In the 1950s, a group of Jewish university students met with the Rebbe to speak about the questions and difficulties they experienced maintaining their faith despite the challenges which scientific knowledge and the demands of secular American society appeared to present. In the course of the discussion, one of the students bluntly asked the Rebbe: “It has been said that the Rebbe can perform miracles. Is this true?”

The Rebbe answered: Every Jew possesses a soul which is an actual part of G‑d. Like G‑d, the Jew’s soul is not limited by the constraints of the natural order. The Torah is the medium which connects a Jew to his G‑dly source. When a Jew attaches himself to the Torah, his G‑dly potential is revealed, and he is not bound by the natural order.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Rebbe turned to the students and said: Let us all work miracles. We entered this room with limited spiritual horizons. Let’s all make a commitment to expand them immeasurably, to advance in our devotion to the Torah and its mitzvos in a manner which could truly be considered miraculous.

The Rebbe’s words recall an old chassidic adage with regard to miracles: “Our Sages say:1 ‘A tzaddik decrees, and G‑d carries out his will.’ It is, however, far more instructive to watch a tzaddik carry out G‑d’s will, than to watch G‑d carry out a tzaddik’s will.”

We see, nevertheless, that chassidim have always told stories of the miracles their Rebbeim performed. Indeed, those stories have a unique attraction, sometimes luring our attention far more persuasively than an instructive story of how to advance our divine service.

The Baal Shem Tov, founder of the chassidic movement, has been identified with miracles, so much so that Yiddish speakers use the expression “a Baal Shem’ske maaseh ” (a story like those of the Baal Shem Tov) to refer to a miracle.

It is popularly explained that Baal Shem Tov performed miracles out of necessity. A Jew was in dire need, and out of concern, he worked a miracle to extricate him from his situation.

But there is a deeper motif. The Baal Shem Tov performed miracles not merely to help the person, but to reveal a dimension of G‑dliness which transcends the natural order. A miracle expands our perspective and enables us to appreciate the inner G‑dliness that permeates every dimension of our existence.

Nature and its limitations are not the sum total of our frame of reference. On the contrary, there is a higher reality which is not confined by these limitations. As our Sages said:2 “He who ordained that oil should burn [can] ordain that vinegar shall burn.”

Seeing one miracle makes it possible for us to understand that our lives and the world we live in is one continuous series of miracles. Hearing of the miracles performed by the Baal Shem Tov and his spiritual heirs lifts us beyond the day-to-day details of material existence and sensitizes us to the spiritual reality which lies at the core of our lives.