By Yoni Schwartz
A non-religious Jewish father was pushed into a corner: in his small town, the high school with the best education was a Catholic private school. Nevertheless, he approached the priest-dean asking if his son, Sam (not real name), could learn there for just secular studies.
The priest, with a twinkle in his eyes, refused: “I’m sorry, if you want him in our school, he must also take religious courses.”
“However,” continued the priest, “since he is Jewish, he must take Jewish courses.”
Confused, the father asked, “But... who will teach him? Nobody in this school is Jewish?!”
The priest, with a smile, responded, “Not to worry. I will teach him!”
He began teaching Sam how to read and write in Hebrew, then taught him Chumash, Nevi’im, and Kesuvim. Soon after, they moved on to mishanyos and halacha. After nine months, he told Sam, “I’ve taught you everything I know. Now, you must go to a yeshiva in Israel to continue your education.”
The father, with amazement, looked at the priest and asked, “How do you know all of this, and why did you dedicate countless hours to personally tutor my son?”
The priest responded with the following story:
“As a young man exploring Israel, I visited a place named near the Western Wall, a yeshivah for young men from non-religious homes called Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem. I received a tap on my shoulder, turned around, and saw a saintly-looking individual with a long white beard named Rav Noach Weinberg. I’m assuming he thought I was a non-religious Jew because he immediately struck up a very friendly and entertaining conversation with me, after which he invited me to learn in Aish for a couple of days.
“Those couple of days kept getting extended with his constant encouragement, until I found myself there nine months later. As I was preparing to leave, Rabbi Weinberg asked why I was leaving so soon. I then decided to tell him the truth: that I wasn’t Jewish.
Rav Noach Weinberg of blessed memory with students at the Aish HaTorah campus in Jerusalem
He was furious. ‘What! Why didn’t you tell us this earlier? Do you know how much time, money, and effort we invested in you?!’
I begged for his apology, but my pleas fell on deaf ears. After a while, he said, ‘I’ll only forgive you if, one day, you come across a non-religious Jew, teach him everything you learned here and set him on the right path.”
The priest continued, “For years, I have regretted what I did to that sweet Rabbi. I hope he can forgive me.”
[Compiler’s note: According to other versions of this story, the boy did go to Yerushalayim and learned in Aish Hatorah and went on to become religious and start a bayis Yisroel, a Jewish family. I guess Rabbi Weinberg retroactively cheerfully forgave the priest.]
Reprinted from the Parshas Ve’eschanan 5785 email of Torah Sweets.
