International Tefillin Bank Reopens

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Mivtza Tefillin The Shluchim Office will reopen the International Tefillin Bank thanks to the generosity of the Ichikowitz Family Foundation of South Africa

This week marks the 50th anniversary since the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, launched the global Tefillin campaign in the days before the Six-Day War, and publicly called for every Jew possible to have the opportunity to put on Tefillin.

Tefillin swiftly became an iconic mitzvah offered by Chabad on a global scale, ranging from Friday afternoon mivtzoim routes in business districts to Tefillin stands in college campuses.

In 2005 The Shluchim Office established The International Tefillin Bank thanks to Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar, founder and spiritual leader of The Shul of Bal Harbor, Florida, and the generosity of Mr. Charles Kushner and Holocaust survivors Mr. and Mrs. Yaakov and Chana Weinbaum.

The Tefillin Bank’s commitment was to ensure that nothing held back any Jewish man from putting on Tefillin every day. Through the Bank, The Shluchim Office distributed thousands of Tefillin sets to Jewish men in 35 different countries who committed to fulfilling the daily Mitzvah.

The Shluchim Office is pleased to announce that the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, sponsors of the South Africa-based Ichikowitz Family Tefillin Bank of Africa, are joining us as partners in a unique global initiative.

Thanks to their generosity, the Ichikowitz Family International Tefillin Bank is readying for a summer reopening in ten countries: Africa, Azerbaijan, Brazil, the Caribbean Islands and Puerto Rico, China, Hungary, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, and Portugal.

The Ichikowitz Family International Tefillin Bank will use a new and sustainable distribution model conceived by Tefillin Bank of Africa founder Rabbi Dovid Wineberg of Cape Town, who operates the local Bank under the auspices of Lubavitch Foundation of Southern Africa. Local sponsors will be involved as partners in the initiative, working together with the Ichikowitz Family Foundation and The Shluchim Office to distribute Tefillin in their region.

The Ichikowitz Family International Tefillin Bank will be operating in Brazil thanks to the generous local partnership of Mr. Arnaldo Pasmanik in loving memory of his parents Henrique and Beatriz Pasmanik, and in China thanks to the generous partnership of a group of anonymous donors.

The Ichikowitz Family International Tefillin Bank will be reopening this upcoming Gimmel Tammuz, and we b’ezras Hashem expect to expand to include new countries within the year.