On a sweltering August day in Tel Aviv, a group of dedicated young men from around the world set out to challenge conventional thought—and perhaps make history in the process. They were going to record themselves wrapping tefillin with as many Jewish men as possible in a single day and send the results to the Guinness World Records.
Their reason was simple.
Just a day earlier, an ad hoc poll of the local population had answered a resounding “No” to the question: “Is Tel Aviv a holy city?”
For Rabbi Eli Naiditch of Chabad on the Coast—the Tel Aviv Chabad House he established with his wife, Shterna Sara, barely 12 months ago—the gauntlet had been thrown. Together with a group of yeshivah students and members of his congregation, including cameraman and poll initiator Daniel Schechter, they set up tefillin booths at four well-trafficked locations in the city: the Azrieli Center and shopping mall, HaShalom train station, Carmel Market (Shuk HaCarmel) and the Tayelet promenade along the beach.
They began at 9 a.m. and went straight until 7 p.m., with only a quick lunch break in between. The results were an astounding 262 pairs of tefillin wrapped in a little less than 10 hours. From businessmen on their morning commute to beachgoers, tourists and everyone in between, the experience proved as moving as it was positive. At one point, four men put tefillin on for the very first time in their lives.
At another location, a grandfather and father recited the priestly blessing to their children while donning tefillin. A video of the event recorded by Schechter—and making its rounds on social media—has already gone viral.
According to the rabbi, it will take Guinness a few months to get back to them with confirmation of a world record.
In the meantime, record or not, he says it’s just the tip of the iceberg: “This is the greatest proof that Tel Aviv is absolutely a holy city, filled with holy people.”
As for Guinness, “that is one record that I’d love to see broken over and over.”
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