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10 | A New Light
Chapter One:
The Highest Torah
Many great and important tsaddikim came together to be
within the circle of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder and leader
of the Hasidic movement. They comprised the holy group of his
students, and as such they received his teachings and adopted his
practices. When the Baal Shem Tov left this world, the greatest of
his students, Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezritsh—the Maggid (“Preacher”)
of Mezritsh—took over the mantle of leadership. The Hasidim
who had followed the Baal Shem Tov when he had been alive now
streamed to Mezritsh and clung to his great student, the Maggid.
In the Hasidic way of life, the peak of the student’s bond with his
rebbe occurs when he comes to spend the Sabbath at the rebbe’s
court. There, he is intoxicated by an elevated, unique atmosphere.
He sees the face of the tzaddik, he greets him and is greeted and
blessed by him, and they pray together. And the high point of
the Sabbath is the tisch—literally, the “table”—the gathering for a
ceremonial meal. During these hours, the tzaddik descends “from
the mountain to the people,” and raises them from the physical
world to a reality consisting entirely of flames of holy fire. Everyone
is bound together into a single entity of song and yearning for
the living God. At the pinnacle of the meal, the rebbe opens his
mouth with wisdom and delivers a sermon in which he combines
elevated ideas from the weekly Torah reading and current events
with practical advice and guidance.
The holy Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, author of the Toldot
Yaakov Yosef, was a member of the Baal Shem Tov’s holy
circle—in fact, one of his greatest students—who in his holy books
recorded the essence of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings. After his
master passed away, Rabbi Yaacov Yosef was at a loss. He felt
like an orphan without a father, and he longed to fill the gaping
void. He yearned profoundly for the heavenly Sabbaths that he had
experienced in the courtyard of his rebbe, for the wondrous tisch
and for his rebbe’s deep insights.
Chapter Two: | 23
midst of difficulties. He sees Hashem’s presence in the entire course
of his life, and he binds himself to Hashem. This bond is the result
of his free will and effort, and it is therefore a true bond that is
associated with delight and genuine fulfillment.
That is the stature of the tzaddikim. Initially, they experienced
difficulties and struggled a great deal with the evil inclination. They
succeeded in serving God until they came to despise evil—which is
to say, this entire world and its desires—and to choose good. They
worked, toiled and strove in order to purify their bodies until their
bodies were drawn after the soul and were attracted to good, as
in the poem, “My heart and my flesh will sing to the living God.”
When they learn Torah and serve Hashem, they experience great
delight. This is not considered the “bread of shame,” because they
receive this as a reward for their holy work. “Praise the righteous
man, because he is good, because he will eat the fruit of his deeds”
(Isaiah 3:10).
Everyone can attain this goal. Everyone can live a life
of true delight even in this world—and precisely because
this world accommodates evil. As Elijah the prophet testifies: “I
bring as witness heaven and earth that it does not matter whether
one is a Jew or a non-Jew, a man or a woman, a male servant
or a maidservant, the Godly spirit that rests upon a person is in
accordance with the deeds that he performs” (Tana Devei Eliyahu 9).
“We Will Sanctify Your Name in the World”
Just as a person can attain perfect delight specifically because he
exercises free will, so too the Creator receives complete delight and
satisfaction only from a person who uses his free will to choose and
desire God despite all of the evil influences that have ceaselessly
enticed him to choose this world and its desires. We find that the
Creator Himself, as it were, receives delight and satisfaction from
His creation: “Hashem, may He be blessed, foresaw the pride and
delights that He would receive from [the people of] Israel…. And
because of that He created the entire world” (Likutei Moharan I 17).
And Rabbi Nachman also speaks about how “Hashem, may He be
blessed, receives delight from Israel” (ibid. 73). Hashem’s principal