Sometimes, the most significant movement… is the one away from where we were

About 20 years ago, my friend Mayer and his two teenage sons, Eli and Yossi, went together to watch the 11th Siyum HaShas from a satellite location in Baltimore, where they lived. Like so many others there, they were swept up by the power of the moment: the unity, the music, the joy of Torah.

But what really stuck with them was a speech by Dayan Aharon Dovid Dunner from London. He related that all the bar mitzvah boys in his shul in England had taken upon themselves not to talk with their tefillin on. His words were electrifying. When the speech ended, Mayer and his boys looked at each other, almost breathless.

“We have to do something, too,” Mayer said.

“We’ll stop speaking devarim beteilim, (idle talk) while wearing tefillin, just like those English kids,” his son enthusiastically agreed.

Mayer paused, proud of his sons. “Let’s do it,” he said.

All three of them made a personal kabbalah not to speak while wearing tefillin. But they didn’t keep it to themselves. Mayer began encouraging others to join them, even giving cash prizes to kids who took on the commitment, quietly starting a local grassroots movement. He would go on to give these generous awards to over 50 neighborhood kids.