The Baal Shem Tov’s Warning That Sent a Disciple Home from a Voyage to Eretz Israel

Rabbi Zev Wolf Kitzis wanted to travel to Eretz Israel and first sought the approval of the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov agreed, but warned him to be careful with his words and to remember, “דע מה שתשיב,” then gave him a parting blessing.

Zev Wolf left from the city of Magtzh and boarded a ship bound for his destination. When the vessel stopped near an island in the Mediterranean, the passengers went ashore, and he also disembarked, stood by a tree and prayed the psalm “Hodu” in the Baal Shem Tov’s melody, lingering especially over the verse “those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters.” He prayed so long in deep devotion that the ship sailed away without him.

He was left alone on the island and worried about where he would spend Shabbat. He found the shadow of a house, approached it, and met an elderly Jewish man at the window. The man reassured him, told him to stay for Shabbat, and said he would find a minyan and a mikveh there. After Shabbat, when more ships arrived, the old man escorted Zev Wolf to one of them.

As he was about to board, the old man asked, “What is the condition of the Jews in your land?” Preoccupied, Zev Wolf replied, “Baruch Hashem, the Holy One, blessed be He, shall not abandon them.” The ship immediately departed, and he remembered the Baal Shem Tov’s warning. He turned back to Mezhibuzh, where the Baal Shem Tov told him the old man had been Abraham Avinu, who asks before God about his descendants. The Baal Shem Tov said that if Zev Wolf had answered by describing Israel’s suffering in exile, Abraham’s prayer could have brought immediate redemption.