Basya Tsybukmakher
A young man from Bnei Brak, unfortunately, abandoned Judaism and moved in with his secular cousin. Things grew worse and worse, until it reached the point where this young man became engaged to a non-Jewish woman. His brother was very angry and tried to persuade him to break off the engagement, but nothing worked. They managed only to persuade him to come to his parents for Shabbat and talk everything over with them before taking the final step. Of course, that Shabbat would be "on his terms".
He spent Friday evening on the balcony with a cigarette, and Saturday morning with an iPhone. That afternoon his father suggested that he go with him to a lesson given by Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman, may the memory of the righteous be a blessing.
And, strange as it may seem, the young man agreed. After the lesson, his father brought his son over to the leader of the generation to wish him "Shabbat shalom" and told the rav that, unfortunately, his son did not observe Shabbat.
Rav Shteinman looked at the son and asked: "How long have you not been observing Shabbat?"
The young man answered: "Two years."
"And during that time, did you ever have thoughts of repentance?"
"Yes, about 4 times."
"And how many minutes did you think about it each time?"
"About 10 minutes."
"Ah, that means that for 40 minutes over two years you were "in the place where baalei teshuvah stand, the greatest righteous people cannot stand". And that is why I envy you. Shabbat Shalom!"
The young man returned home to his cousin's apartment, but the rav's words gave him no peace. He broke off the engagement, and today he is once again an observant Jew, thank G-d.
They asked him: what was it, after all, that made you go to that lesson, when you had spent the whole Shabbat smoking and using your phone?
He answered that when he was in grade 4, all the children were taken to Rav Shteinman for an examination. Their teacher asked for the children to be given easy questions. The rav asked questions, the children all answered, and he gave each of them a candy. When it was this boy's turn, he did not know the answer to the question, so the rav asked him an even easier question, but again he did not answer, and this happened three times... At the end of the examination, all the children left the room, each with a candy.
Rav Shteinman asked the boy who had not answered the questions to stay behind and said to him:
"In Torah and in Jewish life, we are rewarded for our efforts, not for the results.
Each boy tried to answer one question, so each received one candy, but you tried to answer three questions, so you will get three!"
And he handed him 3 candies!