Q&A: Belief in the Baal Shem Tov and Grandmother Tales (Question No. 1)?
Belief in the Baal Shem Tov and Grandmother Tales (Question No. 1)?
Question
Hello and blessings,
In the chronicles of the Baal Shem Tov we find the astonishing vision: "From time to time he would run away from school, and they would look for him and find him sitting all alone in the forest."
But how did he dare to do such a thing? Even great people would be afraid to sit alone in a forest, no?
That is all.
Does the Rabbi find a special depth in Hasidism, as in Kabbalah, with regard to the above question?
P.S. I am concerned that the Rabbi will censor this question of mine for well-known reasons, and therefore I hereby note that this is a famous question, and thousands of pens have already been broken trying to answer it with all kinds of strange and odd explanations.
Answer
I have already written more than once that I do not find any special depth in Hasidism. Moreover, I even wrote that in my view there is not much value in studying it (insofar as one learns anything from it at all). Columns and angry talkbacks, with examples, were devoted to this. See columns 104-5.
As for deletions, I think it is completely irrelevant that this is a famous question: if it has substance, then it should not be deleted even if it is not famous, and if it has no substance, then it should be deleted even if it is famous.
Discussion on Answer
No. Perhaps about interpretations of Kabbalah. Kabbalah, as I defined it here (in the parallel thread), is a teaching that conveys a great deal of information in terms of sefirot, worlds, and configurations. The interpretations are the interpreter's business, and usually the interpreter's own views enter into them.
Can the same claims that the Rabbi raises in the above columns also be made about "Kabbalah"?
P.S. I am intentionally refraining from quoting.