A few years ago, Pinchas Ostrovsky began his journey toward the Torah: he started attending synagogue, joining prayers, and—on the advice of members of the Jewish community—began putting on tefillin. He received special support from Rabbi Levi Artyushkin, the rabbi of the Beit Baruch Senior Home. Rabbi Artyushkin noticed that Pinchas didn’t attend prayer services daily, and therefore didn’t fulfill this important mitzvah regularly.
Rabbi Artyushkin asked if Pinchas would like to have his own tefillin and whether he would use it every day if he had one. Pinchas sincerely responded that he deeply wanted to, but he couldn’t afford to purchase tefillin on his own, as it is quite expensive. So Rabbi Artyushkin offered a solution: if Pinchas contributed what he could toward the cost, the Jewish Community of Dnipro would cover the rest—giving him the opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of tefillin consistently and properly.
Then came the emotional and joyful moment—Rabbi Artyushkin presented Pinchas with his very first personal tefillin. Deeply moved, Pinchas expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Jewish Community of Dnipro, Chief Rabbi of the city, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki, Rabbi Levi Artyushkin, and everyone who helped make his dream come true. “I sincerely wish to fulfill the mitzvah of tefillin every day, with proper preparation and intention, under Rabbi Artyushkin’s guidance. My heart is drawn to Yiddishkeit—I want to move forward toward Torah, chuppah, and good deeds,” said Pinchas Ostrovsky.
