One should refute an advocate of pledge taking by saying to him "You who doubt the Creator's power to determine and do not believe in His great might, you whose light of intellect has been dimmed, whose lamp of understanding has been put out, overcome by the darkness of your desires, it would be correct on your part to demand a pledge from your friend and equal, who has no authority over you, and whose command does not obligate you. It would not, however, be correct for a hired worker to insist on receiving from his employer a security for his salary before he has even started working for him. Certainly, a servant should not insist on receiving from his master a security for his maintenance before beginning to serve him. Still less should a creature demand a pledge from his Creator before beginning to serve Him." pg 457
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...