Dabash’s Gang

One of the things that the Ba’al Shem Tov used to do was take walks in the forest. While the Ba’al Shem Tov would take his walks, he would concentrate on Torah matters.

Although there were no regular people in the forest, it was known that there was a gang of robbers hanging around. The robbers would hide behind trees and jump out on their victims, or they would trap them by a cliff or at a river. The leader of the robbers was a man named Dabash, and just hearing his name would cause people to become scared.

But the Ba’al Shem Tov did not seem to be one bit worried about the band of robbers or their leader Dabash. He would just take his walks in the forest, while, of course, thinking about Torah, because “a tzaddik does not walk four amos without thinking about Torah.”

Our story starts when one day the robbers were “on guard,” looking out for someone who “dared” to enter their territory. Of course, Dabash was sitting at home, waiting for his friends to bring him their loot of the day. As usual, the Ba’al Shem Tov was taking his walk.

When the robbers saw the Ba’al Shem Tov walking alone, they were excited. They had found someone at last! They were having a hard time finding anybody on that particular day.

One of the robbers said very quietly: “Hey! Look there, guys. There’s a Jew. That’s great—he might have one of those pushkes with all the money in his pocket.” Another robber said: “Yeah. This guy will be an easy catch. He is walking alone—and he doesn’t even look like he knows where he is going!”

“Let’s go for this person,” one robber declared, quietly. “Dabash will be pleased with us if we come back with money so early in the day! Come on, let’s get ready! We’ll go behind that tree, and when the man reaches the curve in the road, we’ll jump out and get him.”

The robbers did as they had planned. They went behind a tree, and when the Ba’al Shem Tov was just about to turn by a curve in the road, they jumped out at him. “Okay, we got you,” one robber shouted. But he did not “get him.” “Hey, where did that guy go?” the robbers wondered. “He was just here a few seconds ago.”

The robbers looked all around but they could not find the Ba’al Shem Tov. They thought that he had turned around, but they looked back and could not find him. “Where could that Jew have possibly gone so quickly?” they wondered. “Oh, we will just have to forget him and look for someone else to rob.”

So, the robbers continued walking on the side of the road behind the trees, so that they could move about unseen.

As they were walking, someone noticed the Ba’al Shem Tov, again! He said to his friends: “Look, I see someone there. Hey, it looks like that Jew that we tried to get before. He’s right over there. Let’s go and try to get him again! He is walking rather slowly, so we should be able to get him this time.

“Let’s do it like this: Since the road is straight here, we will just run ahead, and hide behind that big tree. Then, when that Jew passes us, we will just jump out and catch him. It will be easy.”

The robbers all agreed to the plan and they tip-toed to the big tree ahead of were the Ba’al Shem Tov was. They estimated exactly when the Ba’al Shem Tov would pass them, and they then jumped from behind the tree. But… they did not see the Ba’al Shem Tov anywhere!

They wondered, how could this be? They knew that the Ba’al Shem Tov would be in exactly that place at that second—but where was he? They thought: “This is a straight road. Where could he have run to that we would not see him—and then, so fast?” They ran down the road, but could not find the Ba’al Shem Tov. They checked behind some trees, but the Ba’al Shem Tov was nowhere to be found.

The robbers started to get nervous, for two reasons. Number one, they had never seen something like that before—they jump out to get a person and he disappears! Number two, the day was soon ending, and they did not have anything to bring back to Dabash yet, so they had to find something quickly!

Since they did not really have much of a choice, the robbers went on their way, looking for someone to rob. As they were walking, they approached a big river. The robbers knew the scenery all to well. One thing that was unusual though, was… “that Jew… he is right there!” The Ba’al Shem Tov was walking on the road that went straight up to the river and then split.

One robber said: “We have to get this Jew—we must! I see an easy way to trap him. Let’s split up into two groups—Group 1 and Group 2. Group 1 will go to the right branch of the road, and hide behind the bushes that are along the river. The Group 2 will do the same, but on the left branch of the road. That way we are guaranteed to trap the Jew! Then after we get him, we’ll meet back at the split.”

So, the robbers split up, ran ahead of the Ba’al Shem Tov, and got ready to trap him from behind the bushes that went along the river. Both groups waited a while, and then, after a few minutes, Group 1 assumed Group 2 had caught the Ba’al Shem Tov, so they went back to the split. There, they met Group 2.

