Stolen Tefillin Led to an Unexpected Mitzvah

A stolen pair of Tefillin the Friendship Circle Lifetown in New Jersey set off an unexpected chain of events that ended in a life-changing moment few could have predicted.

By Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum, Director of Lifetown

Recently at LifeTown, one of the pairs of Tefillin from our public Tefillin stand disappeared. We searched high and low, but could not find them anywhere.

Eventually, we reviewed the footage from our security cameras. The video showed one of the aides who had accompanied a visiting school walk over to the Tefillin stand. She looked at the Tefillin, picked them up, placed them in her bag, and walked away.

We contacted the school, and they were mortified. They immediately reached out to the aide. She claimed that she had thought we were giving the Tefillin away. By the time they spoke with her, however, she had decided that she did not need them and had simply thrown them into the garbage.

It was a very sad story. A pair of sacred Tefillin had been taken and then carelessly discarded.

The school immediately accepted responsibility and arranged to pay for a replacement pair. So we purchased a new pair of Tefillin.

As they sat on my desk, waiting to be placed back on the stand, a thought occurred to me. There is a father, Billy Spiro, whose family has been involved with Friendship Circle almost since the very beginning. As we do with many Jewish men who come through a Chabad organization, we had asked him many times over the years if he would like to put on Tefillin. Every time, he politely declined.

More recently, Billy himself has become a regular volunteer. He delivers our Shabbat kits and Bikur Cholim packages, and he helps us in many other ways.

Not long ago, I asked him once again if he would like to put on Tefillin. This time, he explained why he had always declined.

“I want to tell you why I always turn you down,” he said. “A number of unpleasant experiences over the years have made me a germophobe. The thought of putting on Tefillin that have been worn by other people is very difficult for me.”

I appreciated his honesty. In the back of my mind, I thought, “One day, if we ever have a brand-new pair of Tefillin, I’ll ask him again.”

Now, sitting on my desk, was a brand-new pair of Tefillin that no one had ever worn.

The next morning, I knew Billy was coming to LifeTown, so I called him before he arrived.

I said, “You once told me that you don’t put on Tefillin because you’re uncomfortable wearing Tefillin that have been worn by other people. I have a brand-new pair sitting on my desk. No one has ever worn them. Would you be willing to put on Tefillin today?”

Sometimes, when people give a reason for declining, you wonder whether it is simply a polite way of saying that they are not interested. But without hesitation, he said yes.

When Billy arrived at LifeTown, we put on the Tefillin together. It was a deeply emotional moment. He told me that he had not put on Tefillin since around the time of his Bar Mitzvah. It had been decades.

Seeing how moved he was, I said to him, “If you had your own pair of Tefillin, so that your germophobia would no longer be an obstacle, would you perhaps put them on regularly?”

He said, “Let me think about it.”

Sure enough, the very next morning, he called me.

“Zalman,” he said, “if you get me a pair of Tefillin, I commit to putting them on regularly.”

Through the Tefillin Bank, we were able to get him his own pair. For the next two days, I helped him put on Tefillin, and then we lent him the new pair we purchased so he could continue until his own Tefillin arrive. G-d willing, he will now be putting on Tefillin regularly.

The entire story struck me so powerfully. It began with something terribly painful. A pair of Tefillin had been stolen and carelessly thrown into the garbage. And yet, only because of that did we purchase a new pair.

Only because that new pair was sitting on my desk did I remember my conversation with Billy.

Only because the Tefillin had never been worn did he agree to put them on.

And only because of that moment will another Jewish man, G-d willing, now be putting on Tefillin regularly.

What an incredible story of Hashgachah Pratis.

Hashem took what appeared to be a moment of darkness and transformed it into a source of tremendous light.

What makes the story even more meaningful is that the day Billy put on Tefillin was Tu B’Av.

The Mishnah states that Tu B’Av is one of the most joyous days on the Jewish calendar. Chassidic teachings explain that its extraordinary greatness is connected specifically to the fact that it follows Tisha B’Av. It reflects the Zohar’s teaching that the greatest light emerges from darkness.

As I thought about what had happened, I was reminded of a story about Rabbi Sholom Ber Gordon, who spent his life helping Jews put on Tefillin.

Once, someone criticized him for helping people put on Tefillin late in the afternoon.

Rabbi Gordon replied, “There are times when, according to Halachah, we put on Tefillin in the afternoon.”

The man asked, “Like when?”

Rabbi Gordon answered, “On Tisha B’Av.”

“But today isn’t Tisha B’Av,” the man replied.

Rabbi Gordon responded, “Every day that a Jew does not put on Tefillin is like Tisha B’Av.”

As I was helping Billy put on Tefillin, I shared that story with him.

Then I said, “Perhaps every day that a Jew does put on Tefillin is Tu B’Av.”

On Tu B’Av itself, Billy put on Tefillin for the first time in decades. That experience inspired him to commit to putting them on regularly.

A pair of Tefillin that had been stolen and discarded became the opening for another Jew to reconnect with a mitzvah that, G-d willing, will now stay with him for life.

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