Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye was known as the 'Baal HaToldot', after his book 'Toldot Yaakov Yosef' – the first chasidic book to be printed. Before drawing close to the Baal Shem Tov, he served as a rabbi and head of the rabbinical court in Sharhorod, Podolia. He adopted the ways of the German Pietists, engaged in much self-mortification, secluded himself for study and contemplation, was very strict with himself, and prayed with a small group of close individuals rather than with the regular community minyan. His behavior aroused displeasure among the community's householders. They believed that a city rabbi should be involved and available as a spiritual leader and head of the court at all times, and therefore dismissed him from his position. There are several versions of the story of his drawing close to the Baal Shem Tov, but in all of them, the spiritual transformation he underwent upon his approach is evident. He became one of the greatest disciples of the Baal Shem Tov and one of the most important disseminators of Chasidut. He passed away on the 24th of Tishrei 5542 (1781) and was buried in Polnoye.
Once, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, the Baal HaToldot, made two requests of the Baal Shem Tov: that he may merit a revelation of Elijah, and that he be given advice on how not to become agitated (meaning, not to be stern and pedantic, as he was known to be pedantic by nature). The Baal Shem Tov promised him that he would soon merit a revelation of Elijah, and would also give him advice on how not to become agitated.
On his way home from his holy teacher the Baal Shem Tov, he encountered a Jew walking on foot. The Toldot asked the man to sit in his wagon, for why should he trouble himself to walk. The man agreed and got onto the wagon and sat down, but he did not bring his feet into the wagon and left them hanging outside the wagon.
"Why don't you bring your feet into the wagon? Sit in the wagon like all people who travel, with their feet in the wagon!" said the Toldot to the traveler.
"King David says in Psalms, 'Ashrei… shekakha lo' (Happy is he… that this is his lot). Who merits happiness? He who is 'kakha lo', who is content in any situation, whether his feet are in the wagon or outside it…" the traveler replied.
After some time, the Toldot came to the holy Baal Shem Tov and asked: "Our holy teacher promised me that I would merit a revelation of Elijah, and I have not yet merited it!"
"The man walking on foot who traveled with you in the wagon, and who said to you 'Ashrei shekakha lo', and also hinted that you should not be pedantic and should accept everything as it is – that was Elijah, and you did not feel it," said the Ba’al Shem Tov.
The Baal HaToldot teaches us here one of the ways of Chasidut: When a person comes before his Rebbe, he asks for advice – not a blessing. Some believe that chasidic service is summed up in asking for blessings from the Rebbe, but the main wonder of a true Rebbe's essence is the ability to give correct advice, to be a "wondrous counselor" who extends "advice from afar, steadfast faith."
Accordingly, the essence of a true chasid is complete self-nullification and attachment to his Rebbe. A chasid is one who knows that advice should be sought only from the Rebbe, and it should be implemented to the fullest extent of one's soul.
The Rebbe Tzemach Tzedek said that a chasid who is connected to his inner essence knows that asking for a blessing for success in Divine service is "do not turn to worthless things." God wants our effort and inner work, not the results in themselves. If God desires, He will give us levels and good traits in abundance, in the aspect of "I give your priesthood as a service of gift." But for our part, do we desire levels and blessings as much as hearing the voice of God?!
Feel, Don't Get Agitated
After this introduction, let's examine the problem presented by the Toldot, and its solution:
It is known from many stories that the Baal HaToldot was a forceful tzaddik with 'judgments'. In this story, it is expressed as advice on how not to become agitated. What does this mean?
First, let's clarify that being stern and pedantic is not identical to anger. Anger is a negative arousal of the attribute of gevurah (might), which erupts and burns the other. Being stern and pedantic is the fine root of anger, and its place is in binah (understanding)- the source of gevurot. The gevurot in binah stem from the concern that the reality before it may not be properly rectified – which can lead to hasty and judgmental pedantic sternness.
There are two natures in the arousal of attributes. The first is quick to feel, experience, and get excited. This is an immediate response, like a reflex created in initial contemplation, and its focus is personal experience. Only in the second nature, which awakens after deeper and more moderate contemplation, can one understand the matter itself, without the excited self at the center.
The pedantic sternness stems from that initial failure: one who places himself at the center of emotional arousal becomes sensitive and therefore also pedantic and stern. Even things that seemingly have nothing to do with him – like the state of the feet of the traveler in his wagon – become important to him as if they affect and concern him.
The price of self-excitement is emotional blindness, as the Baal Shem Tov says to the Toldot: "And you did not feel it." There were many things the tzaddik did not feel: He did not feel that the traveler was actually doing him a favor by getting into his wagon. The feet remaining outside hint that he would actually prefer to walk, in the sense of "more than the householder does for the poor man, the poor man does for the householder"; he did not sense how much he was damaging the opportunity to perform the mitzvah of kindness, for what form does such kindness have – to pick up a passenger in the wagon and then rebuke him during the ride; and above all – he missed the revelation of Elijah that was promised to him.
One who gets excited doesn't truly feel what's happening around him. If the eyes turn inward, the ability to discern and the sensitivity of true feeling are diminished.
Thus for him
The healing of the Baal HaToldot is in the attribute of 'thus' (ככה) – the attribute of equanimity so beloved by the Baal Shem Tov. Being connected to the revelation of Mashiach's Torah, the Baal Shem Tov often aroused and criticized specifically the community of Torah scholars in his generation – in the sense of "Mashiach comes to return the righteous in repentance." Equanimity is one of those virtues found more among simple Jews than among Torah scholars.
Torah scholars are generally complex people, refined, with developed intellectual and emotional abilities. All these greatly increase the danger of the destructive feeling. They most need the attribute of equanimity, in the sense of "derech eretz (proper conduct) precedes Torah."
One could say that the traveler's feet left outside represent the external 'feet' of the simple man. These 'feet' are what aroused the tzaddik's pedantic sternnes towards him in this case, and in many other cases. The tzaddikim who had not experienced the attribute of equanimity were too righteous, to the extent that they saw only with their eyes, and did not feel the inner pulse beating in the person before them.
The Baal Shem Tov knew how to feel the beats of the Jewish heart, the heartbeat beneath the coarse outer covering. He always said about these Jews – "The heart of Israel lives." He deepened his contemplation and found many pearls precisely in their most external habits.
