Chasidut sobre Joel 4:18

In God’s great mercies, He established Torah scholars in every generation to seek the knowledge of God, and open the gates of Torah knowledge according to the needs of the times. The Zohar (Bo, 2b) quoted above makes mention of this idea, how the prophecy of Yehezkel was suited to the needs of his generation. In the same way God sent a redeemer to Israel, whose splendor was as the Holy One of Israel,¹³⁶This is a play on words, the Baal Shem Tov, whose name was Israel, was a redeemer for the nation of Israel. our master and teacher, whose name pleasant and whose pleasantness fit his name, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov. God opened the gates of wisdom, understanding, and consciousness for the Baal Shem Tov. He sought out the knowledge of God’s perfect Torah, and prepared his heart to explicate and discourse on the hidden realms of wisdom. In his days, he managed to bring the sublime secrets of wisdom down into the boundaries of human understanding. He succeeded in making the Torah accessible to the masses of Israel. For the Torah was not given to God’s holy angels, but to the seed of Yaakov whom God had chosen,¹³⁷This is referring to the famous story in the Talmud that relates and angel’s complaint, when God gave the Torah to Israel. In defence of God’s decision, Moshe asked the angels, “What is written in the Torah? ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt.’ Did you go down to Egypt? Were you enslaved to Pharaoh? Do you worship idols, kill or steal? Why then should the Torah be yours?” From here, concludes the Midrash, we see that the Torah is meant for man, not for angels. In R. Gershon Henokh use of the image, he means to say that even the highest realms of Torah – the secrets of Kabbalah – is meant for the masses, and not merely elite scholars. and it is essential for every soul of Israel to reach everything that is written in the Torah and bring it within the boundaries of his mind’s grasp and knowledge. And even for our generation, a generation of lowly status and little knowledge, did God send him with the perfect language necessary to teach, understand, and come close to even the most sublime of the Torah’s mysteries. The Baal Shem Tov opened up an inner gate that had been closed until his days. He opened it before the entire community of Yaakov, for the Torah is not in Heaven,¹³⁸See Devarim 30:12. BT Bava Meziah 29b. but the birthright and fiancée¹³⁹See BT Berachot, 57a: “If one dreams he has intercourse with a betrothed maiden, he may expect to obtain knowledge of Torah, since it says (Devarim 33:4): “Moses commanded us a law [Torah], an inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. Read not morashah [inheritance], but me’orasah [betrothed].” of every Jew. Everyone who seeks God with a full heart will find in the Baal Shem Tov’s words the way of understanding and clear path for the upright in order to understand, discern, hear, learn, teach, guard, perform, and uphold all the words of the Torah.¹⁴⁰Weekday morning liturgy, blessing preceding the recitation of the Shema Yisrael. All of the Divine attributes and Sefirot, whether mentioned or hidden, contain the whole order of God’s governance of everything, from the highest heights of the spiritual world down to lowliest of levels, and man is capable of receiving them within the limits of his mind. And all of the events recounted in the Torah are experienced by every one of Israel in every generation, in general and in particular. The Torah is the essential teaching for every Jew to enable him to conduct all his affairs justly.¹⁴¹See Tehillim 112:5. The Baal Shem Tov opened a gate in the brilliant light of the firmament, the holy teachings of the Zohar and the writings of the Arizal, explaining all their words in clear and straightforward language, the language of wisdom. In this way the Divine abundance of the mysteries may drip into the heart of man, so that he may behold God from his very flesh.¹⁴²See Iyov 19:26. From the days of the Baal Shem Tov and onward, the gate to the garden of God and the paradise of wisdom had been opened, inviting man to enter. From his days, the spring has begun to flow from the House of God,¹⁴³See Yoel 4:18. and with the passage of time, it only grows stronger and stronger. The Baal Shem Tov established many students, all geniuses and holy servants of God.