A Tefillah to Return to the Path:
A man who was clearly non-religious once came to see Rav Meir of Premishlan zy”a. Everyone wondered why this man, who clearly did not follow the ways of the Torah, wanted to see the Rebbe.
When the man entered the Rebbe’s room, he broke down in tears and related that his enemies had libeled him to the authorities and had hired false witnesses to testify against him. He had no way of defending himself and was facing a severe punishment.
Rav Meir asked him, “Are you Shomer Shabbos?”
The man said that he was not. He claimed that most of his business was on Shabbos because the non-Jews of his town received their paychecks on Saturday and would then go to buy whatever they needed. If he closed his store on Shabbos, they would go elsewhere and he would have no parnassah.
Rav Meir then asked him if he observed the laws of kashrus. Again, he said that he did not. He claimed that he and his wife were very busy people and they didn’t have time to concern themselves with getting kosher food.
Rav Meir then asked if he put on tefillin and davened. The man again said that he had no time for such things.
The Rebbe grabbed his lapels and said, “I promise you that you will be found innocent if you commit to daven Shacharis and wear tefillin every day from now on!”
The man said, “How can I make such a promise? How will I find time to do this?”
Rav Meir told him, “I will give you a pair of tefillin and you only have to wear them for a few minutes a day. If you do this, I promise that you will be found innocent!”
When the man heard that it would only take a few minutes each day, he agreed. Rav Meir gave him a talis and a pair of tefillin and blessed him.
A short time later, the man appeared in Rav Meir’s bais medrash but his appearance had drastically changed. It was obvious that he had made some major changes in his life. He now kept all of the mitzvos and davened with devotion. He asked Rav Meir to help him do teshuva for his past sins and he became a close chasid of his.
Some chasidim who remembered what he used to look like asked him what caused this huge change and he replied, “What can I tell you? The Rebbe’s bracha was fulfilled and I was found not guilty. I also fulfilled my part of the deal and I began putting on tefillin and davening for a few minutes each day. After a while, my conscience started to bother me. I realized that I probably should daven properly to thank Hashem for saving me from my time of danger.
“I then began to daven slowly and with kavannah. I started to daven three times a day, and one mitzvah led to another. I realized that it was wrong to daven to Hashem every day while I still was mechalel Shabbos, so I started keeping Shabbos. Eventually, I also started keeping kashrus and doing all other mitzvos.”
