From New Square to Monroe and Back: Tefillin Returned to Owner Following Incredible Turn of Events

YS GOLD

A Skverer chossid from London—visiting for the historic hachnosas Sefer Torah—will soon be reunited with his precious tefillin after a miraculous turn of events involving the kindness and relentlessness of his fellow Yidden, and a personal kindness that he fulfilled months ago. 

The story began when New Square’s Ershte Hilf (their equivalent of Chaverim) got a call from a Yid who lost his luggage, with his tefillin inside, while he was in town for last week’s hachnosas Sefer Torah. They put out a notice with the name of the owner, and waited for someone to come forward. 

The taxi driver who brought him to Skver took another passenger to the airport, and when they arrived at the airport, the passenger notified the driver that this one suitcase was not his, and the driver placed the suitcase back in the car. From the airport, he went to Monroe, and dropped the suitcase into a dumpster on Koznitz Drive. A local worker fished it out of the dumpster, and seeing a religious item inside, brought it to a Kiryas Yoel Chaverim member—who promptly got to work searching for the owner. 

He and his daughter scoured the local phone book—and found no one by that name in Monroe. They turned to Google, which revealed that a Skverer chassid from London with that name donated to an RCCS online campaign. 

With this information in hand, they turned to an acquaintance in New Square, but they could not identify anyone local with that name. However, they suggested calling Ershte Hilf—which immediately said that, in fact, they’d placed a notice searching for these very tefillin just days ago! 

In these moments, they’re working to reunite the owner—who has since left for London—with his precious pair of tefillin. 

When this Yid donated to RCCS months ago, he could not have known that this would one day result in bringing back his tefillin. But this is the way of Hashem’s world; one good deed brings another.