1 Nisan · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Adam Baal Shem of Ropshitz - Adam Nachum of Ropshitz
Rabbi Adam Baal Shem of Ropshitz - Adam Nachum of Ropshitz, a great kabbalist, a leader of the hidden tzadikim in the period before the revelation of Chassidus, a disciple of Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem. Rabbi of the Baal Shem Tov.
Yahrzeit - 1 Nissan
Burial place -
One of his descendants is Rav Nachum of Chernobyl, who was even named in his honor.
He was known as Rabbi Adam - an acronym (roshei teivot) for Avraham David Moshe.
He was one of the scholars of Poland, one of the greatest kabbalists of his generation. He transmitted the secrets of Kabbalah to Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov (the Besht), the founder of Chassidus.
A disciple of Rabbi Yoel Halperin (Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem the first), he lived in Ropshitz.
Copies of his promissory notes to the Besht from the years 1731-1735 have survived.
The relationship between the Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Adam began when the Baal Shem Tov was 14 years old; at that age he received Rabbi Adam's writings (who made sure to pass them on to him), and as a result of studying these writings, the boy became very well versed in Kabbalah and became his enthusiastic admirer.
During the years of the Baal Shem Tov's attachment to Rabbi Adam, the latter revealed to him that the secret of his soul's descent into the world lay in the rectification of its previous incarnation in the world, and so he told him:
"400 years ago there lived a simple Jew who did good deeds with great humility, and it was decided in Heaven that the prophet Eliyahu would study with him every night. When the prophet Eliyahu came to study with him, he made the study conditional on that same Jew revealing to him a deed he had done at his bar mitzvah, but the Jew refused to reveal it under any circumstances. Therefore Heaven decided that the prophet Eliyahu would descend again and reveal to him the secrets of the Torah, as well as the time of the End, and when he died, no Jew knew the extent of his righteousness. Here Rabbi Adam concluded his story and told Yisrael Baal Shem Tov that this was why his soul had descended into the world again in its own body, so that he would become known and spread his teaching."
Sipurei Tzadikim
Once the holy Rabbi Adam Baal Shem saw be-ruach ha-kodesh that in a certain place at a fair, the murder of a Jew was being planned. The murder was planned to be carried out with a poisoned arrow. This alarmed Rabbi Adam, and he decided to save the Jew. Rabbi Adam traveled to this town to find the Jew he wanted to save. When Rabbi Adam found this Jew sitting in an inn eating a meal, Rabbi Adam said: Jew, know that in 4 hours you are destined to die; come with me if you want to live. The wealthy Jew paid no attention to the strange stranger, thinking he was some kind of madman - how could this man know when he would die. He finished his meal and went to the fair to his friends and told them about the crazy Jew. Rabbi Adam met him again and told him he had 3 hours of life left. The wealthy Jew, together with his friends, began to mock Rabbi Adam. An hour later Rabbi Adam came to this Jew again and said: "You have laughed enough, but you should know that you have 2 hours left to live." The wealthy Jew laughed again. His friends said to him: "Perhaps the rabbi is telling the truth. You should listen to him." "Well, then, when he comes again, I will offer him friendship," said the same Jew. Again the rabbi approached this Jew and said to him: "You have 1 hour left, so come with me." "Alright," said that Jew, "what must be done to be saved?" Rabbi Adam said: "I see that my words have reached your heart, since you laughed at me the whole time." "I came from far away to save you be-ruach ha-kodesh. I saw that you were destined to die from a poisoned arrow, and that there is no wrongdoing in your hands."
