A Chabad shaliach (representative) in Be’er Sheva contacted me to tell me this story: “There is an Israeli guy who has been living in Munich, Germany for several years with his non-Jewish girlfriend. Of late his heart has begun to awaken, and he has now decided to start putting on tefillin. He looked around for tefillin, but what he found in Germany was too expensive and he could not afford it. Somehow he got to me, all the way in Be’er Sheva, and asked for my help in finding tefillin for him.”

The shaliach called me on Friday afternoon, and I began looking for the fastest way to get him a good pair of tefillin. I sent out a message to our community list where I live, in Beit El, and with great Divine providence, within minutes I received a message from a neighboring family that was traveling right then to Be’er Sheva for Shabbat! I quickly arranged the tefillin and ran right over to the family. Thank G-d, the tefillin arrived that same day in Be’er Sheva, from where they made their way to a person taking them to Germany. We hope that with G-d’s help this Jew in Germany will return to Israel and put them on here in the Holy Land!

Interestingly, at the same time a woman named Dorit from Rehovot turned to me and told me about her relative, a man named Rafael. He had been living in Thailand for a number of years, and was now beginning to awaken to his Jewish spark. He was able to borrow a pair of tefillin from the local Beit Chabad for a short while, but was now without tefillin. That very same day I was able to get a pair to Dorit – and a week later, she flew to Thailand to visit Rafael. Among the gifts she brought him were, of course, the tefillin.