Once, the son of a certain man strayed from the path and became an atheist. The distraught father ran to the Baal Shem Tov, desperately seeking advice for what to do. The Besht told the father, "Love him more." The man did so and his son abandoned his atheism and returned to Judaism.

In the Besht's time it was typical for religious parents of a child who left Judaism to shun him, to "sit shiva" and mourn for him as if he had died. The Baal Shem Tov did not shun those who had strayed. He tried every way he could to bring them close to him and to God. He could see a spark of life where others saw only a corpse. And he knew that love could raise even the dead to life.