He kept his commitment faithfully, day after day, never missing even one.
One day, Danny decided to take a personal day off of work to visit family a few hours away. An avid nature lover, Danny decided to take a sunrise beach drive. He set off quite early in the morning, reveling in the silence and serenity. He cruised along the empty highways, wrapped up in own thoughts. Suddenly, a thought darted through his mind. Tefillin! It had been so early when he’d left his home that morning, he hadn’t even thought about them. He was already over an hour into his drive, so turning around would mean an added delay of at least two hours... He’d planned every moment of his drive, choosing the perfect beach to witness sunrise. He couldn’t turn back. It was too late.
So Danny continued driving, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the tefillin and the commitment he’d made on Rosh Hashanah. When he finally pulled up to the deserted beach, he couldn’t even enjoy the majestic sunrise because of the gnawing guilt.
Danny was sure he’d have the entire beach to himself because of the early hour, so he was surprised to see the distant silhouette of another sunrise visitor. When he looked more closely, he couldn’t believe his eyes. It looked eerily similar to a man - wearing tallis and tefillin!
Overjoyed, Danny rushed towards him and waited until he’d completed his davening. He tapped him on the shoulder, and the man jumped. He turned towards Danny and paled.
“Hey, how are you? Can I possibly borrow your tefillin?” Danny asked.
The man instantly calmed down, and agreed to loan Danny his tefillin. Danny sent me a smiling selfie of himself and his tefillin-on-the-beach buddy. They shook hands and parted ways. Danny marveled at the heaven-sent angel that had enabled him to keep his hachlata.
