Metzora: A Cold Mikvah
It has been told that Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka (d. 1780) once said, "When I was a great Hasid I afflicted my soul and immersed in a mikvah every day".
Parshat Metzora
It has been told that Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka (d. 1780) once said, "When I was a great Hasid I afflicted my soul and immersed in a mikvah every day".
The Torah portion reads, "He (the metzora) shall then immerse in a mikvah and thus complete (the first part) of the purification process" (Vayikra 14:7)
Metzora is a spiritual disease commonly translated as leper. A person that slanders his neighbor is punished with this leprous curse.
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It has been told that Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka (d. 1780) once said, "When I was a great Hasid (a "pious one", a member of an early mystical movement that originated among the Jews of Germany), I afflicted my soul and immersed in a mikvah every day. In the winter, the mikvah was so cold, that even after spending an hour in a room that was heated so that the walls were as hot as fire, I still felt cold. While I had the mental strength to daily go into a freezing cold mikvah, I still could not stop my wayward thoughts until I followed the teachings of our Rebbe, The Baal Shem Tov."
And so it was.
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Tzvi Meir Cohn attended Yeshiva Hadar Hatorah in Crown Heights, Brooklyn after completing his university studies in Engineering and Law. While studying at the Yeshiva, he discovered a deep connection to the stories and teachings of the Baal Shem Tov. His many books about the Baal Shem Tov can be found in the Breslev Store. He can be contacted at howard@cohnpatents.com.
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