Someone from Group 1 asked Group 2: “So what did you get from that Jew? I hope Dabash will be happy with it.” “What are you talking about?” a robber from Group 2 asked. “I thought that your group trapped him? You did not?”

“Nope,” the other robber replied. “We thought you got him, and that’s why we came here.” The two robbers could not figure out where the Ba’al Shem Tov had gone. “If you did not get him, and we did not get him, then where did he go?” Neither of them knew.

After discussing it for just a few minutes, the robbers decided to give up on robbing the Ba’al Shem Tov, because he was wasting their time, and the day was ending. They decided to go back to Dabash, even though he would be very upset with them.

Just as the robbers were about to get moving, one of them noticed that across the river, which was quite large, was the Ba’al Shem Tov. He exclaimed: “Hey! Look over there! It’s that Jew. How did he get there? We know that he didn’t go on either one of the two roads. This is ridiculous!”

“Oh, that Jew! Let’s just forget about him. Come on, we are going back to Dabash,” was another robber’s reply.

So, off the robbers went to return to Dabash…

***

The robbers arrived back at Dabash’s hideout. “Ohhhh,” Dabash greeted them. “Show me what you have gotten! You were out a whole day. You must have a lot of nice things for me! I want to see your bag. Where is it?”

“Well, Dabash,” one robber replied, “I am afraid we do not have anything for you.”

“What do you mean,” asked Dabash. “You know I am your friend, and you do not have to be afraid. Show me what you have gotten.”

“No Dabash. I mean what I said. I am afraid we do not have anything for you. You see, we were out a whole day, but we could not find anyone in the forest. That is, except for this one person, who were we trying to rob, but we could not. He disappeared from us three times in a row! So, um, a, eh, I’m-I’m-I’m af-afraid we-e-e d-d-don’t have anything for you.”

“Are you trying to say that you were out a whole day and did not bring anything back?!” asked Dabash angrily.

“Y-y-es Dabash,” the robber replied. “We were out a whole day, but could not find anyone except for this one person I told you about. But you see, I am not sure if that guy was on the road or not. Maybe he was even somewhere in between. Why do I say that? Because every time we tried to jump out on him, he disappeared!”

“Stop playing jokes on me. They are not funny.” Dabash demanded. “Otherwise, I will start playing jokes on you, and they will not be funny either.”

“Okay Dabash,” the robber said calmly. “We saw a rabbi on the road.”

“Did you rob him?” asked Dabash, more than just a little annoyed. “Rabbis are very easy to rob. You know, they’re usually praying or something, so did you rob him?”

“Well, we tried, but we did not actually catch him,” the robber replied.

“How could you not catch the Rabbi?” Dabash wanted to know. “Rabbis are very easy to rob, and I told you that already. Now, you say that he was walking on the road, but you could not catch him. Wasn’t he right there?”

“He was but he was not,” was the robber's reply. ”We saw him—he was walking on the road. But then, as soon as we jumped out from behind the trees to get him, he disappeared. Another time, he went across the river without using the roads. We didn’t see how he did that.”

“Your story sounds phony to me. Do you know who I am? I am Dabash. Nobody plays tricks on me! Tell me the whole story, and tell me the truth.”

The robbers repeated the story to Dabash, but at first he did not believe them and he was just screaming at them. Then he said: “You were playing a trick on me the whole time, and now I will play a trick on you. You will all come with me, out into the forest. If I find this man, I will rob him personally, and you will all be in big trouble. If I cannot find this man, you will still be in trouble, for lying to me.”

So, Dabash went together with his gang, out into the forest. They were walking, and soon found the Ba’al Shem Tov, who was still taking his walk. One robber said to Dabash: “There he his. That’s the rabbi that we couldn’t catch. He’s right there.”

All the robbers planned to hide behind a tree again, and surprise the Ba’al Shem Tov by jumping out at him. Dabash said: “Hey, I’m not hiding. You can hide, but I am going straight out on the road.”

Dabash did as he had said, and the Ba’al Shem Tov came right up to him. The robbers did not need to surprise the Ba’al Shem Tov or attack him. The Ba’al Shem Tov just came right up to Dabash!

