There was a boy who drifted away from Yiddishkeit, and his father paid therapists and mentors to help direct his son back to the right path. Baruch Hashem, he returned. The father later asked the son, "Which dollar brought you back?" He meant, "I paid many people to help you. Which investment paid off and got you back?"
The bachur replied, "It wasn't your investments that brought me back. A certain rav greeted me with a warm smile and told me that Hashem loves me, despite all my aveiros. He is the one who brought me back to Yiddishkeit!"
A rav once accidentally dialed the wrong number. He immediately realized his error but decided to let the call go through rather than hang up. The person he called by accident was a member of his beis medresh but hadn't come to daven for some time. He decided it was min hashamayim, so he could hear how things were with him.
"I just wanted to hear how you are." the rav told him when the man answered.
The man was in Italy at the time, contemplating committing a serious aveirah, but this phone call – which showed him care, love, and respect – stopped him.
Some years ago, the thirteen-year-old son of a very special yungerman began drifting off the derech. The father thought, "Why is this happening to me? We sent him to the best schools, ensuring he was around good friends. So how is this happening to him?"
He reviewed his deeds, past and present, and he remembered that as a bachur, he once spoke against the Vilna Gaon zt'l. Disgracing talmidei chachamim is a terrible aveirah. (At the time, he thought he was a bigger chassid by speaking against this great tzaddik r”l.) He feared he was being punished for that aveirah.
He contacted Reb Mordechai Gross shlita, who goes to the Vilna Gaon's kever every Elul, and asked him to be his shaliach to ask forgiveness.
Reb Mordechai replied, "I was already in Vilna this Elul and won't be going there again this year. But I know someone who is in Vilna right now. I will send him to the Gaon's kever to ask forgiveness on your behalf.
This shaliach went to the kever at 6:30 in the afternoon, and that is precisely the time the bachur began his return to Yiddishkeit. At that time, the bachur was sitting on a bus, dressed in jeans, with long gelled hair, and appeared very distant from the yeshiva bachur he once was.
A friend of this bachur was also on the bus and was shocked by his appearance. He said, "I can understand that it is hard for you to study Torah all day, but why do you need long hair, and why do you need to dress this way? You won't gain anything from it. You are acting foolishly."
The relative wasn't sure where to give the money, so he discussed it with one of the gedolei hador zt'l. The gadol replied, "Hire yungerleit to give chizuk and to smile at bachurim."
This isn't a joke. So many people wait for someone to show them respect, smile at them, and listen to them. Fortunate are those who occupy themselves in this good deed. It isn't hard to find opportunities to perform this great mitzvah. In every beis medresh, school, and neighborhood, people are hungry to hear a kind word. They are waiting for someone to smile at them and spend a minute with them. Fortunate are those who satisfy that need.
The Chazon Ish zt'l said, "Every bachur needs a spoonful of kavod daily."
Educators say that one of the reasons children fall away from Yiddishkeit is because they are missing a kind word. So, you can literally save one’s Yiddishkeit by being kind to them. There is no limit to how much we can accomplish, and it is so easy to do.
Generally, it is risky to rebuke in this manner, but this time the sharp words entered the bachur's heart. When he came home, he informed his father that he wanted to wear a talis katan again and asked for a haircut.
We learn from this story the power of words. Years ago, someone spoke against one of the greatest gedolim, and he was punished severely. And then, words of rebuke caused the bachur to do teshuvah.
An even safer route would be words of encouragement and caring. Such words accomplish so much!
