Twenty-eight years after losing his tefillin just before his bar mitzvah, Reb Shmuel Raigorodsky was reunited with them through a chain of unlikely events spanning Los Angeles to Texas. A forgotten bag in a cab, a shliach in Texas, and remarkable timing brought the tefillin back home at last.
A remarkable story of hashgacha protis recently reunited Reb Shmuel Raigorodsky with the tefillin he lost 28 years ago – just days before his bar mitzvah.
As a young boy in Los Angeles, Shmuel had accidentally left his backpack with his tefillin in the back driveway of his family’s home. By morning, it was gone. He and his family searched everywhere, even checking dumpsters along Fairfax and Melrose Avenue, but the tefillin had vanished. The loss was painful, especially so close to such a significant milestone. Eventually, they gave up hope of ever recovering them…