Impeding the Redemption

I blogged this a long time ago - it was something that I originally saw at Mystical Paths, and back then I thought the Baal Shem Tov was referring to corrupt rabbis, but after reading the comments from Aharon the other day, I realize the Besht was talking about the Erev Rav rabbis who deny the Geula.

In those comments, Aharon wrote:   Rabbi Chaim Vital in "Dalet Maot Shekel Kesef" - clearly states that Moshiach knows who he is and is only recognized by a few people initially. The big opposition to Moshiach is "Tofsai Torah" - the Rabbis who do not believe that the Ketz has arrived and he bases this on Yosef's brothers "Haim Lo Hikiruhu" = the brothers did not recognize Yosef, yet Yosef is referred to as "Yosef HaTzaddik".

I heard from my teacher and father-in-law, who was the chief disciple of Rebbe Yechiel Michal of Zlotchov, that once when the Baal Shem Tov was traveling on the road, he stepped into a wooded area to pray the afternoon prayer. 

His disciples were dumbfounded to see him hitting his head against a tree, crying and screaming. 

Afterward, they asked him what had happened. He explained that he had seen, with divine inspiration, that in the generations before the coming of the Moshiach there would be a multitude of rabbis, and that they would be the very ones who would impede the redemption.     [Otzar Chayim]