Baal Shem Tov, R. Israel

The Baal Shem Tov led the young Talmudist to the window. A water-carrier was passing by, with a pole across his back and a pail of water tied at each end. “Come, let’s go speak with him,” said the chassidic master.

“Fundraising for bribes?” objected Rabbi Baruch. “Surely the matter can be dealt with in a more elevated way. Could you not teach our Jews the ‘echad’ of my holy grandfather?”

Word resounded throughout the supernal worlds: "Because Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov has forced the hand of heaven to overturn the laws of nature, he has forfeited his portion in the World to Come"

“When I was a young man of twenty,” the Baal Shem Tov began his story, “shortly after being accepted in the society of hidden tzaddikim, several of us came to the city of Brody . . .”

A tall thin man, wrapped in a black cloak, suddenly appeared at the open door. He looked silently around the room, walked to a corner and just stood there, staring at the Baal Shem Tov

"No, no," came the impatient reply from within. "Everything is in perfect condition. There's no need for any repairs"

Their leader spotted a beautiful bird perched atop a tall tree. "Come," he said to his disciples, "I wish to capture this bird, so that we may delight in her song and gaze upon her wondrous hues"

The young prodigy overheard the exchange between the rabbi and the wagon driver. He could scarcely believe his ears. A pound of candles to atone for violating the holy Shabbat?

The Baal Shem Tov was once asked: "Why do Chassidim burst into song and dance at the slightest provocation? Is this the behavior of a sane person?"

When the two neighbors would pass each other in the yard, the scholar would throw the crass materialist a look of contempt and hurry on to his holy pursuits.