Playing Ball in the Doctor's Waiting Room

Reb Yaakov was once in a doctor's waiting room. Waiting there with him was a young Jewish boy from a completely non-observant home. Reb Yaakov took a ball and began to play with the child. The talmid who was accompanying him was astonished and said so. "This child will think that a religious rabbi sits and plays ball instead of learning. At least he should talk to the boy and convince him to become a baal teshuvah."

Reb Yaakov explained, "I saw that with this boy it is impossible to talk about Yiddishkeit or mitzvos. He comes from a family so far removed from anything Jewish. I only wanted his picture of a frum Jew to remain that of a pleasant person, so I played ball with him. Who knows, perhaps this impression will one day have an effect on him, and he will come closer to Torah and mitzvos."