By Rabbi Menachem M. Katz, Director of Prison & Military Outreach at The Aleph Institute
This past Shabbos in Shul, a friend of mine came over to me and asked me for a favor. He said that his nephew had turned thirteen a few months ago and he never got an Aliya for his Bar Mitzvah and he has still not put on Tefillin. He asked that I assist in putting on Tefillin with him later in the week when his nephew was scheduled to arrive back in Miami. I made a mental note to follow up at the end of the week.
However, the Rebbe had other intentions…
On Motzoei Shabbos, I watched the weekly Living Torah video that had an interview with Rabbi Nochum Cohen from Israel and he was talking about a Yechidus he had with the Rebbe in the 1970’s.
During the Yechidus, the Rebbe asked if he can request a personal favor from him. The Rebbe said that there are Moroccan Jews living in Israel who think that a Bar Mitzvah boy should wait to put on Tefillin until his official party. The Rebbe requested that Rabbi Cohen try to correct this misconception.
By Divine Providence, soon after that Yechidus, Rabbi Cohen was given the opportunity to address Moroccan-born Jews in Israel and fix this problem.
The moment I saw that video, I knew the Rebbe was sending a message that this boy had to put on Tefillin right away.
I texted the boy’s mother that night and called her the next morning. I told her the story about the video of the Rebbe and I asked if I can send over a Rabbi to the place where they were staying in New York to put on Tefillin with her son.
She told me that I was out of my mind and she wanted her son’s first time putting on Tefillin to be meaningful. She talked about maybe doing it in six months in Israel.
She went on to tell me that her son was at his grandparents’ house in New Jersey anyway and that her mother-in-law was not well and her father-in-law was a Holocaust survivor and they would not be able to travel to her son’s Bar Mitzvah celebration.
I knew that her in-laws were religious and had Tefillin at their home and I said to her, “wouldn’t it be meaningful if the grandfather put on Tefillin with him for the first time?”
That idea she liked and she said, she would work on that.
Lo and behold, on Monday morning I received a picture of her son putting on Tefillin with his father and grandfather.
The Rebbe wanted boys to put on Tefillin right away and this boy put on Tefillin right away!
Beautiful, thank you for posting and sharing
Go rabbi Katz yasher koach
This beautiful story is the result of a chossid knowing ,that the Rebbe is with us always,and that there is no such thing as Coincidence. If he saw the video he knew 100 percent there was a message for him. This story has an important message for us all. Thank you for sharing.
nice story! thanks for sharing.