Moshe, a Russian Jew, recently made the decision to start wearing tefillin every day. This decision came after a chance encounter at an airport while he was waiting for a flight to his vacation home in Florida.
While waiting for his flight, Moshe was approached by a man who asked if he was Jewish. When Moshe answered yes, the man asked if he wanted to put on tefillin. With some time to spare before his flight, Moshe agreed and put on tefillin with the help of the stranger.
This encounter had a profound impact on Moshe. After returning home, he called Sholom Rosenbloom, a longtime friend, and expressed his desire to own his own pair of tefillin so that he could wear them every day. Rosenbloom purchased a pair of tefillin for him and brought them to his house, where he showed Moshe how to put them on and explained the significance of the practice.
“Moshe, who grew up under communism almost totally devoid of Yiddishkeit, now has a bris and puts on tefillin every day. All because someone – I assume a Lubavitcher – took the time to ask if he was Jewish and offered to help him put on tefillin,” Rosenbloom told COLlive.com.
This story serves as a reminder of the power of small acts of kindness and the impact they can have on others. The stranger at the airport may never know the lasting effect he had on Moshe’s life, but his simple gesture has led to a lifelong change.
