Rabbi D. Katz lives in the Jerusalem area. Many years after his bar mitzvah, he purchased particularly mehudar (high-standard) new tefillin and donated his old tefillin to the organization ‘Or Hadash’.
Daniel from Tel Aviv does not observe Torah and mitzvos, but recently he became interested in Judaism. Talia, a lady who works at the same office as Daniel in Tel Aviv, suggested that he take upon himself to put on tefillin. He agreed, but added that he was unable to finance the purchase of tefillin. Talia now faced a difficult challenge: Daniel was willing to put on tefillin, but where would she obtain properly kosher tefillin for him? Someone gave her my number, she called me, and I called Daniel. But this is where I encountered a surprise: Daniel made it clear to me that there was probably a misunderstanding, because though he did express an interest in the mitzvah of tefillin, he did not actually commit to putting them on! Before we parted amicably, I asked if we could keep in touch, and he agreed.
After a few weeks I called him again, and we talked more deeply about life and about faith in Hashem, and again I suggested that he might want to take on the mitzvah of tefillin after all. He said he would think about it seriously. The next day, he wrote in a message to Talia, “I talked to the rabbi. A very smart and nice person. He gave me some good advice. I told him about the army and the whole situation. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for connecting me with him.”
A few days later I spoke with Daniel again and he asked to receive tefillin and committed to putting them on every day. I found someone to bring Rabbi Katz’s mehudar tefillin to Daniel, and also a yeshiva student to show Daniel how to wear them. The student explained the importance and significance of tefillin as one of the main commandments that connect us to G-d.
But the story does not end here. Later I found out another detail concerning Daniel: During his military service he was miraculously saved several times and his life was given to him as a gift. The most famous of these events happened in the ‘Cast Lead’ operation in the winter of 2008. A company of soldiers who fought in Gaza said that on several different occasions when they were about to enter a house, a woman in Arab clothing appeared and warned them in eloquent Hebrew that the house had hidden explosives in it and begged them not to enter. And indeed, right after that, the whole house exploded. Their lives were saved! This occurred several times – each time an old woman arrived and warned the soldiers about a mined house that later did explode, and thus the lives of many were saved. On one occasion the soldiers asked the woman who she was and she answered “Rachel”. When they recounted this to Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu zt”l, he confirmed that indeed the woman who saved the soldiers was Rachel Imeinu, our Matriarch Rachel. As one of the company’s soldiers, Daniel confirmed the details of this story to me.
Now, in light of the current war in Gaza, the incidents with Rachel Imeinu, and Daniel’s personal rescue miracles as well as those of his friends – Daniel experienced a reawakening to Torah and as mentioned, took it upon himself to put on tefillin daily. Daniel is also even trying to observe the Shabbat more fully.
