100th Birthday Triumph on a Plane

Rabbi Kopel Silberberg, Shliach in Tamarac, Florida was traveling to New York to mark the day of Gimmel Tammuz when he met an elderly man on the plane.

The man, traveling accompanied by his son, told Rabbi Silberberg that he is celebrating his 100th birthday, and he is flying back to New York after an extended stay in Florida, where he was stuck during the Covid lockdowns.

Rabbi Silberberg inquired if they are Jewish, and when they replied yes, he asked if he would like to put on Tefillin.

The man said he has never put on Tefillin before.

And so, as he celebrated his 100th birthday, the man put on Tefillin for the first time in his life, celebrating his Bar Mitzvah.