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(JNS)- In a bitter-cold day in early January, Mary Jarada, a Syrian Jewish woman from Brooklyn, N.Y., stood beaming at Machon Stam, a small scribal workshop in the Crown Heights neighborhood of the New York City borough that specializes in writing tefillin, mezuzot and Torah scrolls. Jarada, 23, was there to pick up the 200th pair of tefillin that she had sponsored through her foundation, Ein Od Milvado (“There is no other besides Him”), which has raised some $135,000.
To Jarada’s surprise, the staff at the shop had bought a cake and had placed large black balloons, which displayed the number “200” to mark the milestone.
“This is a special pair,” she told JNS. “This man I am sending them to has a family member in jail who was recently denied parole. When he got the news, he was so devastated and felt like he needed to do something to strengthen himself spiritually.”
She added that “when he reached out to me online asking for a pair of tefillin, I was so excited to help him out.”
JNS spent a morning in January with Jarada as she stood among stacks of black leather straps and tefillin batim (“houses”) filled with parchment that lined shelves. The scent of ink and parchment was heavy in the air.
The charity work is unlikely for a woman, as women don’t tend to wrap tefillin in Orthodox communities, so Jarada, whom some have dubbed the “tefillin queen,” is providing a religious devotional object to others that she would not use herself.
“Some people don’t understand that this ‘Tefillin on Us’ campaign isn’t just about giving tefillin to those who can’t afford it,” she told JNS. “Some of the people who ask are at rock bottom—not just financially but spiritually.”
“Yes, some genuinely can’t afford it, but others technically could and just don’t see the value in spending $600 or $700 on tefillin,” she added. “They’re so disconnected from their soul that they wouldn’t take that step on their own.”
That, she told JNS, is where she comes in.
“It’s like when a baby is learning to walk and they keep falling, getting back up and falling again,” she said. “Giving someone tefillin isn’t just handing them an object. It helps open up a whole world to them, and once they take that step, it changes everything.”
The men whom she provides with tefillin “have the most incredible, heartbreaking and inspiring stories,” she added. “You never know what this mitzvah,” religious commandment, “can spark in someone’s life.”
‘A whole different thing’
The Torah instructs “tying” a “sign” on one’s arms and placing something between one’s eyes. Rabbinic tradition has interpreted that to mean small, leather boxes containing biblical texts written on parchment, which men tend to wear during weekday morning prayers.
Phylacteries are made by hand, and as such, can cost thousands of dollars per pair. Jarada told JNS that she prefers to buy the $675 pshutim tefillin from Machon Stam (Stam is an acronym for Torah, tefillin and mezuzah), which she trusts for its quality and reliability.
Some of the first pairs she purchased—before she was referred to Machon Stam—turned out to have flaws, so she solicited recommendations on social media.
“I was just using local Judaica stores, and I had a problem with 11 pairs of tefillin ending up non-kosher,” she told JNS. “I was so scared and felt terrible about the mistake, but a local Chabad guy, who is knowledgeable about tefillin, messaged me on X and recommended Machon Stam. I’ve continued working with them ever since.”
Jarada, whose family emigrated from Syria in 1991, told JNS that she had no prior experience with Chabad but is grateful that it has been supportive—even to the point of an impromptu party, she said, gesturing to the cake and balloons in the room.
“They are amazing,” she said. “I’m very proud of my Sephardic values, and I’ve always said that the way I would describe myself is ultra-Orthodox in my brain and Modern Orthodox in the way I dress. But I appreciate the Chabad mentality of being open to everyone.”
Rabbi Yitzchok Raskin, who owns Machon Stam, told JNS that his shop has never had a client like Jarada before.
“We have worked with tefillin banks and other organizations that come to us to buy tefillin for others, but someone like this—an individual woman at her young age—caring about this mitzvah is a whole different thing,” he said.
“Usually, it is a man who is involved in this mitzvah, and to have a woman who appreciates it, who is helping the Jewish community, is amazing,” he added.
Raskin told JNS that Jrada’s commitment to ensuring the quality of the tefillin she gifts is noteworthy.
“If you buy something that is cheap and you cut corners, all you need is one problem with the quality of the tefillin and you’re not fulfilling the mitzvah,” he said. “It would be an unfortunate waste of money and the owner of the tefillin would not get the blessing, or protection, of the mitzvah.”
He added that “while there are tefillin out there which could be cheaper, what is so amazing about Mary is that she cares to do it right and ensure that what she is giving is kosher.”
‘I wanted to do something’
In the weeks after the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Jarada struggled, as she sat in her office at Lock Equities, a Brooklyn-based cash-advance firm that she leads, trying to find something tangible she could do in the wake of the great tragedy.
“At the time, people were sending packages to Israel like batteries, underwear—all kinds of supplies, which was amazing, but it didn’t personally connect with me,” she told JNS. “I wanted to do something that would actually change people.”
Jarada’s industry is a “very male-dominated field,” she told JNS. “I had this idea one day that I should see if the people I’m speaking to about closing a business deal have remembered to wrap their tefillin, and I started texting them reminders.”
“A lot of them responded like, ‘Oh, my God, I forgot,’” she said. “‘I’ll do it right now.’”
After forming a WhatsApp group, Jarada made a flier offering to help anyone who wanted to wrap tefillin but lacked a pair.
“At first, I got about five responses, with guys saying things like, ‘I wish I had a pair’ or ‘mine broke,’” she told JNS. “I asked some friends to donate, and we got them their tefillin. Then 10 more people reached out, and I thought, ‘Oh no, where am I going to get the money for this?’”
Jarada used her social-media accounts to raise money for the 10 people who needed tefillin. What started as a small effort quickly grew into the formal launch of her “Tefillin on Us” campaign. Through crowdfunding on her social-media handles, she raised the funds, and the initiative was well on its way.
A “few main sponsors” give to the cause, “which is so kind,” she told JNS. “Through my social-media pages and a WhatsApp group, I can quickly raise money whenever someone requests a new pair of tefillin.”
“People mail me checks or send money through Venmo. It’s amazing that they just love to help,” she added, noting that some people consider this giving their religious tithing (ma’aser).
“Some people send large amounts. Some send small,” she said. “We always make it work. God is always on our side.”
The men who request tefillin vary widely from ritually observant Jews who cannot afford a new pair to single mothers looking for tefillin for their bar mitzvah-aged sons. Some, she told JNS, are not connected to their faith and have never wrapped tefillin before.
She sees her identity as a woman as an aid in her efforts.
“In this day and age, I feel like the fact I’m a woman involved in this chesed (‘charity’) project helps because people get intrigued by my story. They’re like, ‘Wait, you’re a woman?’ and that piques their interest, especially people I ask for donations from,” she told JNS.
“Single mothers reaching out for tefillin for their sons are comfortable talking to me, and honestly, if I were a man, I don’t think I would have gotten this far,” she added. “The people reaching out for tefillin only feel comfortable admitting they’re in need of charity to someone like me.”
It might embarrass some to “lower their pride” to tell a 23-year-old man that they can’t afford tefillin, she thinks. “But talking to a woman,” she said, “allows them to be more open and emotional in a way they wouldn’t be with another man.”
