Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Baal Shem Tov and Bankruptcy - My New Article in Ami Magazine

I am happy to share an article of mine which appeared in this past week's issue of Ami Magazine! It is a short article and starts with an observation I made about claims made in a heated bankruptcy litigation and how it connects to a profound and famous teaching of the Baal Shem Tov as taught by Rebbe Nachman in Likutei Moharan. I'll include the first couple of paragraphs below but click here for the full (one page) article.
I was struck by recent events in a corporate bankruptcy case, which were eerily reminiscent of a powerful teaching of the Baal Shem Tov...
...This reminded me of a striking teaching by the Baal Shem Tov, as quoted by Rebbe Nachman. The Baal Shem Tov teaches that before a heavenly decree is issued against an individual, the person must agree to the designated consequence. Who would ever agree to his own punishment in advance? He answers that the heavenly court uses the following ingenious strategy...

Click here for the full article.

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3 comments:

yidel said...

What an amazing article! The limud from the Baal Shem tov is mamesh a pachad! It also gives us all an even better reason to be dan l'kaf zechus. Because in truth, the din we are judging may not be that of the other person, but rather our very own!

DixieYid (يهودي جنوبي) said...

Thank you Reb Yidel! And thank you for the story you told me offline about the person who said he gave tzedaka to everyone who asked without asking for a "haskama" showing that he was truly deserving/in need because he said, "When I go to the upper world, I don't want them to ask whether I am truly deserving of being allowed in!"

Menashe said...

Well done. I enjoyed it. Sometimes we merit to find lessons in the most unlikely of places.