It was at the weekly ceremony of distribution of dollars by the Lubavitcher Rebbe O.B.M. Thousands of people from all over the world, both Jews and gentiles, flocked to the famous house in Brooklyn to receive a dollar and a blessing from the Rebbe.
On this occasion a man approached the Rebbe and said: “I'm a Christian. I'm from a Jewish family but I became a Christian at age 29. I'm a Catholic today and I write these books”.
The Rebbe characteristically did not request to remove the apostate, but he responded “If a person is born a Jew- he is a Jew for his entire life. He cannot change that. He can only make his life more complicated and more miserable.”
The renegade Jew retorted to the Rebbe by saying: “My life is not miserable today”. The Rebbe answered: “If somebody thinks that his sickness is something healthy, it’s a sign that his condition is severe and he requires a cure and immediate treatment”.
The Rebbe added: 'I'm speaking about your big sin, that you converted- ostensibly- from being a Jew.” The apostate started to apologize: “My parents never took me to a synagogue, ever”, but the Rebbe did not concede the point. “There's no reason for someone healthy to become sick just because his parents want it that way”. The apostate was left speechless.
The Rebbe blessed him that he should merit to “be a Jew in public and announce to all those around you that it was a big mistake (to convert) but Hashem has such mercy that he forgives even the biggest sins that people commit”.
After blessing him the Rebbe told him not to get involved in arguments with people because he was born a Jew and would always be one. He added that he should act like a Jew publicly and “all those around you- especially your family- you have the ability to bring them back to Jewish observance by declaring that even one who has sinned grievously has the power from Hashem to recover from his deep sickness”.
The apostate asked the Rebbe if he could give him a copy of his book, and to his surprise the Rebbe agreed, explaining that in this way he would have one less book to give out and in this way he might prevent another Jew from mistakenly accepting his ideas. Immediately afterwards the Rebbe threw the book to the side.
The amazing conclusion to this story came this past summer: In a summer camp for Chabad Yeshiva students in Lugano, the boys found this same Jew, adorned in Talit and Tefillin, studying Torah. Thus the blessing of the Rebbe was fulfilled- he indeed merited to act like a Jew in public.