Q:
Would you advise a baal teshuvah to take on all the mitzvos slowly, one at a time or everything all at once?
A:
It depends on the circumstance. Most people must be gradually inducted into the practice of the Torah.
I told this story already; I’ll tell it to you again. Reb Yisroel Salanter went to Memel and he saw that they were all mechalel Shabbos, the Jewish business people. So he wanted to speak to them. So he asked, “Are there any Litvakers present?” And one Litvaker was there, so he said, “I won’t speak then.”
The next Shabbos, no Litvak was present at that time so he made a speech. And he said, “You people, you must keep your stores open on Shabbos. You have to make a living. It’s understandable. But at least one thing, don’t write on Shabbos. Avoid writing.”
So they saw he’s a reasonable man, he’s talking like a mentsch. So they said, “Alright, we promise, we won’t write on Shabbos.”
The next Shabbos, a Litvak was present so he didn’t say anything. He waited until nobody else was present except the Memiler Jews and he said another speech. “Look,” he said, “you have to keep open on Shabbos; that’s a business day of the week. But maybe Friday night you can close up. Don’t open up Friday after the shkiyah.”
They said, “That’s also understandable. There’s not much business Friday night.” So they decided to close up Friday night.
Little by little, he led them m’dechi el dechi, from one thing to another. The end was that the Memiler Jews became very big ohavei Torah and supporters of yeshivas and frum. Memil was one city in all of Germany where they were frum, because Reb Yisroel Salanter was a chochom and he knew how to lead them slowly and gradually into the darkei hateshuvah.
TAPE # E-46 (January 1996)
