Rav Moshe Chaim Ephraim Ashkenazi of Sudilkov

The Dance and the Promise

It is told that on Simchas Torah the talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov danced in circles of holy fire, and the Shechinah seemed to rest on them. In the midst of that joy, Adel, the Baal Shem Tov's pious daughter, noticed one talmid standing by himself at the side, longing to dance but unable to. He was Rav Duvid Leikes, the Rav of Bar.

She asked him why he was not dancing. In answer he pointed at his feet. His old shoes had given out in the dancing, and the leather ties had torn, so he could not join the rest of the chevraya kadisha.

Adel told him not to worry. She would give him a new pair of shoes, on condition that he bless her with a baby boy, which she had not yet merited. Rav Duvid grew serious and concentrated deeply, and then he nodded and promised that by the next year she would have a son.

A year later their eldest child was born, and Rav Yechiel and Adel named their son Moshe Chaim Ephraim.

The Rescue from the Collapsing Wall

As told in Sippurim veToldos, one Motzaei Shabbos the coach of Rav Meir HaGadol of Premishlan raced through the dark countryside. The driver asked where they were going, and Rav Meir said calmly that they were on their way to the Baal Shem Tov in Mezibuzh for Melaveh Malkah. The driver protested that the distance was too great, but Rav Meir answered that they would have kefitzas haderech (a miraculous shortening of the road). Towns and villages blurred past, and then they were in Mezibuzh.

The Baal Shem Tov greeted his friend as though such visits were ordinary. Rav Meir said he had come for the Melaveh Malkah and to bring a refuah for the Baal Shem Tov's sick daughter Adel. He added that he would trust only Adel to prepare his festive meal of meat.

The Baal Shem Tov explained that Adel was very weak and confined to her bed. When he went to her room and told her of the guest's request, she felt her pain fading, and with new strength she rose and went to prepare the meal. Nearby her two young sons, Baruch and Ephraim, lay side by side in a crib.

Just then one of the children began to cry, and then the other. Adel lifted both into her arms to calm them. At that moment the wall beside the crib collapsed and buried the crib in rubble. The babies were safe.

The Baal Shem Tov came and saw what had happened. He told Rav Meir that Heaven had sent a worthy messenger to save his grandchildren, and that this was why Rav Meir had come for Melaveh Malkah, to heal Adel and to save her sons.

A Chassid Who Knows What to Tell

It is told that Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk instructed his talmidim, when they asked whom to accept as their Rebbe after him, to go to the Degel, the grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. His talmid Rav Mendele, then known as the Pristiker, traveled to Sudilkov on Erev Shabbos and asked permission to greet the Rav.

The Degel had little patience for the Rebbes from Poland. He had heard that they fasted often and did not understand serving Hashem with love and awe. He held that anyone who fasts and afflicts his body diminishes his soul, because man is created in the image of Hashem with both body and soul, and the true path is to serve with both, as taught by the Baal Shem Tov. So Rav Mendele was not welcomed warmly, and he was downcast.

Seeing this, the Degel drew him close and asked whether until now he had been a talmid of some other great Rav. Rav Mendele answered that he had served his master, Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk. At the name, the Degel was filled with excitement and asked what wonderful thing Rav Mendele had seen. He thought to himself that a person's inner nature shows in what he chooses to praise, whether miracles and salvations, or true awe of Heaven and dveikus.

Rav Mendele said that every day he saw his master meditate on the fear of Hashem until his bones shook and his whole body trembled. The veins and sinews stood out like pipes and his face changed color. He added that there is a sinew beneath the ear which, according to a tradition from his master, trembles only from fear of the day of death, and he had seen it tremble with fear of Hashem.

The Degel answered that such understanding was great, and that if the Chassidim of Poland were on such a level, he had not known it. He then drew Rav Mendele even closer, and, it is said, he remarked that from such a chassid he took pleasure, since he knew what to tell.

Wisdom Creates Nature, and Wisdom Can Change It

The name Elokim has the same numerical value as HaTeva, nature, so the opening of the Torah can be read to say that Hashem created nature with wisdom (chochmah). Health depends on the harmony of the four elements, and healing seeks to restore that balance. Since man is given wisdom as well, he can remodel his own nature, for example by overcoming anger or the chase after luxuries, because a person's form must match his Creator. The Torah is also called wisdom, so the order of the body and soul can be restored through Torah. Tzaddikim who cling to wisdom can even change the laws of nature for good.

