Tefillin and YouTube – Rabbi Shares Mitzvah Across Town and ‘Net

It’s an outstretched arm — actually dozens of them that greet Chabad of Dallas’ Rabbi Zvi Drizin each Friday as he makes his way through the city, helping men complete the mitzvah of putting on tefillin. “Just before the Six-Day War, the Lubavitcher Rebbe began a campaign for Lubavitchers to help soldiers in Israel by having soldiers put on tefillin,” he said. “Since that time, yeshiva students and other Lubavitchers have made it their mission to reach those who might not otherwise have the mitzvah. Tefillin are associated with Jewish pride and strength.”

Tefillin are palm-sized, black, hard leather boxes which contain sacred Hebrew writings written on parchment and created by a scribe under a set of rigorous guidelines. From the age of bar mitzvah, observant Jewish men tie the boxes and their accompanying leather straps in a particular manner, to the head and arm, connecting the mind and the heart, and then pray. They wear tefillin for morning prayer every day except on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. (During Tisha B’Av this week, the tefillin were worn for the afternoon prayer instead of in the morning.)

For Rabbi Drizin, it was on the steps at Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills that he first approached a stranger. “I was 13 years old and it was a Friday afternoon.” Rabbi Drizin walked up the stairs at Villa Rodeo in his black suit and hat, and within a minute a gentleman wished him a “Good Shabbos.” “Good Shabbos to you,” the rabbi replied. “Do you put on tefillin?” Then and there, Rabbi Drizin and the man completed the mitzvah at an outdoor café. “It was great and it’s something I’ve been doing ever since.”

On the road — in Beverly Hills, the West End of London, the malls of Haifa, the middle of Manhattan and since moving to Dallas three years ago with his wife, Aida — Rabbi Drizin has made it a practice to share the mitzvah of tefillin wherever he goes. Getting ready for Shabbat means checking in with his friends. Wherever he goes, he’s greeted with a smile.

“Zvi came in the first time and I was almost a little scared; I had no idea what to do. He gave me a how-and-why lesson. He keeps coming back and I love it. Sometimes when we’re done we visit for five minutes, sometimes for 30, but it’s something I really look forward to,” said Darren Fishman, CFO of St. Maarten.

“My Shabbat begins when he walks in the door and, I’ll tell you, there’s no better or more meaningful way to ready for the weekend.”

Rabbi Drizin’s lessons have gone far beyond the borders of the Metroplex since he loaded a “how-to” on YouTube, a site he’s used often as program director for Chabad of Dallas.

“I was laying tefillin in my office and it occurred to me this was a chance to share the mitzvah. We live in a world where we make choices every day; nowhere is that more obvious than on the Internet. It’s a medium that, while it has plenty we don’t need in life, can also be used for good,” he said.

Two minutes and 21 seconds of good is what Rabbi Drizin loaded and the response has amazed him. YouTube viewer Steven Sorel, 23, who had never put on tefillin, replied with a video thanking Rabbi Drizin. “I was looking for videos on tefillin while studying about my heritage and his video was great and inspiring,” Sorel said.

“It’s tremendous,” said Rabbi Drizin. Many of the more than 2700 viewers left messages that they were 33-, 40- and 60-year-old men who had never tried it before. Now they’ve purchased their own pairs and are laying tefillin regularly.

To see Rabbi Drizin’s YouTube entry, see tefillinblog.blogspot.com. To reach Rabbi Drizin to arrange an office or home visit, call 214-632-2633 or e-mail zvi@chabadofdallas.com.