Descent for an Ascent

Recently at Friendship Circle Lifetown in New Jersey, a pair of tefillin disappeared from the tefillin stand. Security footage revealed that an aide from a visiting school mistakenly took them, believing they were free. Later, deciding she did not need them, she threw them in the garbage. The school was devastated and immediately paid for a replacement.

As the new, unused tefillin sat on the desk of Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum, Director of Life Town, he remembered Billy Spiro, a regular volunteer of Friendship Circle. For years he had invited him to put on tefillin, and he always politely declined.

Recently, he explained why: because of germophobia, he found it very difficult to wear tefillin that others had used. Rabbi Grossbaum called Billy. "I have a brand-new pair of tefillin sitting on my desk. Noone has ever worn them. Would you put on tefillin today?" Without hesitation, he agreed.

It was an emotional moment. Billy shared he had not put on tefillin since his Bar Mitzvah. Rabbi Grossbaum then asked whether, if he had his own pair, he would wear them regularly. The next morning he called back with his answer: "if you get me a pair of tefillin, I commit to putting them on regularly."

They obtained a pair for him. What began as the painful loss of one pair of tefillin became the reason another Jewish man returned to this precious mitzvah. What an extraordinary example of Divine Providence.