Why Not Kiss the Tefillin and Get a Million Dollars?

Rabbi Yosef Levin, a Chabad emissary in Kiryat Malachi, shares a special story on the 'Chabad Info' website about the Tefillin Campaign: "Some time ago, I was working in the Kiryat Malachi industrial area. After finishing work, I would take a round with my tefillin to offer to business owners. Every day I had a regular route, and indeed, I saw great success in the campaigns. Only one office caused me distress. From time to time, I would enter this office to offer tefillin, but without success."

"A person working there told me he didn't believe in the existence of the Creator, and every time I came, he would mock me and my request. I didn't know what to do," Levin continues his story. "Adjacent to his office was a restaurant where the owner regularly put on tefillin with me. I consulted with him on how to explain to his neighbor the importance of wrapping tefillin, and suddenly the restaurant owner had an idea. He went into his neighbor's office and said: 'You should know kissing tefillin is like receiving a million dollars. Why not let the Chabadnik come in and just kiss the tefillin?' And so, he agreed."

"And indeed, that's what happened. Every day, I would enter his office and place a kippah on him; he would kiss the tefillin, and I would leave. This is how I acted daily, for several years," Rabbi Levin recalls.

"Before I go to sleep, I write a report on the number of people who had put on tefillin. One night, before starting the report, I thought about this man who kisses the tefillin, wondering if I should include him even though he doesn't actually wrap the tefillin. It still has a connection to the Tefillin Campaign, so I wrote down the count of people who wrapped tefillin and noted one who kissed it."

"The next day I completed my usual route, and when I finished with the restaurant owner's tefillin, his neighbor suddenly came in and approached me, saying: 'Today, I feel like putting on tefillin.' He wrapped the tefillin with great excitement, and I remembered that just yesterday I decided to include him in the daily report. When I told him this, he was really stunned. He told me that for some unexplained reason, he felt a sudden desire to wrap tefillin. From that day on, he continued to wrap tefillin every day," Rabbi Levin continues the story.

And the surprising end: "After a few months, I finished working in the Kiryat Malachi industrial area and moved to a printing house in Ashkelon. When I came to say goodbye, this man said to me: 'Don’t be sad; I'll take the tefillin and offer it to people here in the area in your place'"...