By COLlive reporter
Otzar Hastam in the holy city of Tzfas, the largest center that produces Torah scrolls, tefillin and mezuzahs, was contacted to create “the most special Tefillin in the world.”
The person, an American Jewish businessman and philanthropist, specified that he wanted each item in the Tefillin to be created from another kosher animal and that it should all be strictly mehudar.
The man became close to Yiddishkeit through his involvement with Chabad Shluchim in Alpharetta-Georgia, Aspen-Colorado and Chattanooga-Tennessee, cities in which he lived in recent years.
“One of the Mitzvos that particularly meant a lot to him was Tefillin and he wanted to honor this mitzvah as best he can,” said Rabbi Shaul Perlstein of the Chabad Jewish Center of Chattanooga.
“We called multiple safrus places but none were able to do what we were looking for until we reached out to Otzar Hastam,” Rabbi Perlstein told COLlive.com.
Rabbi Chaim Kaplan, Director of Chabad in Tzfas who founded Otzar Hastam, admits that “We were surprised by this unusual request.”
To pull this off, Rabbi Kaplan said, “We had to obtain unconventional materials available in the market of Stam (Sifrei Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzahs).”
Otzar Hastam, located on the summit of Mount Canaan, employes some 35 people who are certified and dedicate their lives to writing holy scrolls. Each item undergoes an advanced review and is under the supervision of the OK Kosher Certification from New York.
It took a full year for them to create this rare custom-made pair.
The retzuos (straps) were made from sheepskin, the gidim (tendons) was made of lamb tendons, the klaf (parchment) was made of deer leather, the batim (boxes) were specially prepared from bull leather and the box covers were handmade from olive trees.
“The process was complex,” Rabbi Kaplan says. “But even we were amazed by the beauty of the final result.”
Rabbi Perlstein adds, “It is wonderful to see how much this special person loves this mitzvah and through his beautiful new pair inspires many others.”
A pair of Tefillin from Otzar Hastam ranges from $672 for a Sefardi pair to $1,358 for a Chabad pair written in the Alter Rebbe’s ksav (script).
The cost of this custom-made pair? $6,000.
For more info, visit hastam.co.il/en
amazing. This is absolutely incredible!
Is there any possible way we can see photos of the Ksav?
Please excuse my ignorance but can you please clarify on what basis is this considered more mehudar?
Is there somewhere in Halacha that speaks about the value and significance or is it the novelty of getting something special custom made from the most exotic materials ?
This is a story of an admirable Jew who loves the Mitzvah and is willing to give it his all
Al pi Halacha the 1300 dollar pair of tefilin is as mehudar.
The main thing is that it is written by a true yerei shomayim
Since according to our Sages all parts of the Tefillin is best to be made out from calf species
There’s a lot of information missing from this article of what exactly makes it so unique…
But regardless, kol hakavod to this person who values Mitzvahs so much, he could have used the money in so many other ways on gadgets and luxury items but instead chose to spend that much money to do Hashems mitzvahs in the best possible way. Just beautiful.
I mean… tzedaka would also have worked…
Multiple species is a hiddur? Source please.
The boxes from a bull? It is preferable from a calf like the Egel hazahav. See shulchan aruch ha rav!
I just showed them to my children, they are magnificent
A true rare pair of tefillin
Wear them in good health!
I’ve seen this pair and it truly is a beautiful pair of Tefillin. The joy this beautiful Jew expressed while explaining every detail of the Tefillin is as special as the Tefillin themselves.
This business man is an inspirational Bal Chesed and Tzedaka and on top of that he loves beautifying the Mitzvos. Love the idea to think outside the box and create a unique one of a kind pair of Tefillin!
BH These tefillin are not mehudar in the halachic sense. Ideally, the battim, retzuos, klaf and gidim are all from calf, and preferably shlil (embryonic calf). Deer is a chaya, which is not so eidel and bull is more durable but less mehudar than calf. Retzuos from keves are probably very smooth and feel nice, but are not more mehudar than calf. Calf tefillin is a tikkun for the cheit haeigel. However, the sheidelach from wood are definitely more mehudar than plastic. And the most important factor is the yiras shomayim of the sofer. This is not ch”v to knock… Read more »
This is beautiful!
מי העמך גוי אחד בארץ.
G-d also praised us as we are careful to be united and positive, achad; achdus-union and achid-unique-
Beautiful decision, beautiful achiement, should you always be a supporter of good causes and help our brethren in Israel, the sofrim need harchavat hadaat too, and the sofrum also something they can bubble on.
Mazal tov, Mazal tov
Close the cover from that position (last photo) and he’ll be needing new Tefillin…
When I get customers like this I feel obligated to educate them first, they usually find what they’re looking for, for less then 2.5k a pair, with all of the “known” hiddurim like avoidas yad ,shlil ,non interrupted writing no overly stretched out letters, even columns etc. It would be nice to see a picture of the ksav though I do understand if they won’t want that
I actually use boxes for my tefillin made from olive wood. I had bought them years ago I Israel and still use them.