Florida Rabbi Returns Unclaimed Tefillin to Owners

A Florida rabbi recently made the unexpected discovery of seven pairs of tefillin in a store that sells the contents of unclaimed airline luggage, the JTA points out.

Rabbi Uri Pilichowski was simply shopping for cheap cell phones while on a family vacation when he found the religious items in the Scottsboro, Alabama store.

Naturally, the rabbi, looking to do a mitzvah for those who lost their tefillin, purchased all seven for $45 each on July 1st – each actually being worth hundreds of dollars – then posted photos of the bags in which they were stored on Facebook in the hopes to find their owners.

What a mensch.

Six of the seven pairs were quickly claimed in under a week, with four of the owners residing in the New York area, one in Los Angeles, and one in Israel.

One even belonged Noah Jacobson, a singer of a cappella group The Maccabeats, while another belonged to David Malka, former chef for the Labvitcher rebbe, which he had passed on to his grandson before his death.