The Baal Shem Tov asked them to join him on a small journey. With the father-in-law sitting on his right and the son-in-law sitting on his left, they left Mezibuzh. Once they were out of the city and on the road in the midst of an open field, the Baal Shem Tov turned to the son-in-law and said, “Young man, can it rain now?”
Looking at the clear blue sky, the young man replied, “No, there isn’t a cloud in sight.”
The Baal Shem Tov said, “And I say it can rain!”
Looking up once again, the young man peered in all directions to make sure that he saw correctly and indeed there wasn’t a cloud in sight. So, he smugly retorted and said, “It is impossible! No way in the world can it rain here at this very moment.”
The Baal Shem Tov smiled and said, “And I say it will rain momentarily!” A few seconds later the heavens opened and a deluge of rain came pouring down. The young man was bewildered at this happening.
Not only is it pouring from a cloudless sky, but the Baal Shem Tov’s wagon is remaining completely dry. This is truly miraculous and beyond human comprehension. Being an extremely intelligent person, he realized why the Baal Shem Tov showed him this and didn’t try to answer his questions verbally. Far be it that the Baal Shem Tov was merely showing off to him his miraculous powers. It was much more than that; he had clearly demonstrated that stories of our sages that are beyond human comprehension, doesn’t mean that they never occurred or are not real.
There are many happenings that the human intellect says one way, but in actuality they happened the opposite way – the way he thought was impossible. Once this question was answered, he realized that all of his other questions and doubts were based on this premise. And therefore, if this was resolved they all have nothing to stand on. Full of remorse he turned to the Baal Shem Tov and beseeched him, to guide him back to the way of G-d.
During the first year after his passing, the students of the Baal Shem Tov gathered and many of them related a miraculous story of the Baal Shem Tov that they personally were privy to. That night the Baal Shem Tov came to one of his students in a dream and said, “My greatness is not my ability to do miracles, it is my awe of heaven for even the smallest detail of a mitzva.
As told by Rabbi Shalom Dovber Avtz. Reprinted from the Parshas Vayeira 5784 edition of L’Chaim.
