#490 (s5767-28) 14 Nissan 5767

A Kosher Decision

During the meal in honor of the Baal Shem Tov, a question suddenly arose about whether the chicken that had just been served was kosher.

A Kosher Decision
Ezra Rebhun

The holy tzadik and rebbe, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov once went to the city of Pozna. Several wealthy men of the town offered to honor the illustrious guest by arranging a meal in his honor with the local Rabbis. But he asked that a certain other man be requested to do him that honor. Of course, that man was extremely flattered and quickly prepared a proper meal for the guests.

In the middle of the meal, a question suddenly arose about whether the chicken that had just been served was kosher. There were many complex laws relevant to the situation. The guests, all Rabbis, disputed at length between them, but surprisingly were not able to come to any conclusion. At that point, the Baal Shem Tov said to the master of the house, "Please bring before me your children that I may bless them." Joyously, the man brought his offspring before the great tzadik and he blessed them.

Then the Baal Shem Tov turned to the father and said, "Do you not have another child?" The father replied, sadly, "Yes, I do, but he cannot come to the Rebbe. From when he was born 16 years ago he hasn't walked or spoke." [Apparently like what is today called autistic. The age is not certain - it is between 13 and 18.]

"Tell him the Baal Shem Tov is here and wants to see him," the Baal Shem Tov ordered the father. Shocked and dubious, the father went into the boy's room and told him as he was instructed. Immediately the boy got up and walked into the room where the Baal Shem Tov was!

The Baal Shem Tov gave him his hand warmly, and told him about the question that had been aroused about the status of the chicken. The boy "came to life", looked at the chicken and opened his until now silent mouth with an incredibly long, intricate and clear dissection of the questions, with all the sides pro and con, in the manner of the greatest Rabbinical authorities, and came to the conclusion that the bird was kosher. All the Rabbis present were awed by his presentation and immediately accepted his decision, whereupon everyone present proceeded to eat the meat.

The Baal Shem Tov thanked the youth warmly and sent him back to his room.
As soon as he got there, he passed away! -- returning his soul to his Maker. Everyone was shocked. Only minutes before they were amazed by his miraculous recovery and overwhelmed by the depth of his Torah knowledge, and now he was already gone.

The Baal Shem Tov explained to the stunned audience the background to what had happened by telling the following story:

Around twenty years previously, the great Torah scholar and judge, Rabbi Alexander Sender Shor of Zolkiev [?-1737, author of Tevuot Shor, an important work on kosher slaughtering], had passed away. When his soul came before the heavenly court, they found him to be completely righteous and worthy to enter immediately to Paradise. Suddenly a soul appeared and said he has a complaint about Rabbi Sender. The soul told its story:

After passing away, he had been judged as not yet worthy for heavenly abode, but also not required to be sentenced to "the other place," G-d forbid. His rectification would be that his soul would be reincarnated in a chicken. If a Jew would properly slaughter the chicken and Jews would eat it, that would be his soul's "tikun" (rectification), and then he would have eternal rest. But unfortunately, after slaughter his chicken was found to be "treif" [non-kosher by Jewish law because of a broken or damaged vital organ], and therefore no Jew ate it.

After some time he was given another chance in another chicken, but the same thing happened again, the chicken was found to be treif. When next he received another chance, the chicken was bought by a widow who wanted to cook it and eat it for Shabbos. This would have been very good for him. But upon opening the chicken's belly, she saw that there was a question whether it was kosher or not, so she went to ask the Rabbi of her city, Reb Sender Shor. He was hurrying on his way to his Friday mikveh and didn't have time to answer her. Instead, he gave her enough money to buy another chicken. Therefore, this bird was thrown out. And so the soul still didn't get his "ticket" to Heaven. "Therefore," the soul said, "because he caused me to wait still longer, he cannot be completely guiltless."

The heavenly court agreed with him. Their verdict was that the holy soul of Reb Sender would be delayed entry to Paradise until he properly judged such a chicken as kosher, in which the poor soul would again be incarnated. However, he would be born in a child who could not do anything wrong, so there would be no possibility of sinning. Therefore he was reborn as a child who did not have normal intelligence, for one who has no intelligence is absolved of all the obligations of the mitzvot. "The rest of the story you already know," concluded the Baal Shem Tov.

[Translator's note: We might say, infinitely more truly than in the fairy tales, that they "lived happily ever after", because the soul is eternal. From this we see how important it is to eat only kosher food, and also how truly connected to the Divine are the spiritual giants of the Jewish people. May the merit of the Baal Shem Tov protect us and all Israel!

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from geocities.com/theholypeople/. Ezra Rebhun, an American-born graduate of Brandeis University, is today a chasidic Jew living in the holy land.

Biographic Note:
Rabbi Yisrael, the Baal Shem Tov ["master of the good Name"], a unique and seminal figure in Jewish history, revealed the Chassidic movement and his own identity as an exceptionally holy person, on his 36th birthday, 18 Elul 1734. He passed away on the festival of Shavuot in 1760. He wrote no books, although many claim to contain his teachings. One available in English is the excellent annotated translation of Tzava'at Harivash, published by Kehos. An ongoing online translation of Sefer Baal Shem Tov can be found on www.baalshemtov.com.

Yrachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and editor of Ascent Quarterly and the AscentOfSafed.com and KabbalaOnline.org websites. He has hundreds of published stories to his credit.