Perek 63
Bentzion Meltzer
There was once a king who had a son whom he wanted to teach many
fields of wisdom. So he hired for him many wise men to teach him, but
the prince was unsuccessful in learning any wisdom. Eventually, all
the wise men despaired, and only one of them remained with him.
Once, the prince saw a beautiful young lady and desired her. The wise
man rushed to warn the king about this, but the king answered him, “If
he does have desire, albeit for something sensual, he will eventually
attain all types of wisdom.”
The king ordered to bring the young lady into the royal courtyard, and
commanded her to reject the prince’s approaches unless he agreed to
learn some field of wisdom. She did this, and kept telling him that he
must learn another wisdom and another, until he had learned all fields
of wisdom. By the time he had attained all this wisdom, though, he was
not interested anymore in the young lady, because a princess was more
fitting for him.1
This would explain why the Mishnah asks, “What is the difference
between Abraham’s followers and Bilaam’s followers,”2 [after having
delineated the good traits of these compared to the bad traits of
those]. The intent is to differentiate between them even when
Abraham’s followers possess the same bad traits as Bilaam’s.
Nevertheless, Abraham’s followers will reap spiritual benefits from
those traits both in this world and the next, as we see in the above
parable, whereas Bilaam’s followers will only spiritually deteriorate
until they descend to Gehennim.
1 Ben Porath Yoseph 88a. Although the parable involves a wise man
guiding the prince, a person can accomplish the same thing by
“tricking” oneself and constantly postponing one’s baser desires until
one has made some spiritual attainment, after which one would postpone
it again. Of course, the prince did not realize that it was only a
trick, whereas we would, but it is still possible to act “as if” one
didn’t know about the trick. This parable bears an echo of Rabbi
Nachman’s famous parable of the turkey prince (Rabbi Nachman’s
Stories, Breslov Research Institute, p. 479; Under the Table, BRI).
Another point in the story is that in the end, the prince does get
married anyway, so what was gained? The answer is that while he was
attracted to the first young lady simply on the physical level, by the
time he acquired his wisdom, he realized that all earthly pleasures
are really a distant reflection of the sublime spiritual pleasure of
being with G•d, which is represented in this parable by his marrying
the princess.
2 Tractate Avoth 5:19
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Yehoshua Starrett and reprinted
with the kind permission of the Baal Shem Tov Foundation. Please visit
www.baalshemtov.com
Join a class on the Perekim from the Kesser Shem Tov: Shabbos morning
9am in the Shteibel Minyan Beis Medresh
Also, write to Bent...@besht-yomi.org to receive the Teachings of the
Baal Shem Tov in your email inbox, visit and join a discussion group
on the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov at http://groups.google.com/group/teachings_of_the_besht?hl=en
Publicize the Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov To Help Bring
Moshiach Right NOW!
Joseph A. Cleary
I do quite understand, Thank You.
Please be well and do have a good Shabbis and a good week.
As always I shall send this and all to every one whom I know.
Shalom, Shalom, Yosef
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bentzion Meltzer" <bzme...@gmail.com>
To: "Teachings_of_the_Besht" <teachings_o...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 8:33 PM
Subject: Perek 63
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
There was once a king who had a son whom he wanted to teach many
fields of wisdom. So he hired for him many wise men to teach him, but
the prince was unsuccessful in learning any wisdom. Eventually, all
the wise men despaired, and only one of them remained with him.
Once, the prince saw a beautiful young lady and desired her. The wise
man rushed to warn the king about this, but the king answered him, �If
he does have desire, albeit for something sensual, he will eventually
attain all types of wisdom.�
The king ordered to bring the young lady into the royal courtyard, and
commanded her to reject the prince�s approaches unless he agreed to
learn some field of wisdom. She did this, and kept telling him that he
must learn another wisdom and another, until he had learned all fields
of wisdom. By the time he had attained all this wisdom, though, he was
not interested anymore in the young lady, because a princess was more
fitting for him.1
This would explain why the Mishnah asks, �What is the difference
between Abraham�s followers and Bilaam�s followers,�2 [after having
delineated the good traits of these compared to the bad traits of
those]. The intent is to differentiate between them even when
Abraham�s followers possess the same bad traits as Bilaam�s.
Nevertheless, Abraham�s followers will reap spiritual benefits from
those traits both in this world and the next, as we see in the above
parable, whereas Bilaam�s followers will only spiritually deteriorate
until they descend to Gehennim.
1 Ben Porath Yoseph 88a. Although the parable involves a wise man
guiding the prince, a person can accomplish the same thing by
�tricking� oneself and constantly postponing one�s baser desires until
one has made some spiritual attainment, after which one would postpone
it again. Of course, the prince did not realize that it was only a
trick, whereas we would, but it is still possible to act �as if� one
didn�t know about the trick. This parable bears an echo of Rabbi
Nachman�s famous parable of the turkey prince (Rabbi Nachman�s
Stories, Breslov Research Institute, p. 479; Under the Table, BRI).
Another point in the story is that in the end, the prince does get
married anyway, so what was gained? The answer is that while he was
attracted to the first young lady simply on the physical level, by the
time he acquired his wisdom, he realized that all earthly pleasures
are really a distant reflection of the sublime spiritual pleasure of
being with G�d, which is represented in this parable by his marrying
the princess.
2 Tractate Avoth 5:19
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Yehoshua Starrett and reprinted
with the kind permission of the Baal Shem Tov Foundation. Please visit
www.baalshemtov.com
Join a class on the Perekim from the Kesser Shem Tov: Shabbos morning
9am in the Shteibel Minyan Beis Medresh
Also, write to Bent...@besht-yomi.org to receive the Teachings of the
Baal Shem Tov in your email inbox, visit and join a discussion group
on the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov at
http://groups.google.com/group/teachings_of_the_besht?hl=en
Publicize the Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov To Help Bring
Moshiach Right NOW!
--