The Dream Behind the Window

In Mezhibuzh, it is told, a wealthy man who kept his distance from the Baal Shem Tov employed a gifted, learned tutor. The tutor, too, stayed away, though the Besht very much wanted to draw him close to avodas Hashem.

One Friday night the tutor dreamed that he was walking through the town and saw a palace of astonishing beauty. The more he looked, the more wonders he saw, and he told himself that if the outside was so splendid, the inside must be beyond compare. At the window he saw the Baal Shem Tov and his holy circle seated at a table. The Besht was speaking Torah, and the tutor ran for the door, but the attendant would not let him in. So he stood at the window and listened.

He woke repeating the words, which were sweeter than honey, but fell asleep again. In the morning the dream remained clear, and the teaching was gone. He was so distressed that he could hardly pray, and he was afraid to go to the Besht, remembering how he had been turned away.

At seudah shlishis the Baal Shem Tov sent for him. The messenger had barely opened the door when the tutor leapt over the table and ran, without his coat. There he heard the very same Torah, and fainted. When he revived, the Besht said gently that it was no new thing to him, since he had heard it already in the night. From then on he drew near with his whole heart.