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Bereishis

The Tikkun of Adam HaRishon

According to the Zohar, Adam was reincarnated as Noach, but the tikkun (rectification) was not complete until Noach's three sons were reincarnated as the three Avos. Adam damaged the sanctity of the bris kodesh, and Noach is called tamim, perfect, which hints that he began to repair it. The Degel reads the words about Noach's generation as referring to his descendants, the Avos, who are also described as perfect. Shem, Cham and Yafes could not complete the tikkun because Cham himself blemished the bris.

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Noach

Faith Greater Than Miracles

On the verse “I crossed with my staff,” the Degel records a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov once crossed the Dniester River without using any Divine Names. He simply threw his gartel across the water and crossed, and he explained that he was able to do so through great emunah.

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Vayishlach (on Bereishis 32:11)

The World Was Created for Me

On the verse that Yaakov remained alone, the Degel notes the teaching of the Gemara that each person should say that the world was created only for his sake. If so, the survival of the world depends on your choice to do good or evil, and you need not worry about the opinions of others while serving Hashem. With that outlook a person serves with total devotion and breaks through the klippos, the barriers that block the perception of holiness. Yaakov reached the high level of believing that he was the only person in the world and that the world depended on his merits.

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Vayishlach (on Bereishis 32:25)

Seeing the Sounds

The Baal Shem Tov told of a deaf man who entered a hall where everyone danced to joyful music. He thought they were mad, because he heard no music. A wise person would have understood that they were dancing to a melody and would have joined in. The Degel uses this to explain the verse that the people saw the sounds at Har Sinai. Some could not fully hear the Torah, but they saw the malochim dancing and understood the delight, and they too came to appreciate the sweetness of the Torah and joined.

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Yisro (on Shemos 20:15)

Why Aharon Was Chosen

Moshe told Aharon to draw near to the Mizbeach, and Rashi explains that Aharon was ashamed and held back. Moshe asked why he was ashamed, for this was why he had been chosen. The Degel heard from the Baal Shem Tov that this is not a question about why Aharon felt shame, but a statement of the reason Aharon was chosen: his fear and humility were exactly what Hashem desires. The Degel adds that the Hebrew words for fear and shame combine to spell Bereishis, which can also read as a reference to how fortunate Aharon was to be chosen to serve the Daughter of the King, the Shechinah.

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Shemini

The Journeys of Life

The Baal Shem Tov taught that the forty-two journeys of Bnei Yisroel in the Midbar correspond to the journeys of every person's life. A person begins by leaving his mother's womb, which corresponds to the Exodus from Egypt, and he moves from stage to stage until he reaches Eretz HaChaim in the upper worlds after his passing. The Torah recorded these journeys to teach each Jew how to walk his own path, from one destination to the next, all the days of his life.

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Masei (on Bamidbar 33:2), in the name of the Baal Shem Tov

Light Hidden in Darkness

Darkness and evil exist only so that light and good can be recognized against them, and when good is hidden inside darkness it must be refined and brought to the surface. In the same way, when foreign thoughts interrupt a person's davening, he should know that a great light is hidden even in them, for no place is empty of Hashem. If he strengthens himself in that faith, the darkness falls away and only the good remains. The Degel adds that the word teivah means both ark and word, so the instruction to make an opening for the ark teaches us to make our words shine and to look right beside a closed word to find its opening.

Degel Machaneh Ephraim (on the opening of the ark; citing Sanhedrin 38b and Rav Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye in the name of the Baal Shem Tov)

The Justice of Reincarnation

The Zohar on the opening of Parshas Mishpatim says that here are the secrets of reincarnation, and the commentators ask what the connection is. The Degel explains that sometimes a beis din obligates a man to pay when he knows the man is innocent. This is not a flaw in Torah law, since the man may have been guilty in a past life and the time has come to make restitution. The Zohar links reincarnation to the laws of judgments so that we recognize the true justice of the Torah.

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Mishpatim

Becoming Holy

On the command that Bnei Yisroel be holy because Hashem is holy, the Degel teaches that each person can be holy as Hashem is, if one may say so. The soul is the Divine part of man, and a part can extend to include the whole. The ultimate goal of creation is for man to become G-dly.

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Kedoshim (on Vayikra 19)