Recorded by Rabbi Tuvia Bolton who heard it from Rabbi Yosef Silverman of Pittsburgh
Yosef had a good friend, whom we shall call Chaim, who learned at Lubavitch Yeshiva Headquarters in Brooklyn and used to go on the "Tefilin Campaign" every Friday along with a group of his friends.
Chaim used to take the subway with four of his friends to the sky-scrapers in the heart of Manhattan and go visiting the exclusive offices one after another looking for 'unaffiliated' Jews to encourage them to put on tefilin.
Generally they got positive responses. But one law firm was like an impenetrable iceberg. The non-Jewish lawyers were friendly and good humored but the Jewish ones had no time. And those that might have been interested were quickly discouraged by the head of the firm.
He was a no-nonsense every-moment-is-precious hard as nails attorney who was worth several hundred dollars per hour. When he was anywhere in the office, even in his room, there was no chance that our heroes could even pass the front desk. And if he chanced to come out of his office he would have them evicted; he'd mumble something to the receptionist on the way to his room and in a few minutes she would politely ask them to leave.
This went on for about half a year, they made zero headway but they didn't give up.
One Friday they arrived just as their subway was pulling out and were waiting for the next to come when one of the vendors there, a Mexican fellow who set up a table and sold pens and other small items, approached them, pointed to Chaim, held up a black tie and said, "You need a tie."
"No thanks." Chaim said politely. "I don't like ties. Thanks anyway."
"No!" The Mexican insisted "You NEED a tie. You are an important person with a white shirt. A person like you needs a tie. Here, I'll sell you the tie for less. I'll give you a reduction. Five dollars instead of seven. Good? Take it!"
"Nope! Sorry. I don't want a tie!" Chaim protested calmly. "Thanks anyway. but sorry, I don't want it!"
But the fellow wouldn't take no for an answer. For the next five minutes he kept it up. "This tie is just for you! If you wear it you will look good! I know what I am saying. You need it." etc, etc.
Chaim tried to protest more assertively, "Hey! Leave me alone. I don't have money for a tie, okay? And I won't wear it anyway. None of us wear ties!" But to no avail. The Mexican was not giving up. Finally the boys decided the only way to get rid of him was to simply buy the tie.
Each friend smilingly chipped in a dollar. Chaim gave him the five and took the tie, happy to finally have a little peace and quiet. "Okay?" one of the fellows said. "Now are you happy? We bought the tie!"
"NO!" The salesman said. "I'm not happy! You must WEAR the tie! What, you think I sold the tie for my sake? No! It's for you! You MUST wear it. It will make you look good. See?" And he grabbed for the tie.
"Look," Said Chaim exasperatedly, "Leave me alone! It's my tie now and I'll do what I want with it. I don't have to wear it if I don't want to. Do you understand? Not only that, I never wore a tie in my life and I don't even know how to make a knot! So do me a favor and leave me alone. Okay, amigo?"
"Oh! That is not a problem!" he answered "I will show you how to tie it. Here, look. Give me the tie, bend over a bit ... I will put your collar up like this. See." And before Chaim knew it the fellow had done it -- Chaim was wearing a tie! He shrugged, thinking to himself that as soon as he gets on the train he'll take it off.
But the Mexican knew his business. "Ah! It is beautiful!!" he stepped back and said admiring his own work. "Now you must promise me that you won't take it off."
"What? You mean I have to wear it the rest of my life?" They all laughed including the salesman. Chaim was wondering why the subway was taking so long. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"Sure," he answered. "Just promise me you will wear it today. So you give it a chance. Good? Promise? You see it looks so beautiful! You must promise!"
"Who are you anyway?" Chaim exclaimed. "Did my mother send you or something?" The others roared with laughter.
But then, for some reason, Chaim surprised himself by suddenly blurting out "Okay! Okay! I'll leave it on today."
At that moment the subway train came roaring in, they all got on and twenty minutes later they were in Manhattan, involved in putting tefilin on Jews. They had already forgotten the Mexican and the bizarre episode with the tie.
Finally came the turn of the 'iceberg' law firm.
They got out of the elevator on the fifteenth floor, entered the large marble-paved reception room and smiled at the receptionist. A few of the gentile lawyers smiled and said hello as they rushed from room to room.
Then appeared .... the boss!
"Why are they here?" he said to the receptionist. Then, not waiting for an answer turned to them and said sternly, "Who are you? What do you want?"
"We're from the Lubavitcher Rebbe and we came to see if there are Jews here that want to put on tefilin," one of them answered, preparing to get evicted as usual.
He looked at them silently for a second or two like a wolf about to pounce on his prey. Then he pointed at Chaim and said. "YOU! I want you to follow me!"
Despite them being a bit apprehensive as to what to expect, Chaim, without thinking too much, followed him down a wide, highly polished corridor into his plush office.
The lawyer closed the door behind them, turned to Chaim and said. "I want to put on tefilin!" After five minutes he had finished the 'mitzva'.
"You probably want to know why I finally agreed to put on tefilin, right?" The attorney asked. "Well, I'll tell you."
"I might look like a successful man but the fact is I'm having several big crises in life. Our firm is losing several very big cases and suffering other financial setbacks. Not only that but I'm having some personal problems as well. I'm not used to being on the helpless side but I needed help. I didn't know to whom to turn, I mean, someone who really cared. As lawyers, we live a pretty cold life sometimes.
"Then, yesterday I happened to see one of the cards you fellows left here with the Lubavitcher Rebbe's picture on it, and it struck a note. I began to wonder if perhaps he could do something. After all, I did put on tefilin after my Bar Mitzva for a while. Anyway, maybe you won't believe this, but last night I had a dream.
"I dreamt that I saw the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He smiled and I asked him if he could help me. He answered, 'But I send you a group of young men every Friday with tefillin!' To which I replied, 'What, those ragamuffins? They look like a bunch of vagrants! Why, none of them even wears a tie!!'
"The Rebbe looked at me and said 'You want a tie? Okay, I'll send someone with a tie!' And I woke up."
"So when I saw you with a tie I knew that it wasn't only a dream."
The attorney began putting on tefilin regularly and a close friendship developed between him and the fellows. As far as anyone knows his problems were alleviated.
