Boca Raton, FL – Less than one week after a Boca Raton rabbi bought seven pairs of lost tefillin at a store that sells unclaimed lost and found items, the owner of the last pair of tefillin has been identified.
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Rabbi Uri Pilichowski was on his way back to Florida with his family when he found the tefillin at the Unclaimed Baggage store in Scottsboro, Alabama last Wednesday. As previously reported on VIN News, Rabbi Pilichowski posted pictures of the tefillin on Facebook and six of the seven owners had been identified by the end of the week.
The seventh pair remained unclaimed for several more days until an Israeli man whose daughter is close with the Pilichowski family took matters into his own hands, first re-posting the story on Facebook and then setting about trying to find the last owner on his own.
“There was such siyata dishmaya in the way the first six pairs were returned, it couldn’t spoil the story by not being able to find the seventh owner,” Ami Mintzer of Elkana told VIN News.
The seventh pair of lost tefillin was the only one found by Rabbi Pilichowski that had no name or identifying initials. Originally, Mintzer mistakenly thought that the unclaimed tefillin were a pair that were housed in a black velvet bag with the initials yud, mem, vav vav.
“The evening before I thought I had found the owners of the missing tefillin,” said Mintzer. “I googled ‘yud, mem, vav vav tefillin’ and I found a note posted in a Satmar newsletter two years ago in Yiddish that someone had lost a pair of Rabbeinu Tam tefillin. I was so happy that I found it and I wrote to Rabbi Pilichowski who told me that that wasn’t the pair of tefillin that he couldn’t identify.”
The only clue to the origin of the unclaimed tefillin was a sticker from Machon Stam in Cholon and Mintzer consulted a phone directory and got to work, hoping to be able to perform the mitzvah of hashavas aveida.
“I spoke with the owner and told him the story and he told me which sofer had checked the tefillin,” said the 56 year old businessman. “I found the sofer, spoke with him and he was able to tell me the owner of the tefillin.”
The tefillin belonged to Emilio Maimon of Bat Yam who had been traveling from Mexico to Denver last December when his suitcase, containing the tefillin, were lost.
“I am so happy that the tefillin were found,” said Maimon.
Mintzer noted that the credit for returning the tefillin goes not to him but to Rabbi Pilichowski.
“I played a very, very small part in this amazing story,” said Mintzer.
You have made a tremendous Kiddush Hashem!
(I hope half of those cynics that frequent the comments section in each post won’t have something negative to say about such a beautiful story)
This great mitzvah was made possible by the internet.
kol hakovod to the rabbi.i hope people will learn not to keep tefillin in the suitcase
like jewelry or medications
In the merit of our dedicated efforts lifnim mishures hadin to return lost TEFILLIN which connect the head & the heart with HaKodesh, Boruch Hu, may it be granted from Above to return all that we have lost since the churban Bais Rishon, including: our Land, our Bais HaMikdosh and upgraded Heads & Hearts with which to know and to appreciate the era of Moshaich and hashrores haShekinah which we anticipate and yearn for every day.
Hope no one missed reading about the life-altering mitzva which the the family is about to keep…….yishuv Eretz Yisroel!! If more people would search their souls honestly and join their lives with ha’am ha’shochen b’tzion, there’s no telling what great effect it could have.
In our generation, it’s one of the most glorious mitzvot one can observe.
We wish them a yishuv tov!!!!!
Beautiful story about ha’sha’vat a’vayda. !!!! These people belong here !!!!
With so much evil in the world, this story has made me happ.