Faith and Love for the Master

Even just thinking of the Master, if a disciple is focused, can raise the disciple to great heights and he can overcome physical, spiritual and mental obstacles. Baal Shem Tov was an eighteenth century Jewish mystic who is considered to be the founder of Hasidic Judaism. The faith and love of the Baal Shem’s disciples was so great, that just telling stories about him transported them to spiritual heights and had the effect of a miracle in itself. Here is a story about the telling of stories:

A rabbi whose grandfather had been a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov was asked to tell a story. “A story,” he said, “must be told in such a way that it constitutes help in itself.” And he told: “My grandfather was lame. Once they asked him to tell a story about his teacher. And he related how the holy Baal Shem used to hop and dance while he prayed. My grandfather rose as he spoke, and he was so swept away by his story that he himself began to hop and dance to show how the Master had done. From that hour on he was cured of his lameness. That’s the way to tell a story!”
_{Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim}