’s way of reflecting things that we need to work on or once struggling with. Therefore, when we judge someone unfavorably, we are essentially judging ourselves for the same (or similar) things we have done. Rav Avitan shared how G-d will not “punish” a Jew until s/he agrees to receive such a punishment. How does one agree to be punished a certain way? When one judges a fellow Jew in a negative way and not giving them the benefit of the doubt or not saying something like “his/her evil inclination must be so strong in this area, perhaps I could pray for him/her to do teshuva (repent), and instead says “he/she should never be able to , or “he/she doesn’t deserve to have _ (something good) then the person is judging himself that they too should never be able to , or have__.

Today, many people study the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, even if they are not from a Chassidic background.