There was an illiterate shepherd who had never been taught how to pray properly. Each day he would say "Master of the Universe, you know that if you had sheep and asked me to watch them, while I would charge everyone else, I would watch yours for free, because I love you.
One day a Torah scholar was walking by as the shepherd was praying. The scholar said "You fool, you don't pray like that!"
"How then should I pray," asked the shepherd. The scholar taught the shepherd the entire prayer service, but reminded him that he must not pray as he had done in the past. After the scholar went on his way, the shepherd quickly forgot what the scholar had taught him. So he no longer prayed. He couldn't remember the new prayers, and he afraid to recite his old prayer after the scholar's admonition.
In a dream the scholar saw that he was to be punished if he did not go back and tell the shepherd that he should pray as he used to pray. He was informed that he was stealing away a person who was on the path to the World to Come. The scholar awoke and immediately went to find the shepherd. He asked the shepherd what he was praying, and the shepherd told him that he wasn't praying any longer at all. The scholar then said "I made a mistake when I told you to stop praying in that manner..."
There is such a lesson here in the way in which we often relate to those who are less Torah knowledgeable. When we try to show them the "right" way to do something, do we always realize the possible consequences? If we give them a task, as Halachically valid as the task may be, that is beyond their present ability, for whatever reason, are we setting them up for future disillusionment? When we try to get them to rid themselves of practices to which they are accustomed because of Halachic issues we find in those practices, are we not taking the risk of robbing them of sincerely heartfelt service to God for which we are offering no credible substitute?
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