CARRYING OUT THE REBBE’S SHLICHUS WITH MIVTZA T’FILLIN

Stories about Mivtza T’fillin

THE MIVTZA T’FILLIN 
OF A 13-YEAR-OLD

I heard a moving story that happened with the boys of the Chabad elementary school in Migdal HaEmek. It was related by the menahel, R’ Moshe Eisenberg, at the celebration and awards ceremony of a learning contest in his school.

One of the talmidim lives far from the school, all the way south in Eilat. He is the son of the rav and shliach of Eilat, R’ Yosef Hecht. The boy lives with his married brother and learns in Migdal HaEmek. Transportation to Eilat was arranged for the boys in his class to celebrate his bar mitzva.

During the free time between their arrival in the city and the bar mitzva, the young boys put t’fillin on passersby. A few days later, R’ Eisenberg got a phone call from a talmid in the Chabad yeshiva in Ohr Yehuda, a graduate of his elementary school. He told R’ Eisenberg that every Friday some boys from the yeshiva go on Mivtza T’fillin to Givatayim where there is one store owner who always refused to put on t’fillin.

“The previous Friday, this man saw us and called out that he wanted to put on t’fillin. Furthermore, he asked how much a pair of t’fillin costs because he wanted to buy one and put it on every day.

“When we asked him about his change of heart, he said emotionally, ‘Last week, I went on vacation to Eilat. I noticed a group of 12-13 year old boys offering t’fillin to passersby. They came over to me too, but of course I refused (you know me). However, the boys would not give up. I finally told them that if they would convince me of the importance of putting on t’fillin I would put them on.’

“‘There was one boy with a hat and jacket who began explaining and convincing me until I gave in and put on t’fillin. The boy had a sparkle in his eyes and spoke with such passion and conviction that I decided to put them on every day.’”

R’ Eisenberg made inquiries to find out who the boy was (for he tried to keep it to himself) and he discovered that it was the son of the shliach, R’ Boruch Lipkin, of Merchavia. Apparently, this is something that is passed on by shluchim to the next generation.

AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY IS ACTIVE IN MIVTZA T’FILLIN

The shliach in Gadera, R’ Benny Karniel, says that in his city, when someone commits to putting on t’fillin, he also commits to putting t’fillin on with his neighbors, colleagues at work, customers, and with whomever he can. Occasionally, they call him and report, “Today I put t’fillin on with five people,” “I had a good day today and put t’fillin on with ten people,” and so on. Sometimes, after relaying the news, he gets a text message which says, “And another one.”

R’ Karniel added, that since this Mivtza T’fillin has gained momentum among the members of his community, Hashem helps and he gets pairs of t’fillin donated from all kinds of sources. This enables the dozens of mekuravim to put t’fillin on in dozens of places with dozens, even hundreds of Jews.

FROM THE CHEVRA KADISHA TO THE CHABAD HOUSE

The director of the chevra kadisha in Gedera asked R’ Karniel to come and check a pair of t’fillin that was left in an inheritance of one of the deceased. The director showed him another pair of t’fillin that he had, also from an inheritance. R’ Karniel noticed that these t’fillin were in the style of Chabad. Another look told him that the t’fillin were particularly nice ones, in the Alter Rebbe’s script, and the letters looked freshly written.

The director did not know to whom they had belonged but after R’ Karniel explained that they had to belong to someone connected to Chabad, and he would surely want his t’fillin to continue their shlichus in a Lubavitcher setting, the director agreed to give them to the Chabad House. They are now used at one of the t’fillin stands.

YOU NEVER KNOW

R’ Shimon Yardeni, shliach in Azor, gets compliments about Mivtza T’fillin from the mayor. The mayor was asked to speak at the big dinner that the Chabad House held. He began as follows, “I don’t need to be told what a Chabad house is, and who R’ Shimon Yardeni is. My son did his bar mitzva preparations at the Chabad House. I myself see R’ Shimon coming every Friday to the Derby Bar and putting on t’fillin with all the visitors.”

It seems that all the residents of Azor come on Friday to buy lotto tickets at the Derby cafe in the center of town, and R’ Yardeni takes advantage of this opportunity to put t’fillin on with people. The mayor is the first one to put on t’fillin and the rest follow him.

A group of bachurim from the yeshiva in Lud go to Azor every Friday and put t’fillin on with dozens of Jews. On those Fridays that the bachurim don’t come (like when they have an off-Shabbos or there is a holiday) the residents of Azor take up the slack. These are mekuravim of the Chabad House under the guidance of R’ Yardeni and they man all the posts.

A hefty fellow showed up at one of the t’fillin stands. He had an enormous motorcycle. He took off his helmet and his black jacket and the tattoos all over his body were visible. The Chabadnik at the stand was afraid to address him, but he finally mustered the courage and asked, “Would you like to put on t’fillin?”

The fellow roared, “Me?! I should put on t’fillin?”

As he said this, he went over to the basket on the side of his motorcycle and took out … a pair of t’fillin!

“I put them on every day! The first thing I do every morning is put on t’fillin, and only then do I go about my business.”

T’FILLIN ARE LIKE OXYGEN

At Pardes Chana too, Mivtza T’fillin led by the shliach R’ Yosef Kurant is a lively affair. R’ Kurant and the bachurim go from store to store and put t’fillin on storeowners and customers.

