"It was time for sanctifying the moon"
("The Stolen Halter")

Like so many tales of the Baal Shem Tov, this one communicates his spiritual vision of the most ordinary happenings of this world -- and involves thieves and horses, two lowly aspects of the material world that the Besht regularly finds himself dealing with and 'elevating'. (See also, for example, Tale 10 'The Besht and the Robbers' and Tale 13 'The Besht serves as Rabbi Gershon's Coachman'.)

This particular tale teaches that a thief is not necessarily as bad as he appears, and may be impelled by pure motives. In this case, a Jew has stolen in order to afford food to honor the Sabbath.

Should theft in such cases then be condoned, and not punished?? (The Talmud, after all, makes it unequivocally clear that stealing to perform a 'mitzvah' renders that mitzvah invalid.) Nevertheless, this tale argues for compassion and mitigation. The Besht, as the 'victim' of the theft, retains the right to forgo restitution. And he insists that the Jew who stole in order to celebrate the Sabbath should not be punished or even identified publicly...

As in so many tales of the Besht, there is multiple irony: (a) The thief unwittingly steals from the Besht, of all people; (b) moreover, he steals the halter (which 'holds back' the horse) and (c) he thereby 'holds back' the Besht from fulfilling his sacred mission of traveling the countryside to bring succor and spirit. (The tale begins with the Besht about to set forth on one such mission).

But this 'prevention' did not in the end prevent his departure; and the story places it in parallel to the Besht's own decision to delay his departure, so as to perform Kiddush Levana (Sanctification of the Moon') -- a monthly ceremony of viewing the moon, imbued with esoteric custom and symbolism: The moon is held to symbolize the People of Israel, forever subject to waxing and waning, appearing sometimes to be a spent force but always rekindling their light to the World. And it is by the moon's phases and renewal that the People of Israel are bidden to count their months and date their festivals.

This motif of sanctification of the moon has a further powerful function in this tale. There is a parallel between kiddush levana -- 'seeing' the moon, the symbol of Israel -- and the Besht's 'seeing' the theft of the halter. A further irony involving 'sight': The Besht's fellow-scholar wants to 'look back' but the Besht forbids him (lest he see the thief's crime) -- echoes of Lot's wife wishing to look back at Sodom.

The tale concludes rapidly on a powerful but unmelodramatic note typical of the Beshtian tales: the Besht asks that they not make the matter known. This further highlights the Besht's capacity for true 'knowing'.