When a Belzer Chossid Goes To Albany
by CrownHeights.info
The New York State Assembly in Albany saw some new additions recently, one of which was Aron Wieder, a former Legislator in Rockland County and Belzer Chossid. Once there he reached out across party lines and met with Scott Bendett, which whom he put on Tefillin.
“It’s remarkable how the simple yet profound act of putting on Tefillin with others, encouraged by the Lubavitcher Rebbe through Mivtza Tefillin in 1967, has come full circle to be used for fostering unity and dialogue across political divides,” Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, a Crown Heights activist commented on X.
Wieder, a Democrat, and Bendett, a Republican, bonded over this mitzvah, after Wieder met him on the Assembly floor, just hours after Wieder was sworn into office.
Video from the moment shows the energy as Wieder helped Bendett say Shema and embraced him.
Tefillin, as the Rebbe understood, truly is the ultimate ice breaker into the Jewish man’s heart.
