A woman named Aviva calls me one day, and tells me that she’s a religious teacher in a secular high school in central Israel, where “all the teachers are either secular-liberals or Arabs…” One of those teachers, however, was a bit different than the others. He came up to Aviva in the teacher’s room one day, and whispered that he’s been wanting for a long time to don tefillin, but he doesn’t even know where to begin looking a pair that he could afford. He said he came to her because she’s the only religious person he knows (!) and that maybe she could help.

Aviva promised to do what she could. After asking around, she received my name and number, and contacted me. I was of course very happy to hear the request, and I called up the teacher in question. He told me he has two children, that he comes from a very secular Ashkenazi family, but that he has a “warm heart” for Judaism and wants very much to start putting on tefillin so that he can be more connected to his Jewish roots. Thank G-d, I was able to arrange for a high-quality set to be delivered directly to him.