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Many years ago Reb Yoel Kahan, a renowned teacher of Chasidus, who lives in Crown Heights, gave classes on Chasidus in the Lakewood Yeshiva in New Jersey, a place where such studies are not encouraged. In spite of the attitude of the yeshiva, many students attended Reb Yoel's classes. There was one particularly brilliant student who did not attend the class. Reb Yoel tried to interest him in Chasidus, but the student remained adamant in his refusal.

One day the student expressed a desire to meet with the Rebbe. Reb Yoel managed to arrange a meeting for just one minute late the following Monday night. At midnight the student entered the Rebbe's room where he remained, not just for one minute, but for an entire hour.

The student refused to speak to Reb Yoel about his conversation with the Rebbe. In fact, over the next few months, the student evaded Reb Yoel until the two finally lost contact.

Years passed. One day as Reb Yoel was walking, he heard a car horn and someone calling his name. He turned to see an unfamiliar, long-haired man who called out, "Remember me? From Lakewood many years ago..."

Reb Yoel finally recognized him as the yeshiva student who had ardently refused to attend his class. "Can we arrange a time to study?" the man asked.

The two began to meet weekly. After several months Reb Yoel felt he could ask about the midnight meeting with the Rebbe. The man recalled that he had discovered a difficulty in his Talmud study, which no one had been able to resolve. Hearing that the Rebbe was a great genius in all areas of Torah, he hoped that the Rebbe would be able to resolve it. Thus, he was certain that he needed not more than one minute of the Rebbe's time. And, in fact, in less than one minute, the Rebbe had resolved the problem. The student prepared to leave but the Rebbe motioned him to stay and asked, "Do you study Chasidus?"

The student replied that he did not, and offered many explanations as to why, but the Rebbe continued pressing him. Still the student wouldn't acquiesce. Finally, the Rebbe said, "When a yeshiva student does not learn Chasidus, it might happen that one day he will walk into the hall of study and take offense at a petty remark another student said. That will disturb him and he won't be able to concentrate on his studies. In his idle time, he will do such and such (a mild transgression). That will lead him further and the next day, he will do such and such (a more severe transgression)."

The Rebbe mentioned a chain of ten different transgressions. "Then," the Rebbe went on, "being an honest person, the student will not be able to reconcile his conduct with studying at a yeshiva, and he will depart. It will not be long before he will lose contact with his Jewish roots entirely."

The man explained that he had not wanted to speak to Reb Yoel at the time, for fear of being influenced to study Chasidus. He continued, "Several months afterward, I encountered a particularly difficult problem in Talmud and with tremendous effort, I resolved it. I walked into the study hall and saw two other students discussing the same question and thought I would try out my explanation on them. When I did, they didn't accept it, and what's more, one of them ridiculed my reasoning.

"I was deeply offended and very agitated. I needed a break; maybe I had become too nervous from the mental exertion of studying. That night I committed the first transgression the Rebbe had mentioned. From that time on, my life changed, and I committed every one of the ten transgressions in the list. Finally I left yeshiva and you can see the rest.

"I married a Jewish girl, but we didn't have any trace of Judaism in our home. One day my son came home from school very upset. 'Somebody called me a dirty Jew. Are we Jewish, and what does that mean anyway?'

"For some reason I could think of no way of explaining what it means to be Jewish. The next day, I happened to see an advertisement for a farbrengen (Chasidic gathering) of the Rebbe and I decided to go. Maybe I would hear something there to tell my son.

"I entered 770, and listened intently to the Rebbe. Suddenly I heard the Rebbe speaking of the exact concepts he had spoken of to me so long ago, that when a person doesn't learn Chasidus, he may lose sight of the G-dliness of Torah and may even forsake the observance of Torah.

"I marveled at the amazing coincidence and I resolved to come back. Not long after I again found myself at a farbrengen. Again, the familiar words, 'A student may protest that he is doing well in his study of the Talmud; why then should he begin the study of a new discipline?'

"Was it a coincidence? Twice I had come and twice the Rebbe had spoken about the very thing he had said to me. How could he have seen me in the crowd? I had to come again.

"I attended a farbrengen once more. Suddenly I heard the Rebbe saying: 'When a yeshiva student does not learn Chasidus, it might happen that one day he will walk into the study hall and take offense at a petty remark another student said. This will disturb him and he won't be able to concentrate on his studies...' and he continued as he had when he had spoken to me personally.

"I still couldn't be sure the Rebbe was speaking to me. I decided to stay to receive 'kos shel bracha' from the Rebbe. If I discerned even a glimmer of recognition in his face, I would study Chasidus. As I came before the Rebbe, his face broke out in a wide smile. He greeted me by name and said, 'Don't you think it's time that you began studying Chasidus?'

"That's why," the young man told Reb Yoel, "I sought you out."

Adapted from To Know and To Care vol. 2, published by Sichos in English