Reb Dovid Malka’s Tefilin Lost and Found

Rabbi Uri Pilichowski was on vacation with his family in Scottsboro, Alabama when he made a startling discovery while browsing through a store that sells unclaimed airline baggage – seven pairs of Tefilin on sale for just $45 dollars each. The return of two of those pairs – which once belonged to Reb Dovid Malka, OBM, of Crown Heights, and which he gave to his oldest grandson for his Bar Mitzvah shortly before he passed away last fall – is an amazing tale of Hashgacha Protis.

After his discovery, Rabbi Pilichowski immediately bought all seven pairs of Tefilin and posted images of them to Facebook, seeking their owners. The images were shared nearly 2,000 times, and in a very short time six of the seven pairs were returned to their rightful owners.

But two of those pairs of Tefilin – one Rashi and one Rabbeinu Tam – particularly struck Uri, since they bore the name “Abie Malka.” As it happens, many years ago Uri volunteered at a Pesach camp in Ukraine, and one of his fellow counselors was named Yossi Malka.

A quick phone call revealed that these two pairs of Tefilin indeed belonged to his old friend’s son, Abie.

Yossi couldn’t contain his excitement as he explained that these Tefilin had been bequeathed to his son by his father, beloved Crown Heights caterer Reb Dovid Malka, OBM, shortly before he passed away last October.

The Tefilin were of tremendous sentimental value to the family, and he was completely devastated when he realized they had been lost, he explained.

“At some point it was misplaced,” Abie told the New York Daily News. “It was devastating. I did not want to share it with the rest of my family.”

He even returned to Charlotte to search the airport’s lost and found, but to no avail.

But he never thought the holy pair was lost forever. He got a “loaner” pair from a charity group and waited, praying the original would be found and returned.

“I was excited like crazy, after getting the call” he told the Daily News. “It’s just amazing.”

Photos of the seven pairs of Tefilin: