In a village near Liozna lived a widow with her son and two daughters. The children helped their mother manage the family inn. By and by, the eldest daughter married a young man, Velvel, who was very learned in Torah, but also very conceited.
One of the frequent callers at the inn was the parish priest. He spent many hours in religious debate with Velvel. The young scholar always won, which only served to feed his haughtiness. Even when the priest brought along two of his colleagues to verbally spar with him, Velvel held his own.
After one of their debates, the priest mentioned that the bishop of Vitebsk wanted to meet the young scholar. Velvel was persuaded to go to Vitebsk.
The honor accorded Velvel in the Vitebsk was beyond his wildest dreams. He met with the bishop and out-argued him point by point. One of the senior clerics convinced Velvel to remain for a few days in Vitebsk and help other members of the clergy sharpen their debating skills. Velvel never dreamed that he could be shown so much honor. The innumerable compliments fed his ego even further.
Velvel returned to the inn, with no one the wiser of how he had spent the past few days. Some weeks later, a group of prominent Torah scholars stopped at the inn. They became involved in a learned discussion and the over-confident Velvel gave his opinions, though never once asked. An elderly scholar smiled at Velvel and said, "A young man should learn to listen to what his elders have to say, and to regard Torah scholars with respect."
Velvel took great offense at these words. He thought, "Who are these men who are not showing me due honor? I have even bettered the bishop in religious debate!"
Several weeks later, Velvel disappeared. His family received a letter from him saying that he was living in Vitebsk where honors were being heaped upon him by the bishop of the city. The bishop had assured him that he would become a great dignitary if he would join them.
The family was thrown into turmoil. They set out immediately to Rabbi Shneur Zalman (founder of Chabad Chasidism) in Liozna. They burst into the synagogue and cried out, "Rebbe, help us! Velvel wants to apostatize!"
The Rebbe simply said, "I cannot help you. But I will tell you a story that took place while I was in Mezritch.
"In the winter of 1769, a young man was overcome with the desire to be baptized. He went to the local priest who began arranging everything. The young man's father ran to my Rebbe, the Maggid of Mezritch and cried: 'Rebbe, rescue my son from baptism!'
"The Maggid listened to the story that the broken-hearted father told and then, after a few minutes, began to expound on the verse, 'If a person should sin and commit a trespass against G-d'" And then, Reb Shneur Zalman repeated the discourse as he had heard it from the Maggid.
Then, Rabbi Shneur Zalman continued to recount the incident: "When the Maggid was finished, he told ten of his Chasidim to stay awake all night, reciting Psalms until dawn. I was one of the ten. At noon, the young man wandered into our synagogue. No one asked him what had happened. He stayed with us for a few days, spoke privately with the Rebbe, then went home." Reb Shneur Zalman completed the story and went back into his study.
The Rebbe's Chasidim immediately chose a quorum of ten men and spent the whole night awake, saying Psalms. The widow and her daughter returned home and soon after that a young man appeared in the synagogue. He sat down with the others, and with tears, recited Psalms. The Chasidim knew who the young man was, but no one breathed a word.
The young man spent the entire week in Liozna, and the following week, after speaking privately with the Rebbe, he returned home. A few weeks later, he and his family moved to another town. He remained close with Rabbi Shneur Zalman and became one of his worthy Chasidim.
