Two Aspiring Rabbis Visit Santa Cruz to Celebrate Passover

Santa Cruz, CA — In what he calls his Jewish first-aid kit, Pinchas Taylor, 22, carries the essentials for wishing people a happy Passover this week.

He hits the streets of downtown with his kit swung over his shoulder, wearing a black fedora and matching sport coat, and randomly asks people, “Are you Jewish?”

Some say “no,” and the aspiring rabbi keeps walking down Pacific Avenue. Others ask him for spare change, and he opens up his wallet before he continues his search for Jewish people.

Eventually, he runs into Rob Sals, who reacts with surprise when he’s asked if he’s Jewish.

“How did you know?” Sals, 63, asks as he strolls by the downtown shops on a sunny Sunday.

After Taylor informs his new friend that he’s visiting from Morristown, N.J., with fellow rabbinical student Berel Brafman, 16, to celebrate Passover, Sals agrees to do something he hasn’t done since he was a 13-year old boy: a mitzvah.

Taylor reaches into his kit for a tefillin, two boxes of Jewish prayer connected by a long black strip of leather.

It’ll only take 30 seconds, he assures Sals.

During passover, the Jewish holiday which marks the exodus and freedom of the Israelites from ancient Egypt, performing the mitzvah is more inspirational than usual, Taylor says.

“To do a Jewish thing with even one person,” he says, “it’s worth everything”

With an audience of curious onlookers, Taylor wraps the tefillin’s black strip around Sal’s upper left arm down to his fingers, and the tiny prayer boxes are placed on his heart and head — representing emotion and intellect.

“He’s going to remember this day for the rest of his life,” Taylor says when the mitzvah is complete.

Brafman, the younger student who doesn’t have the long beard that Taylor has, hands Sals a white cardboard box with a hand-baked piece of matzoh inside, the flat, crispy, cracker-like bread that’s a traditional substitute for bread during Passover.

“That’s awesome,” Sals says.

For Taylor and Brafman, another connection has been made with a Jewish person.

“It’s an accomplishment,” says a smiling Brafman.

Before the men say goodbye to Sals, Taylor pulls one more thing from his bag, a digital camera to take a picture and add it to the collection of pictures he has of his newfound friends.

“Say matzoh!” he says before the picture is taken.