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By: Mordechai Lightstone

From Dusseldorf to Dizengoff Square, few Jewish images are more iconic, or ubiquitous, than that of Chabad yeshivah students and emissaries, helping Jews put on tefillin or take home Shabbat candles.

The practice of helping other Jews put tefillin on has ancient roots in Jewish practice, but achieved its iconic modern status in the build-up to the Six Day War. Calling for Jewish men and boys above bar mitzvah around the world to don tefillin as act of spiritual solidarity, the Rebbe noted the Talmudic dictum “the nations of the world shall see that the name of G‑d is upon you, and they will fear you,”1 refers to tefillin.2

The tefillin stand quickly came into being, a one stop shop for Jews of all backgrounds to gather and perform mitzvot on the go.

Here is a list of tefillin stands and mitzvot on the fly around the world.

1. The Guardian of Israel

A Chabad Chassid helps Israeli soldiers don tefillin in the build up to the Six-Day War. The Rebbe underscored the protective and redemptive power of this mitzvah for all Jews. No matter where you may be in the world, you can connect spiritually.

2. The Most Recognizable Tefillin Stand

As soon as the Western Wall plaza was opened to the public in June 1967, Chabad Chassidim helped Jews visiting the holy site don tefillin.

Today it has arguably the most recognizable tefillin stand in the world.

3. Fighting Antisemitism

After Antisemites targeted the Jewish community at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Chabad emissaries set up popular tefillin stands on campus to host “Good Deed Marathons”

4. Before flying

Chabad at Ben Gurion is one of many tefillin stands at international airports, there to help Jews of all backgrounds and ages put on tefillin before they fly.

5. In The Heart of Tel Aviv

A tefillin stand at the recent protests in Tel Aviv.

6. Or Alone in Alaska

Rabbi Yosef Greenberg, co-director of the Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska, wraps tefillin with a Jewish visitor.

7. In the Holy City

A Chassidic Jew helps passersby don tefillin on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem.

8. Hanging from a Window

Serge in Be’er Ya’akov, Israel was repairing a building. He discovered that the fourth-floor apartment he was working on belonged to Chabad Rabbi Shmulik Lerner. After a brief conversation, Serge was able to do an extra mitzvah and put on Tefillin; quite literally on the fly.

9. At The Site Of Our Greatest Tragedies

A young Jew on the CTeen Heritage Trip to Poland and Israel prays on the grounds of Auschwitz.

10. At the Farmer’s Market

Rabbi Shneur and Mushkie Hecht, directors of Chabad of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and their two young children, sell loaves of challah, with all kinds of seasonings, at the farmers market by the city’s marina. They also have Shabbat candles and tefillin for those stopping by.

11. On a Mitzvah Tank

Beginning in the late 1960s, Chabad students began transforming Ryder trucks and RVs into Mitzvah Tanks, mobile centers for Jewish practice. These ‘Tanks against assimilation’ brought mitzvot on the spot for people on the go, bringing the tefillin stand – along with a host of other Jewish experiences to wherever Jews could be found.

12. Or a Real Tank

While the mitzvah tanks were agents of peace, the service they provided took them to literal battlefronts. During the 1982 Lebanon War, they received special military dispensation to visit Israel Defense Forces units in Beirut. Mitzvah tanks could be seen near the frontlines of the conflict, bringing tefillin and other opportunities to perform mitzvot to spiritually fortify the Israeli soldiers.

13. At the Height of Competition

Jewish competitors in the Maccabi games put on tefillin in Berlin at a tefillin stand.

14. And in the Footsteps of Jewish History

Some 6 million tourists visit Prague each year. Many Jewish tourists are drawn to Josefov, Prague’s Jewish Quarter, known for its rich in Jewish history, stately synagogues, ancient cemeteries and museums. Chabad in Prague sets up a tefillin stand to help these visiting Jews honor the Jewish past, and future.

15. No Matter Where You Are

A man puts on tefillin in Barranquilla, Colombia, with the help of a “Roving Rabbi” taking part in the Merkos summer visitation program.

(Chabad.org)

FOOTNOTES

1. Deuteronomy, 28:10.
2. Talmud, Brachot 6