An example of an immediate cause is the extraction of water from the depths of the earth by means of a wheel with attached buckets, in which water is drawn out of the well. The remote cause is the man who harnesses a beast to the wheel and so makes the wheel revolve, which draws the water from the bottom of the well to the surface. The intermediate means between the man and the buckets are the beast, the pulley that moves each other, and the rope. If anything should go wrong with one of these means, the objective for which they are employed will not be reached. So it is with the other acts that are bought into actuality. They cannot arise from man or anything else, except by the decree of GD and unless He prepares the means for their completion. If the means are entirely lacking, none of the natural activities can be brought into actuality. pg 383
Once, on a Motzoei Shabbos, the chasidim were sitting in the bais medrash of the Ruzhiner Rebbe zy”a for Melave Malka. Suddenly, the Rebbe opened the door of his room next to the bais medrash, stood at the entrance, and said, “The Baal Shem Tov was not a deity, and the zaida, the Magid, was not just an ordinary wagon driver. And once, when the holy Baal Shem Tov prayed, his talis fringe fell out of his gartel and dragged on the floor. The Magid approached, picked it up, and put it back in the gartel, but he was trembled with such tremendous fear that he fainted and his life was in danger. They were compelled to rouse the Baal Shem Tov from his deep dveikus in order to calm him.” He then added, “I told you that the Baal Shem Tov was not a deity and my zaida, the Magid, was no wagon driver. Still and all, when he touched the Besht’s garment, he fainted from fear. The entire world is Hashem’s garment. How much fear must we feel to touch this world!” May the memory of the...
