Air Pilot’s First Time Tefillin

On Sunday November 6th, at Jacksonville’s annual air-show, heads turned from the Blue Eagle jets soaring through the windy skies over Jacksonville’s Naval Air Station in perfect formation, to another fascinating sight, this one much closer to earth.

Participants at the show found themselves staring at a group of young Chassidic students from the newly established Yeshiva, hosted at the Chabad center in nearby Mandarin.

The students had taken time off their lunch break to partake in some Jewish outreach activities – sharing the Mitzvah of tefilin with Jewish men whom they could persuade to wrap the black straps and boxes right there in the open.

For many in the crowd this was the first time they had ever seen a religious Jew, let alone the sight of a Jew donning the strange looking black boxes. This obviously made for a truly magnificent scene.

The students were successful in encountering a good number of candidates who were proudly willing to don the tefilin in public and recite a prayer for all to see.

Amongst the willing participants was a resident pilot, who at first was not even aware that he was Jewish. After discovering that he was Jewish, by virtue of his mother’s lineage, he was very eager to openly recite the Shema prayer, making it a meaningful experience for all gathered.

For those who had the opportunity to perform the great mitzvah of laying tefilin, the event turned out to be a double joy, one off the body the other of the soul. They saw the jets soar and felt the soul rise with them to new spiritual heights.