Illustration photo.

Weekly Story: This Is Who I Am

by Rabbi Sholom Avtzon

As Yud Aleph Nissan is this week, I decided to share with you an email which I received from Eli Duban, one of my former students, who is in his mid twenties and lives in Issaquah, Washington, on the west coast. He is a licensed life insurance agent, however, as we will see that no matter what our parnassa (livelihood) might be, in essence we all are chassidim eager to do the Rebbe’s bidding, and the reason we live out there is to spread the light of Torah and Mitzvos.

After work at 4:30 this past Friday afternoon, I decided to go to the Bellevue square mall, which is near Seattle and is around 20 minutes from my home, not to shop, but just to find some Jews to put on tefillin.

I was inspired to do this as I read on the internet that two Israelis soldiers were murdered that Friday afternoon in Eretz Yisrael and I wanted to do that in their honor, tefillin for Israel!

I went alone to the mall. At the mall I stopped a Jew who informed me he’s from Iran. He claims to be an atheist. We chatted for a couple of minutes. After our discussion, although he personally wasn’t ready to put on tefillin, he said he knows of an Israeli owned store in the mall and offered to walk me there. He did that and even introduced me to everyone. That was so nice of him, as the walk itself was at least a ten minute walk.

Four Jewish men work there, and when I said to  them why I came there, one of them immediately replied that he puts on his tefillin every day. Another one said he’s not having a good day so I shouldn’t bother him. However, the other two happily agreed.

The one who wasn’t having a good day said that although he won’t be putting on tefillin himself, he is happy that his co-workers are and  offered to take a picture of the group, so he feels like he contributed to the cause.

I readily agreed with him. We got pictures and videos and shared contact info with each other. I mentioned to them about the Chabad house which is located in Bellevue for them to join for the Seder night or another activity.

I also mentioned that I’m from nearby Issaquah, and I do this very rarely, if ever, but I felt compelled to do so for our brethren in Eretz Yisroel, especially in light of the recent tragedy.

I then left the store and met 3 Jewish teens, who are members of Cteen (Chabad Teens) of Bellevue and told them all that occurred. Once again, one tells me he puts on every day and the other 2 tell me that they usually put it on, but since we didn’t have school today we didn’t put it on. Again they both put it on right away. The one that put on already, he also decided to take a video of what was happening.

About a half hour later I decided it is time to leave to go back home, to be there in time for shabbos. I was inspired to say the least, but what was to occur on my way home is what is really powerful and fascinating.

Because of my inspiration and my adrenaline rush I was driving relatively quickly, especially as it is also erev Shabbos. All of a sudden the traffic in my lane slowed down almost instantaneously and I didn’t realize it. It was becoming bumper to bumper and I was still going super quick. I slowed down, but didn’t make a short stop. Realizing I wasn’t slowing down quick enough I swerved out of my lane and barely missed the car in front of me by inches. The car in the lane that I went into was also going high speed as that was the car pool lane. Again I missed an accident as he swerved around and continued to drive in front of me. I was so inspired by this life saving miracle.

Moments before this happened I was thinking to myself: look at what happened at the

mall. I came with no expectations and got 4 tefillin for the price of perhaps 1. I was essentially asking Hashem what else can we do?  So I went to the mall, realizing I might not find one Jew who would be willing to put on tefillin. Then I was saved from not one but two accidents which could’ve ended much differently. I felt protected by Hashem Himself.

To me this was a real story and application of what the Rebbe said during the onset of the 6 day war: if we want to help our brothers and sisters in Israel during this time we should focus on Torah and Mitzvos in general, but tefillin in particular. It can and will have a physical effect of people’s lives.

A connection to all the 2’s can be applied.

Maybe because of the two workers and the two teens from Cteen that put on tefillin gave me the merit I needed not to crash into the second speeding car. I am so grateful that everyone was ok and no cars were damaged.

This story brings out that I was protected in a Physical and Literal sense. My hope is that this inspires at least one person as much as it inspires me. One of my goals is to share as much good news as possible as we all hear of too much undesirable news.

We all should have a great week ahead and should make a resolution to try and add a

little more good news into our daily routine.

Let us all follow Eli’s example and set aside a certain amount of time each week to be the Rebbe’s shliach, at least for that time. We can go put on mivtzoyim, or join Jnet and give a weekly shiur from the comfort of our homes. There is so much for us to do, and may this be the present we give the Rebbe this Yud Aleph Nissan. After all this is what we are!!

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Rabbi Avtzon is a veteran mechanech and the author of numerous books on the Rebbeim and their chassidim. He isavailable to farbreng in yo9ur community and can be contacted at avtzonbooks@gmail.com

3 Comments

  • Get it Right

    Great story- wonderful lesson!
    Illustration photo. Really? Try picking a photo where the Shel Rosh is where it belongs (bachur on left).

  • The kangeroo

    The way some of the people wear the shel rosh it probably would be better if they use smaller tefilin