R’ Kurant tells his mekuravim, “Just as I ask you not to leave the house before putting on t’fillin, I demand of myself that I not leave the house before taking along t’fillin so I can help anybody I meet.”

R’ Kurant related:

“One day, I went to a factory and asked the owner to put on t’fillin. He said, ‘First put t’fillin on with the young fellow who works for me, and then I’ll put them on.’ The young fellow was shy and preferred that the owner do it first. Each one waited for the other and neither was putting on the t’fillin. They were at an impasse.

“R’ Yochanan Butman, shliach in Chadera, was there and he said, ‘I came back last week from the Rebbe and I still remember the instructions we were given on the plane about the oxygen masks in case of emergency. We were told that when traveling with a young child, the first thing the adult must do is put on his own mask and only then, to put one on the child. The t’fillin are like oxygen. The owner must put them on first and then he can take care of his young employee.’

“Everyone smiled in relief and it was yet another successful Mivtza T’fillin.”

BECAUSE OF 
A BREAK IN THE BOX

R’ Gavriel Avichzer has been very active in outreach to Israelis in the United States. At one of the farbrengens, he told about how t’fillin saved someone from intermarriage.

“There was an Israeli fellow who, unfortunately, had become friends with a non-Jewish woman and wanted to marry her. All explanations fell on deaf ears until I decided to give him a pair of t’fillin; perhaps they would get him back on track.

“Not long afterward, the young man happily told me that the t’fillin had saved him from marrying her. He had taken the t’fillin and left them on the table. While he was out of the room, she checked out what those boxes with the black straps were and put them back. A few minutes later, he noticed that she had touched the t’fillin. He was taken aback and scolded her and examined them to see how his new t’fillin looked.

“He slowly unwound the straps and noticed that the box in which the hand t’fillin is stored was a little broken in one corner (he did not know that the box is cut that way in order to allow room for the knot of the t’fillin) and that the words, ‘Who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth’ had been cut. He was shaken up and he began yelling at her, ‘See! You touched the rabbi’s t’fillin and now they’re broken and they are hinting to me from heaven that the “one nation on earth” is broken.’

“After that, they decided to separate and the Jewish fellow found a Jewish woman to marry.”

WONDERS OF T’FILLIN IN BEIT SHAAN

R’ Shmuel Reinitz, shliach in Beit Shaan, does a lot of Mivtza T’fillin and he has some nice stories to tell.

One day, he went into one of the factories he regularly visits, and there was a customer there, someone from one of the kibbutzim in the area. R’ Reinitz wanted the customer to put on t’fillin too, but the owner got annoyed and began yelling at him, “How dare you ask him that? He came in here on business and you make him crazy with t’fillin?” R’ Reinitz had to leave.

The next day, R’ Reinitz met the owner and he apologized for what happened the day before. R’ Reinitz barely finished his sentence, when the owner said: “I am the one who ought to apologize. I couldn’t sleep all night because I yelled at you. I was in a bad mood that day and I didn’t pay attention to how I was talking to you. Please forgive me and continue coming to the factory. I’ll never yell at you again.”

Someone else that R’ Reinitz knows, sat with him to write a letter to the Rebbe. R’ Reinitz suggested that he make a good hachlata, and he decided he would go to R’ Reinitz’s house once a week to put on t’fillin. That is what he did. Once a week he called the rabbi who came outside and he put t’fillin on with him.

The man’s son found out about this and he wondered why his father had to go to the rabbi’s house in order to put on t’fillin. The son, who is well-to-do, offered to buy his father a pair of t’fillin which he could don himself. The man asked the rabbi for his approval and R’ Reinitz gave him instructions. Since then, the man puts on t’fillin every day, on his own.

In another incident, R’ Reinitz went to a big restaurant not on his usual day. To his surprise, the owner was ecstatic to see him.

“It’s wonderful that you came today. I prayed to G-d that you would come.”

R’ Reinitz subsequently found out that the man had been invited to be the sandak at a bris and he had a feeling that it would be important for him to put on t’fillin that day. His prayer was answered. Sometimes a change in schedule is a good thing.

TWO MONTHS BEFORE THE BAR MITZVA

In Migdal Oz, which contains stories from R’ Ezriel Zelig Slonim a”h, he tells a story about when the Mitteler Rebbe was a little boy and his father hired a private teacher for him. This teacher lived with them and taught him every day. Twice a year, before Pesach and Yom Kippur, the melamed went to the Alter Rebbe who paid him for the six months. He always reminded him to return and teach the child after Yom Tov.

When it was Erev Yom Kippur and R’ Dovber was 13, the melamed went to the Rebbe once again. The Rebbe gave him his salary, but for some reason he did not remind him about coming back after the holidays. The melamed wondered about this and thought, “Perhaps it doesn’t mean anything, for I will return after Yom Tov regardless.”

After Yom Tov, the melamed returned and sat down to learn with R’ Dovber, but he immediately felt that he had nothing to teach the boy. The child knew the material much better than he did. The melamed asked him about this and the child said: Last Tishrei, my father called me in and told me to start putting on t’fillin (his birthday was 9 Kislev and 9 Tishrei was two months earlier). My father told me: Put on the hand t’fillin and that will open your heart; put on the head t’fillin and that will open your mind. That is what my father told me and since then, everything is different.

That is when the melamed understood that the Rebbe hadn’t forgotten or made a mistake. The melamed’s job was finished.