AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR RABBANIM

Lakewood, Toms River, Jackson, and Surrounding Communities

Dear Rabbanim,

Today, at approximately noon, I walked into a luncheonette in Lakewood and ordered lunch.

The young man serving me was a sweet, pleasant boy. I asked whether he had put on tefillin today. Sheepishly, he answered, “No.”

I offered to bring my tefillin from the car so he could put them on privately in the back, taking no more than five minutes.

He declined, asking, “Why should I?”

“Because it’s a mitzvah,” I answered. “Why not?”

He finally promised to put them on when he got home at 3:45.

“Pinky promise?” I asked.

“Pinky promise,” he replied.

As I left, I wondered: How many young Yidden working in our stores go through the day without putting on tefillin?

I respectfully appeal to our Rabbanim to come together and encourage store owners throughout our communities to keep a pair of tefillin available and allow their young employees five minutes to put them on.

No pressure. No embarrassment. Just a little encouragement.

Surely, a store owner can cover the counter for five minutes. The sandwiches will still be made, the customers will still be served, and the business will go on.

But another young Yid will have fulfilled a precious mitzvah.

Dear Rabbanim, can we make this happen?

Five minutes a day. Imagine the difference we could make.

Yoshi W.

Toms River, NJ

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