Next Wednesday will be the great day of Elul, the birthday of the two great luminaries of Hasidic teachings: the Baal Shem Tov, founder of general Hasidicism (born in 1588), and Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Ladi, author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch and founder of Chabad Hasidism (born in 1585).
The great Hasidic scholars called this day live In Elul, because it revives the month of Elul.
The special vitality brought by Hasidism breathes life into the month of Elul itself, allowing us to mend our ways and draw closer to our Father in Heaven with joy and love.
The power of the secret
It is impossible to describe Jewish life in recent generations without the special light that the Baal Shem Tov brought to the world.
The system of Hasidism he founded was received in the Jewish diaspora like living water for a weary soul, and spread rapidly despite the opposition it faced at the beginning.
In several ways, there are similarities between our generation and the days of the Baal Shem Tov's appearance.
Then and now, the polarization between parts of the people is intensifying. The Jewish people are divided into the world of Torah and scholarship on the one hand, and the world of ordinary Jews, many of whom are increasingly influenced by Gentile culture, on the other.
As then, so today, Torah students and mitzvot keepers also thirst for spiritual light, seek vitality in keeping the mitzvot, and long for true joy.
The Baal Shem Tov showered the dew of revival on the thirsty and polarized people. With true love of Israel, he warmed the souls of the multitudes of the House of Israel. In his profound sayings, he revealed new light on the life of the Torah and the mitzvot.
He taught how one can draw closer to God by performing a mitzvah with warmth and sincerity. How one can ascend to a higher level through good qualities and pure prayer.
The Baal Shem Tot brought the light of the teachings of Hasidism to the students of Torah. Suddenly, layers they had not known were revealed to them. The Baal Shem Tot revealed new depths in the Torah and its commandments and revealed the innermost secrets within them.
Thus, great geniuses of the land and great scholars gathered around him, became his disciples, and then spread the light of Hasidism to broad strata of the people of Israel.
In the third generation of Hasidism, Rabbi Shneur-Zalman of Ladi shaped the light of the Baal Shem Tov into an organized format of study and contemplation, until each and every one could understand with their own minds the profound ideas of Hasidism.
Learn to implement
The Baal Shem Tov told of an 'aliyah neshama' he made, in which he reached the temple of the Messiah. He asked the Messiah: "When will his glory come?" [-when will his glory come], and he replied: "When your springs overflow.".
Indeed, the springs of the Baal Shem Tov spread far and wide. They reached all corners of the world and all classes of the people in Israel.
The path of the Baal Shem Tov also has a healing power for the ailments of our generation. The more we learn to apply the path of the Baal Shem Tov – in love for Israel, in teaching righteousness to Jews – the more unity will grow within the people and more multitudes will come closer to the light of the Torah and its commandments.
And above all, our prayer is that after "your springs will be filled with water," we will merit the coming of our righteous Messiah and true and complete redemption.
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