Rabbi Adam and that Jew went to a lodging house, and Rabbi Adam asked the innkeeper the price for staying the day - they paid it and forbade anyone else from being let in that day. Rabbi Adam ordered a servant to bring a tub and fill it with water, and told the Jew to get in and sit in the tub of water. Rabbi Adam gave him a mirror and told him to look into it and describe what was happening. Suddenly the Jew turned pale and his face changed. Rabbi Adam asked him what he saw, and the wealthy Jew said he saw his wife committing adultery with a priest in their town. "Know," said Rabbi Adam, "that your wife has committed adultery with the priest, and now they have decided to kill you. The priest is a great sorcerer, and demons carry out his will. He intends to give the demons a poisoned arrow, and the demons must carry out his will - to kill you, so that he can marry your wife. But he will not succeed, do not be afraid, G-d is with you. Just tell me what you see in the mirror." "I see the priest about to shoot from a bow." Rabbi Adam said: "As soon as you see the priest shooting from the bow, put your head down into the water and stay like that for a few moments." The Jew did so; when he saw in the mirror that the priest was aiming the arrow straight at him, he put his head into the water for a few minutes, and then raised his head. Again Rabbi Adam asked him to look in the mirror and say what the Jew saw in it. The Jew said that he saw his wife sad and the priest upset, and a demon telling him that he had not found the Jew because a powerful holy man was near him. He said to the Jew again: "Look in the mirror once more, and when you see the priest look again, put your head in the water and stay like that for a few moments." Rabbi Adam told this Jew: "When you see for the third time that the priest is about to look at you, put your head in the water and stick out your little finger 2 mm above the water." The Jew raised his little finger, and suddenly the arrow struck the finger and cut off part of the pinky. Rabbi Adam asked the Jew to look at what was happening in the mirror, and he said: I see that my wife is happy, and the demon told the priest that this time the arrow struck the Jew. Rabbi Adam told the Jew: "You are still in danger; get dressed and come out." Rabbi Adam bandaged the Jew's finger so it would not bleed, and drew all the poison out of it. He asked the Jew to hide with relatives for 3 weeks. Then to go to the market and meet the priest, and when the latter becomes upset and angry and asks how you survived, tell him - a holy man saved me. He will want to know about me and will challenge me to a debate - come to me right away and let me know the date.
The priest set a date and invited all the priests to a great feast, to show his great power. When the wealthy Jew entered and silence fell, the priest turned to Rabbi Adam and said: "Perform some miracle so that we may see your power."
Rabbi Adam answered: "I do not perform miracles." The priest said to Rabbi Adam: "Do you see that table there? Now I will grow a tree with apples on it." The priest said to Rabbi Adam that, in the end, he would be able to make the tree disappear as though it had never existed, and Rabbi Adam answered him in the affirmative. He asked everyone to leave the room so he could recite an incantation; when Rabbi Adam returned, he saw an apple tree growing from behind the table, just as the priest had said. Rabbi Adam remained silent even upon seeing such a miracle. He approached the tree, walked around the table several times, and said several times in Polish: "What a beautiful tree, what beautiful fruit." Rabbi Adam told the priest that now he should leave, so that Rabbi Adam could keep his promise to make the tree disappear. The priest at first refused under several pretexts, but under pressure from his friends he left the room. Again Rabbi Adam turned to the tree and said in Polish: "What a beautiful tree, what beautiful fruit," and in an instant his gaze fixed on a reddish apple. Rabbi Adam asked the chief priest to pick this apple for him, cut it in half, and give it to him. The chief priest did as he was asked, and now Rabbi Adam asked that the priest be called; when his friends went out to call the priest, they saw that the priest had been cut into pieces and scattered into all the corners of the adjoining room. Shocked and agitated, the priests returned to the room to hold Rabbi Adam accountable for killing their fellow priest. A trial began, and Rabbi Adam said that the priest had wanted to cast him down to the demons. If he removed the tree, the demons would fight him. The tree he had made was made from the bodies of the demons themselves, so I decided to choose the apple that was the devil's head, and cut it in half. The demons saw that the devil's head had been cut off, and took revenge on the priest. "I am not guilty, because I acted according to the following rule - to strike first against those who want to kill us." The verdict rendered by the priests was that Rabbi Adam was not guilty. Rabbi Adam's name was sanctified and gained great respect. The wealthy Jew divorced his unfaithful wife. The wealthy Jew's wife came to Rabbi Adam and asked him to help her make amends through teshuva. Rabbi Adam told her what to do, and in time she became a great tzadeket.