781. The Way of the Baal Shem Tov

December 5, 1964

The way of the Baal Shem Tov is that he set up a Heder [room for learning Torah], meaning gave lessons on becoming rabbis, and anyone who graduated from the Heder received the title Rabbi.

Rabbi means “teacher,” meaning that one who teaches one’s friend Torah is called a “rav.” Before the Baal Shem Tov, the custom was to give the title Rabbi only to those who learned with their disciples the revealed Torah. The way of the Baal Shem Tov is to call by the name Rabbi also those who learn with their students the hidden Torah, since he established a seminary for teaching the hidden Torah.

Prior to the Baal Shem Tov, there were no seminaries dedicated to learning the hidden, and all the seminaries that were at that time were only for learning the revealed Torah. Anyone who yearned to learn the hidden had difficulty finding a teacher for this purpose. For this reason, many forces were lost because they did not find a place dedicated to it.

But after the Baal Shem Tov established a special seminary for the hidden Torah, all the wise disciples whose heart yearned to learn the Creator and whose soul yearned for the hidden Torah knew where to turn. By this, the disciples learning the hidden Torah proliferated.

We should understand the difference between the revealed Torah and the hidden Torah. “Revealed” means that which is revealed to all. This was said about the practice.

The practice of Mitzvot [commandments], as well as the words of the Torah and the prayers are also regarded as part of the practice, as our sages said, “Twisting the lips is an act,” meaning because it is revealed, so his friend can see if he is praying or learning. In order to know the orders of the work of the Mitzvot, meaning their measures and times, this is called “the revealed Torah,” where the Torah teaches us how to practice the Mitzvot.

Concealed was said only about the thought and the intention in the matter, since one cannot know what his friend thinks during the practice of a Mitzva [commandment], whether it is for the sake of the Creator or to the contrary, only because of false piety. The learning of the thought and the intention is called “hidden” and “secret,” as it is written, “The secret of the Lord is to those who fear Him.” What is “The secret of the Lord is to those who fear Him”? It is that the Creator gives the gift of fear of heaven to a person, and this is considered that the secret of the Creator is to those who fear Him, meaning they have fear of Him, and this is a gift from the Creator. He gives this secret only to those He likes, meaning He gives him a thought that it should be for the sake of the Creator. This is called “the hidden Torah,” which teaches how to be rewarded with the quality of thought.

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