The Ba’al Shem Tov said to Dabash: “Hi there!” Dabash was surprised. He asked the Ba’al Shem Tov: “Are you the rabbi that walks in the forest here?” The Ba’al Shem Tov responded in the affirmative.

“Do you know who I am?” Dabash asked. “Yes,” the Ba’al Shem Tov replied. “I know who you are. You are Dabash.” Dabash was surprised that this Rabbi knew his name.

Dabash asked the Ba’al Shem Tov: “Aren’t you afraid of me?” The Ba’al Shem Tov answered: “Well, no. I am not afraid of you. You see, before my father passed away he told me not to be afraid of anyone or anything besides Hashem. Since you are only a person, I am not afraid of you.”

Dabash was really startled by the Ba’al Shem Tov. He had never met anyone before—not even from his own robbers—who was not afraid of him. He asked the Ba’al Shem Tov: “Don’t you know that you are now walking in my forest, and on my roads and hills?! Do you know what happens to people who come here?!”

The Ba’al Shem Tov responded very calmly. He said: “First of all, this forest is not yours. Everything belongs to Hashem. Secondly, isn’t there enough space for both of us to walk here at the same time? Aren’t there enough roads to walk on and trees to look at? Why do you have to be upset if I walk here? Oh, and one more thing. Not only do I know who you are, but I also know something about you that no one else knows.”

“Really,” asked Dabash. “Quite interesting. Tell me about it.”

“Well,” the Ba’al Shem Tov said, “after you robbers complete a day of successful robbing, you make a big party and get drunk—“

“Right,” Dabash said. “That’s no secret. Everybody knows that.”

“Listen,” continued the Ba’al Shem Tov. “Most of the robbers are happy that they robbed how ever many people that day, etc. You, however, are different. Whenever you get drunk, you start to cry.”

“So, big deal,” said Dabash. “Many people start to cry when they drink. That’s nothing special.”

“Right,” the Ba’al Shem Tov said. “But, I know why you cry. You cry because you—just like me—are Jewish.”

“How do you know that I am Jewish?” asked Dabash. The Ba’al Shem Tov replied: “I know that, because your mother was Jewish, and that makes you Jewish.”

“Do you know what?” Dabash said, surprised. “I never told anyone that, but yes, my mother was Jewish. You say that makes me Jewish, but what does being Jewish have to do with crying after one drinks?”

“You see, inside you is a neshama, a special spark from Hashem. When you do the things a good Jew should, the spark shines brightly. But, when you do things that you should not be doing, the spark gets small and ‘locked into jail.’ Then when you drink, ‘the wine goes in and the secrets come out.’ The small spark—which is hidden inside of you like a secret—comes out of its ‘jail’ and shines brightly. When you realize what bad things you’ve done, and that you have a neshama inside of you, you feel very bad, so you cry.”

Dabash realized that the Ba’al Shem Tov was a very holy tzaddik, so he told the other robbers not to bother him. He said to the Ba’al Shem Tov: “I see that you are a special rabbi. So then, why are you out here in the forest? Don’t rabbis like you sit in the synagogue, learn, and pray? What are you doing in the forest?”

***

“I will tell you,” the Ba’al Shem Tov answered. “You must be wondering, since I told you that we are both Jews, we must be pretty much the same. But here, you see how different we are. The truth is that we are both similar as well as dissimilar at the same time! I will tell you how, and then you will understand the answer to your question. But first I would like to tell you a story.”

“Oh yeah?” asked Dabash, surprised. “You are going to tell me a story? That’s nice. I haven’t heard a good story since I became the leader of the robbers here.”

This is the story that the Ba’al Shem Tov told Dabash:

There once was a king who wanted to do something special for his kingdom. He decided that he would send out messengers throughout the kingdom, to inquire of his subjects what was their greatest wish. The king would later try to fulfill his subjects’ wishes.

Messengers were sent to every corner of the kingdom, and they recorded the wishes of all the residents in the country. Later, after they returned to the palace, they turned their notes over to the king.

As the king was looking over some of the notes, he noticed that two of them were exactly alike. The two notes were both from people who wanted to visit the palace. This caught the king’s attention, and he decided to grant the wishes of those two people.

