The Marathon Bar Mitzvah Back Story

by Shmarya Richler – A Marathoner

On marathon Sunday, a picture of a gentleman who is 77 putting on tefillin for the first time was posted. The story actually started at the beginning of August. As I was finishing my run that day, I saw a runner wearing an NYC Marathon tee shirt. I approached him and said, “I have one of those too!”. We talked and took selfies. His name is Ron Friedman and he is from Long Island. I then had the honor and privilege of running with him and had a nice conversation as we ran together. Ron was in Montreal at the time to help his son move to our city.

We connected on Facebook and have been messaging back and forth ever since. On the Friday before Rosh Hashanah he messaged me saying that he would be in Montreal the following week to help his son settle into his condo. He asked if I wanted to meet for coffee on Sunday morning (Erev Rosh Hashanah). I answered that I had a better idea and suggested we go for a run together. That day was the Montreal Marathon so I said that we would run to some point along the route and cheer the runners. We met Sunday morning in front of his son’s place and had our run. During the course of the conversation, I asked him what he is doing about Shofar and he said his son was supposed to arrange something, etc. I said that I would be happy to walk over on the first day of Yom Tov and blow the shofar for them. So, on the first day of Rosh Hashanah I had the privilege of blowing Shofar for Ron, his wife, and his son.

Motzei Shabbos before the marathon I sent Ron a message and asked him to go to the International Minyan tent before the race to put on Tefillin. I sent him a map of the village showing him where the International Minyan tent was located. Because he ran with a coach his start was at 8:20. At 7:00 AM the next morning I received this message from Ron. “All done! It was a great experience. They said it was my second bar mitzvah. Thank you for giving me this privilege and experience.” I messaged him “You made my race”. And quite honestly it was the highlight of my race. When I arrived at the tent at 9:30 they told me that it was his first time putting on tefillin in his life.

This is a perfect example of the Hashgachah Protis that brought this about. 10 seconds difference on that August day and I never would have met Ron.

Please join me in wishing Ron a huge Mazel Tov for his Bar Mitzvah and for finishing the marathon on Sunday. I will send him the link to this page so he can see your comments.

Thank You