BAAL SHEM TOV 32 - L'ENFANT A DISPARU

1740 At the Baal Shem Tov's. Baal Shem Tov, I beg you, please do something for us. We've been married for 3 years, and we have no children. Bless us.

Yes, my son, I bless you. Go, good luck. And so , 17 years pass. 1757.

Rabbi, I beg you , Rabbi, it has now been 20 years that we've been married, we have no children . Please, I beg of you. And there he cries, he cries, he cries. The Tzadik says, "Benjamin, stop crying.

That's it , in Heaven, Hashem has seen your tears . You will have a boy this year. Stop crying.""Benjamin, what, Rabbi?""You said a boy?""Yes, but I ask one thing of you. Until he is grown, watch over him.

Do not leave him alone. Do you understand?""You will have a boy this year, but watch over him." Oh my, Benjamin gets up. "You're a Tzadik, you're a Rabbi.""Thank you very much, Rabbi." And there, he returns home. " That's it, my wife, that's it!

A boy! Now hurry, hurry, let's go buy everything we need for the boy." The Rabbi said it, and there it is. Thank God, she is pregnant. He is born 9 months later.

It's a boy. He is named Israel, the Baal Shem Tov. Oh my, what joy. And there, he is 2 years old, and the Baal Shem Tov is there.

The child reaches 3, and there is a maid who watches the baby while Benjamin goes to work. And that day, there was a circus in the village. The maid said, "You know what? Just half an hour, I'll see how it is and then I'll come back.

The baby is sleeping. Is that okay?" She comes back 2 hours later, very happy. It was extraordinary, it was nice. She opens the door, and there she lets out a scream.

Where did Israel go? The baby is gone. Where is he? Where is he?

She looks for him all over the house. Around the house. She faints, and then Benjamin comes home. He says, "What is happening here?

What's wrong, my wife? What's the matter with her? What's the matter? Where is Israel?

Where is he?"" Israel is gone. He left, he was kidnapped." Master of the Universe, oh, woe is me. How they cried. They looked for him everywhere.

Israel, Israel, Israel, there is no Israel. Yes, the Rabbi told me to watch over him. You will have a boy but you must watch over him until he is grown. Oh, I have failed.

What are we going to do now? He is no longer here. He is no longer here , the boy. After a month, he decides to go see the daughter of the Baal Shem Tov.

Madame Adel, Rebbetzin Adel, I beg you, what is happening? You see, they stole our son Israel from us. You know the whole story since his birth. Stop crying now.

I cannot guarantee anything . But I will go to the grave of my father, the Baal Shem Tov. I will return this evening. And there, she returns in the evening.

Listen, I was at his grave. The Baal Shem Tov spoke to me and told me: "Go tell them that Israel is alive and that now they must go through every village and enter every inn and tell his story, that their son was kidnapped." And so Benjamin takes his wife, he takes his cart with two fast horses and he goes from village to village, enters every inn, tells the story, there is no answer. We don't know, we haven't seen any baby, we are not aware of anything. And now it has been months, he is desperate.

And his wife, she is there supporting him. Benjamin, stop crying. The Baal Shem Tov said to go from village to village. So we will continue to do it.

I have faith and we will pray . Maybe at some point Hashem will listen to our prayer, He will accept it as He accepted it before his birth. Alright. And there, he continues to drive day and night.

And then at one point they fell asleep. And when they fell asleep, after a few hours, he wakes up. Ah! Where are we?

Ah, I see. Oh shoot, we missed that little village over there. But it's fine, it's such a tiny village. Come on, let's just let it go.

His wife says to him, "My dear husband, I beg you, I have always spoken to you kindly. Do me this favor. Come on, let's not give up." He said every village, come on, let's turn back and go to that little village. What can I say to you, my wife?

You say it so kindly that even though I am exhausted and broken, we've been driving for months, I cannot refuse you because it is said in such a kind way. So, let's go. Oh my, oh my, oh my. And there he enters this small inn, he meets the innkeeper and he goes inside to hurry.

So at that moment he says to his wife I told you no, I'm not saying anything, I'm not making any remarks. That's how you build the shadow path. And just the innkeeper, he comes out like that, says "Ah Mr. Innkeeper, I'll tell you a story, a good story." And there the innkeeper, he listens.