The king ordered his servants and officers to make all the necessary arrangements, and before long, the first man arrived at the palace, his wish being granted. The king told the him that he could do anything that he pleased while he was in the palace, but that was only for one hour. After one hour, he would have to leave the palace.

So, the man found a giant sack somewhere in the palace, and he started running around, collecting valuables that were in the palace and putting them in the sack.

Of course, the king had given this man permission to do whatever he pleased, so he was allowed to empty the palace, according to his thinking. He took gold, silver, paintings, rugs, and almost anything else you can imagine. When the first sack became full, the man went to fetch another one, and then another and another!

Some time had passed and then the hour was up, so the man had to leave the palace. He did not forget to take with him all the sacks that he collected, of course.

Soon the second man arrived at the palace. The king did not know what to expect. Would this man behave in the same manner as the first man had, and try to empty the palace?

In the end, no, the man did not empty the palace. He came in, and passed by the beautiful things that were still there—the paintings, the rugs, the lamps, and everything else. He was not planning to take anything. He just went straight to the king’s chamber, and stood there, right next to the king. The man was very happy. He looked at the king and smiled.

The king was a little nervous. What was this man doing, standing right next to him? Did he want to steal the crown? The king tried to ignore him, and went to take a walk in the gardens. The man still followed the king around. By the end of the hour, the man had observed all the poeple that had visited the king, and everything that the king did.

Before the king let the man go, he asked him a question. Why? Because he was so curious to know why the man was just following him around a whole day. It was rather strange.

So, the king asked the man: “Mister, can I know why you were following me around this whole hour? Another person was also allowed into the palace for an hour, but he literally packed up the whole palace and took it with him! You, however, were just following me around, watching me. Can you explain this to me?”

The man answered: “Your Majesty, the only reason why I wanted to come to the palace, was to be with the king. I wanted to see what he does and where he goes. I wanted to be close to the king.”

The Ba’al Shem Tov concluded the story by saying: “This story explains the difference between you and me, and it also explains why you are in the forest and why I am in the forest.

“The forest,” the Ba’al Shem Tov continued, “as well as the entire world, is Hashem’s palace. You are like the first man in the story. You want to take anything that you can with you, so you are stealing and robbing, etc. But that is not the reason why people were put in this world. The reason why people were put in this world was in order to be close to Hashem. That is why I am walking in the forest—to be close to Hashem.”

Dabash was very impressed. His neshama told him that the Ba’al Shem Tov was a special person. The robbers thought that the Ba’al Shem Tov was special, for a different reason. Why? Because they thought that he would be robbed by Dabash himself, because nobody ever got away from Dabash.

The Ba’al Shem Tov then said: “Dabash, please think about what I just told you, because you are also a Jew. Remember what a Jew’s mission in the world is. Not just to steal and rob, but to be close to Hashem, by learning Torah and doing mitzvos.”

Dabash began to cry. He said: “But rabbi, for so many years I have been doing terrible things. I have been robbing and stealing from people. What can I do?”

The Ba’al Shem Tov told Dabash: “True, you may have been doing things that you shouldn’t have, but you can always do teshuvah. Hashem will forgive you if you do teshuvah.” Then, the Ba’al Shem Tov bid him farewell and went on his way.

The robbers thought that everything that had transpired was quite strange. Dabash just stood there in middle of the road. Then, after a few seconds, Dabash started going after the Ba’al Shem Tov. The robbers thought: “Yeah, now Dabash is going to rob the rabbi.” They started to follow Dabash, to watch him rob the Ba’al Shem Tov.

But, Dabash did not “rob the rabbi.” He was still walking after the Ba’al Shem Tov. The robbers thought that maybe Dabash was waiting for the perfect time to catch the Ba’al Shem Tov, so they followed quietly behind him.

The robbers were getting a little bored, so they decided to return to their hideout, and wait for Dabash to return. They would let Dabash take care of his job by himself.

Now, with the robbers on their way to the hideout, Dabash was still following the Ba’al Shem Tov. The robbers soon arrived back at the hideout, and they expected Dabash to be there any minute. They waited, and waited, but Dabash dit not return.

The next morning, Dabash was not back at the hideout either. Dabash did not return to the hideout that whole week, nor that month and nor that year. Where was Dabash? We do not know, but there are some people who saw Dabash with peyos, a yarmulka, tzitzis, and learning Torah.