The Niggun and the Havdalah Cup

While the brothers, Rav Shmuel Abba and Rav Pinchos, were in prison, they were put into a cell with many other prisoners. The cell was so filthy that they were forbidden by halachah to daven. One of them said, “Let us sing a niggun.” The niggun they sang roused all the inmates, and before long everyone was dancing.

When the warden and guards saw this, they separated the brothers from the other prisoners. As soon as they were alone in their own cell, they sighed with relief. Here they could serve Hashem properly. Then one said to the other, “Now I understand the meaning of an amulet the Baal Shem Tov once gave to a wealthy man who hosted him.”

The Baal Shem Tov had stayed with that man and did not say a word all Shabbos. On Motzaei Shabbos the wealthy man's wife asked him to daven that they be saved from their troubles and have children. The Baal Shem Tov made Havdalah and called the man to look into the cup. In its reflection the man saw an evil spirit that sought to harm and injure him. On the spirit were written the letters Yud Shin Bais, Shin Bais.

“Until now I had no idea what that meant,” said the brother. “Now I think it stood for the words Yehi shalom bechelech, shalvah be'armenosayich” (Tehillim 122:7).