Daily Chizuk from our teacher, the holy Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – The greatness of the attribute of Bitachon (trust in Hashem), it is forbidden to fear!

Monday, 26 Cheshvan 5786 – Why did the hidden tzaddik Rabbi Adam Baal Shem give his daughter as a bride to a man with the appearance of a coarse, gentile peasant?

These are his holy words:

It is written, "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me" (Job 3:25) - it is forbidden to fear; the first thing is not to fear!

At the age of 5, the Baal Shem Tov's father passed away, but he knew one thing - do not fear! He suddenly saw a bear in his city, Okup; the bear had come from the zoo. The Baal Shem Tov was an alfer (teacher's assistant), he was a helper for the dardeki (young children). They were walking in the street and suddenly a bear arrived. The Baal Shem Tov drove the bear away, struck it and killed it, and then everyone understood that he was a holy man.

People who were fighting would come to him, and he would make peace between them. The public did not know that he knew how to study; he made himself appear as if he did not know how to study, was not literate in holy books, knew nothing, and did not even know how to say Tehillim (Psalms).

Until Rabbi Adam (Rabbi Adam Baal Shem) arrived, who had created a Golem. There was a Din Torah (rabbinical court case) there and the Baal Shem Tov succeeded in solving it. Then Rabbi Adam understood that this was a very great man, that he was a nistar (hidden tzaddik). He said, "Reveal to me who you are." He revealed it to him, and then Rabbi Adam wrote him a shtar (legal document) stating that he would give him his daughter. His daughter was the sister of Rabbi Gershon of Kitov, who was the Av Beis Din (head of the rabbinical court) in Brody.

Suddenly, they brought the amtachas (pouch), the whole sack, before Rabbi Gershon of Kitov and took out the writings from it. In the sack, they saw a shtar (document) in which it was written that Rabbi Adam gave his daughter to someone named Rabbi Eliezer from Okup. Rabbi Gershon did not know who this was. Suddenly, someone arrived with giant boots, with a peasant's hat slumped over his eyes, and a huge, cumbersome coat of a Russian gentile peasant, and he said, "Yes, it is I." He also brought a shtar; there were two documents. Suddenly, Rabbi Gershon of Kitov's world went dark (he was devastated). He quickly ran to his sister and said to her, "You don't have to marry him; this doesn't bind you." She answered, "Nothing interests me [other than this]; my father signed. Perhaps righteous children will come, I don't know, but I know that my father signed. I am coming to the wedding; nothing else matters to me."

Rabbi Gershon of Kitov insisted and said, "But he is an am ha'aretz (unlearned person); he doesn't know how to read or write." The Baal Shem Tov, who wanted her to go to the chuppah (wedding canopy) with joy, surprised her the night before. He knocked on her window and revealed to her that he was a nistar (hidden tzaddik). His intention was so that she would not think her father had deceived her; a father never deceives.