On New Year's day of 5507 [1746 CE.], I performed an adjuration
for the ascent of [my] soul, as it is known to you, and I saw wondrous
things in a vision the like of which I had never before seen since I have
known my mind. And what I saw and learned when I ascended there cannot
be told and related even from mouth to mouth. But when I returned to the
terrestrial Garden of Eden, I saw many souls of the living and of the
dead who were known to me and who were not known to me, without measure
and number. And they strove to ascend from world to world, through the
pillar which is known to those familiar with the Hidden Wisdom, [and they
did this] with great and exceeding joy which the mouth would tire to relate
and the bodily ear would weary to hear. And also [I saw that] many of
the wicked repented and their sins were forgiven to them, because it was
a time of great grace, and it was very amazing to my eyes, for many of
them were accepted in their repentence, and you too know them.
And all of them as one begged me and importuned me saying: "Your
exalted honor, your greatness in Tora, God graced you with great understanding
to grasp and to know these things. Ascend with us to be a help and an
aid for us!" And because of the great rejoicing I saw among them
I resolved to ascend with them. And 1 saw in the vision that Samael ascended
to accuse, and he was full of joy the like of which had never existed,
and he performed his acts - decreeing forced conversion upon many souls,
[and] that they die a violent death.
And great fear seized me and I almost gave up my soul, and I begged my
Teacher and Master that he come with me, because the danger was great
in going and ascending to the supernal worlds, [and] because ever since
I could stand up I had never ascended in such great ascents. And I ascended,
step after step, until I entered the Hall of the Messiah where the Messiah
was studying the Tora with all the Tannaites and the righteous, and also
with the Seven Shepherds. And there I saw a very great rejoicing, and
I did not know the reason for it, and I thought that that rejoicing was,
heaven forfend, over my passing from this world. But they informed me
thereafter that I was not to die yet, because they took pleasure above
when I engaged in mystical unifications below by means of their Holy Tora.
But the nature of that rejoicing has remained unknown to me to this day.
And I asked the mouth of the Messiah: "When will the Master come?"
And he answered me: "This is how you will know: when your teaching
will spread and be revealed in the world - and let thy springs be
dispersed abroad (Prov. 5: 16)-[and when all will know] what I have
taught you and what you have understood, so that they too will be able
to make unifications and ascents like you, then all the husks will perish,
and that will be the time of grace and salvation."
And I was amazed at this, and it was for me a great anguish because of
the length of time, for when can this happen? But since while I was there
I learned three charms and three holy names which one can easily learn
and explain, my mind was set at rest. And I thought that through them,
perhaps, also others of my age could reach the grade and the quality which
I had reached, that is, that they too would be able to [achieve] ascents
of souls and would learn and understand like me. But I was not given permission
to reveal this for the rest of my life. . .
(Ba'al Shem Tov, letter to his brother-in-law, ed. A. Kahana,
Sefer haHasidut, pp. 73-74)
Source: Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, Wayne
State University Press.