A Tefillin Stand At A Litvish Wedding, A Crown Heights’er Gets Prominent Mention At Daf Yomi Shiur

by CrownHeights.info

For someone who learned in Ponovitch, what’s the worst thing that can possibly happen to a man at his son’s Chasunah? A Lubavitcher setting up a Tefillin stand.

At Tuesdays Daf Yomi shiur by Rabbi Eli Stefansky, the discussion about people who have never put on tefillin came up. So naturally, Rabbi Stefansky told a story.

Found about minute 26 in the live shiur, Rabbi Stefansky tells about Crown Heights resident Shloimy Klein, who while at Rabbi Stefansky’s sons wedding, set up a tefillin stand which ultimately put on tefillin with nineteen people.

Talking with CrownHeights.info, Klein explained how it started, and how it snowballed into more than a dozen Mitzvos.

“I started it, but Rabbi Hertz who is a Rosh Yeshiva in Chicago did most of them,” Klein said. “I did the first two, and he did the rest.”

It all started as Shloimy was trying to get a minyon together for Mincha, when he was approached by two Israeli guests who asked “Ulai Yesh Lcha Tefillin?”

Not to let a moment like this pass, Shloimy hopped into his car and drove to his nearby hotel to get his tefillin. Twenty minutes later he was back at the wedding, wrapping up the two Israelis.

Inspired, Rabbi Hertz set up a table, which in the hours after put on tefillin with seventeen more people.

While he may have started the trend, Klein wanted it clear that although Rabbi Stefansky may not know him, “Rabbi Hertz should get most of the credit.”

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