The New Heavens

Rav Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye said, before his departure from this world, that he had asked Hashem to credit him for all the Torah and mitzvos of his entire life with the same value that the Baal Shem Tov gave to his heavenly thoughts, his yichudim, when he smoked his pipe.

It is told that one day the Baal Shem Tov showed Rav David, the head of the beis din of Ostrow, the new heavens that had been created by his thoughts while he smoked. Rav David fell into a faint from the awe and fear that the sight inspired in him.

The Baal Shem Tov was worthy of all this through his constant study of Torah for its own sake (lishma), through his prayer with the congregation, and through his daily immersion in the mikveh.