5. Rebbe Tzvi Hirsh of Ziditchov zt'l said that שמייכל, smile, is roshei teivos for תברךי עבדתול שועבדיםמ היוי ולםכ מו ש, "Everyone should be devoted to Hashem's service." This devotion is a reason for joy, as indicated by the roshei teivos, שמייכל, smile. Although the letters of the phrase aren’t in the order of the letters שמייכל, that is because the trick of being happy is even when things aren't happening directly in the correct order. To be happy even when things seem out of place, is true service of Hashem.
6. A messenger of a wealthy person once brought a barrel of fine wine as a gift to Rebbe Nochum of Chernobyl zt'l. The messenger explained that his boss wanted to send this gift because Chazal say that a gift to tzaddikim is like bringing bikurim. The Meor Einayim looked at the messenger and said, "Did you wear tefillin today?" The man admitted that he hadn't. He explained, "I woke up late today, and before I put on tefillin, my boss called for me to do something for him. When I finished the job, I was hungry, so I ate breakfast. I learned in my youth that one must wear tefillin before eating, so I figured that after I ate, there is no purpose to wear tefillin anymore." Reb Nochum explained to him that he is correct that ideally, the meal should be after wearing tefillin. However, even if you have already eaten, you should still put on tefillin.
After the man left, Rebbe Nochum said to his holy students, "This messenger isn't the wisest person, and from his deeds, it is obvious that he doesn't know much Torah. Perhaps he doesn't even know that when one wears tefillin, one has to be cautious to have a clean body. Nevertheless, since he didn't wear tefillin today, his neshamah lacked this light, and I could perceive that he didn't wear tefillin yet. We learn from this that every mitzvah, even one not performed with perfection, makes an imprint on the person and grants him a great light."
There was an eighty-year-old man in Teveria who suffered from pain and illnesses. He told Rebbe Avraham of Kalisk zt'l that he no longer had the will to live. Reb Avraham Kalisker asked him if he wore tefillin that day, and he replied that he had. Reb Avraham exclaimed, "It is worthwhile to live eighty years with the yesurim that you have now just to put on tefillin once! And even to put on tefillin as you had done today." (Kisvei Reb Moshe Minder 492.)
There is a mashgiach kashrus who lives in Toronto, and works in – and lives – in a food factory in Toronto. This factory is a forty-five minute drive from the nearest Jewish community. Every day, he awakens early and travels all this distance to daven with minyan. He used to leave his tefillin in the beis medresh, so he wouldn’t have to bring it each day. One morning, he awoke to a blizzard. Driving to the beis medresh was impossible due to the high snow. A state of emergency was declared, and passenger cars were banned from the road. The only way to get to the beis medresh would be by hiring a special jeep, which cost ten thousand dollars. He called his rav, and asked whether he was obligated to pay that amount of money to get to his tefillin. The rav replied, "Halachah states that one must give away a fifth of his money to do a mitzvah. If you have fifty thousand dollars in your bank, you must pay ten thousand dollars for the mitzvah." He had more than fifty thousand dollars, so he hired the jeep and just managed to say the brachah on the tefillin moments before shkiyah. He told me that the next day, when he put on tefillin, he put it on with an extra simchah. He had a deeper appreciation for the great mitzvah of tefillin.
A rav from the previous generation (who eventually lived in America) related that during the holocaust, he escaped with his brother into a forest, where they joined a group of non-Jewish partisans. Their family name was Yaffe. Generally, partisans were groups of either exclusively Jews or non-Jews, but this time, the two brothers were the only Jews. Everyone else were goyim. The partisans would appoint a guard who sat on a tall tree to watch whether the resha'im were entering the forest. One day, a guard saw soldiers approaching. He immediately told his fellow partisans about the impending danger. They all ran deeper into the forest. Also, the two Yaffe brothers ran into the forest. When they arrived at a safer place, they realized that in their haste, they had forgotten to take their tefillin with them. So, now they had a dilemma. The partisans told them that it was dangerous to return, as they would certainly be caught by the Germans if they returned. But they knew that if they didn’t return, it was likely that they wouldn't have the opportunity to put on tefillin for who knows how long. They decided to take the risk. They returned to their previous camp. They went through roundabout paths, where they figured they were less likely to be caught. They were happy to find their tefillin exactly where they had left them and that there were no signs of the enemy soldiers. They davened Minchah joyously and then went back through the forest to catch up with their fellow partisans. They found all of their friends dead, cast over the dirt. None of them survived. They were killed by the Nazis, who found them in the forest. From the entire group, only the Yaffe brothers survived. The merit of tefillin saved their lives.