He says, "You know, I heard there's a lord here""who came in a month ago""and who found a child." Oh really? And what is this child like? Oh yes, we saw him. He came to our place.

He came, he came to celebrate with the child. Well, he is uh small. He has blue eyes. He is a little like this.

A little Ah, but that's my son, it's him. But it's him. Ah okay, it's him. But let me tell you, he is not easy.

He is an antisemite, that lord. He doesn't like Jews. And you know what? But I'm going to go see him.

No, but wait, you need to know something. It's that the priest told him a few months ago, you have no children. It's not a problem. If you take a child from a Jewish family, you raise him like that, he will inherit from you and you will convert him to Christianity and you'll...and you know what?

for a month now. But this Lord, he is so happy, so joyful, he throws a party every day. And tomorrow morning, the cardinal is coming especially to convert him, to dunk him in the water, in the river nearby. Ah, but what am I going to do?

It's not possible. Listen, I don't think you have a chance. What do you mean no chance? Don't you understand that we have our God, we have our Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov.

If he told me to tell every village, it means there must be a solution. We are going to start praying. And now his wife, she starts to cry. Yes, we are going to start praying.

Yes. OK. So if you try to go see him, don't leave him with the Lord, he is too mean. But the cardinal is a good man.

So maybe talk to him, he arrives tomorrow morning. And there they took their cart, their two horses and they arrived at the entrance of the village while waiting for the cardinal. And so in the morning , he sees a grand carriage arriving with soldiers in front, soldiers in back, and says, "What is happening? Why has it stopped here?" Well, there is a man on the ground crying.

Bring him to me. What is the matter? Why are you crying? Ah, Cardinal, here is my story.

I have been waiting for a child for 20 years. After 20 years, I finally had this child. And then, he was kidnapped from me last month. Do you understand?

He is over there with the Lord. Do you understand? He is my son. You cannot do this.

He is all we have left. Look at my wife, she is there. We are lost. Do you believe in God?

I was told you were good. Listen, I cannot help you. I warn you in advance, but I will go over there. You will wait for me outside the house, next to the cart, and we will see how it goes.

And so the Cardinal enters the Lord's place, very happy. Oh my, how happy I am. Look at the baby. Look at this child, how beautiful he is .

How wonderful he is. Ah, we will baptize him and I will have my future world. Your future world? What, what does that mean?

Well yes, if he gets baptized now, he will become a Christian, he will be a good Christian, and when I leave this world, I will go to the future world. But you haven't understood. A Jewish child, as soon as he sees a Jew, he runs away. So you will see him all the time.

So it's no use. I know the situation, it's no use. But no, but no. Do you know what, sir?

Come, let's do an experiment. Come, you will see. Come, bring him out. As soon as he sees a Jew, he will say "Papa, papa, papa!" Come on, let's try.

And there, he opens the door. And suddenly, a hundred meters away, there is a Jew outside, well, this guy with his beard, and suddenly, he says "Papa, papa!" And he runs, papa starts to run and run. Oh my, what an atmosphere! What an atmosphere!

Oh my, oh my! The wife, the husband, the papa, he is crying, he is crying. He runs towards him and they grab each other and embrace. And at that moment, the Lord goes to run after him.

The candidate stops and says, "I told you, as soon as he sees a Jew, he's going to say, 'Dad, I told you.'" Do you understand? And the Lord doesn't even have time to realize that Benjamin grabs his son, gets into the cart, and starts running away, running away, running away. The Lord collapses. No, this isn't possible, I'm going to stop him.

My wife, what will she say? And you? And meanwhile, right now, Benjamin with his wife and Israel are leaving the village. And at that moment, what do they see?

They see soldiers, horses, a grand stagecoach. But what? It's the cardinal's stagecoach. But that's impossible.

The cardinal was downstairs . And there, Benjamin approaches the window. And what does he see? He sees the cardinal.

But, but, but then, who was the one over there? What? It's A prophet. Maybe the Baal Shem Tov sent him to save Israel.

Oh my, oh my, your Israel, hold on, Mommy's coming, we're going to thank God. Thank you very much .