Once upon a time there lived a renegade, who was a very wicked man and had caused the death of many Jews by his wicked conduct, which he pursued for many years. One day he came to R. Judah, the Pious, and asked him to impose a penance upon him, for he regretted very much the sins he had committed. And he recited to him the grave sins which he had done from the day he had become a renegade.

When R. Judah heard the terrible deeds that he had perpetrated, he refused to give him penance. "For," he said, "your sins are too great."

The pious man was just then whittling a stick, and he said to the renegade: "You have as much chance for atonement as this stick has of becoming green again and sprouting leaves. I cannot therefore give you any penance."

The renegade went away and said: "Since the pious man refuses to give me penance, I will continue my evil way and do worse things than before."

Soon after the apostate had left, the pious man saw that the stick had turned green and was

growing green leaves. He was greatly astonished and remembered the words which he had spoken

to the renegade and said: "The renegade may still have atonement, for the stick has become green again."

He sent at once for the apostate and said to him: "I refused to give you penance, saying that you had as much chance of atonement as this stick has of becoming green and sprouting leaves. Now this stick has turned green and is growing leaves. Now, tell me, what good deed have you done to deserve such a miracle? I will give you heavy penance and if you carry it out properly, you will obtain forgiveness and atonement."

The Apostate said: "I must confess my sins. Dear Rabbi, I will tell you. Ever since I became a renegade, I have never done any good to a Jew; on the contrary, I have always done them evil, except once. I came to a town in which there were many Jews, whom the Christians hated and wanted to get rid of, but did not know how. So they invented a false accusation. They took a dead child and threw it rinse it into a Jew's house and said that the Jews had killed it. All the citizens of the town together, prepared to attack the Jews and put all of them to death. Now among the counselors there was a noble man, who was friendly to the Jews, and he said to the people who had gathered together: 'Be not in a hurry to shed innocent blood. Let us first inquire in to the root of the matter, viz, whether they require our blood. I will tell you how we can find out. There is a baptized Jew among us, who surely knows. If he says that they do require our blood, then unquestionably the Jews must have killed that boy. But if he says that they do not require blood, then assuredly they are innocent. Why then should you shed innocent blood?'

Then the townspeople sent for me and made me swear that I would tell them the truth, whether the Jews make use of blood or not, for such and such a thing had happened to the boy. Then I said to them under oath that they were wronging the Jews in this matter, and I gave them many reasons why such an accusation must be false. In the first place, the Jews are not allowed to eat meat unless the animal has been killed and the blood entirely removed. Then they have to keep the meat for an hour in salt; then they must over and over again so as to remove all the traces of blood, for it is written in their Law gathered that they must not eat blood. How then could they use human blood?

Then the townspeople said, 'If that is the case, no harm shall befall the Jews', and the impending evil was averted. But if I had said yes, they would have all lost their lives. This is the best deed that I have done in my life."

The pious man said: "That was a very good deed."

Then he gave him penance, which he carried out and became again! a good and pious Jew.