“Take My Father’s Tefillin”: Rabbi Chaim’s Act of Kindness

Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein once shared a remarkable personal story that revealed the extraordinary generosity and Torah centered worldview of his brother-in-law, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky zt”l.

The story centered around a teenage grandson who suddenly found himself without tefillin after surviving a terror attack and the unexpected response Rabbi Chaim gave when he heard what had happened.

The Terror Attack and the Lost Tefillin

Rabbi Zilberstein explained that one of his grandsons had been traveling by bus when a terrorist boarded and began attacking passengers.

“With Hashem’s help, our grandson managed to escape the bus,” Rabbi Zilberstein recalled. “But his tefillin remained behind.”

The boy eventually arrived in Bnei Brak shaken and without tefillin.

Rabbi Zilberstein said the family did not know what to do. The boy was particular about using high quality, mehudar tefillin similar to the pair he had originally owned, and replacing them immediately seemed nearly impossible.

Rabbi Chaim’s Surprising Response

On Friday, Rabbi Zilberstein approached Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and shared the situation with him.

“I told him how heartbroken I was that my grandson had no tefillin,” he said.

What happened next stunned him.

Rabbi Chaim quietly went to another room and returned holding the tefillin of his own father, the Steipler Gaon zt”l.

“He told me, ‘These will be for your grandson,’” Rabbi Zilberstein recalled.

The rabbi was overwhelmed and immediately protested.

“These are the Steipler’s tefillin,” he said. “People would pay enormous sums for them. How can you possibly give them to a fourteen year old boy?”

“Tzedakah Comes From the Finest”

Rabbi Chaim responded by quoting the Rambam’s teaching that when a person performs a mitzvah or gives charity, it should come from the finest and best of his possessions.

According to Rabbi Zilberstein, Rabbi Chaim explained:

“If someone has no tefillin, helping him is a form of tzedakah. And tzedakah should come from the choicest possessions. These tefillin are my choicest possession.”

Rabbi Chaim viewed the matter with complete simplicity.

As far as he was concerned, he was merely fulfilling the Torah’s instruction to give from one’s very best.

Personally Adjusting the Tefillin

Rabbi Zilberstein added another detail that moved him deeply.

His grandson was left handed, which meant the tefillin needed special adjustments.

Rather than asking someone else to handle it, Rabbi Chaim personally adjusted the tefillin himself to ensure the boy could use them properly and comfortably.

Rabbi Zilberstein admitted he could hardly comprehend such selflessness.

“I asked myself honestly whether I would have been capable of doing something like this,” he said. “If I possessed tefillin belonging to one of the great gedolim, would I hand them to a teenager? Probably not.”

But with Rabbi Chaim, he explained, Torah values came before everything else.

A Year With the Steipler’s Tefillin

For an entire year, the grandson wore the Steipler’s tefillin every day until a new pair could be obtained.

Rabbi Zilberstein said the experience had a profound impact on the boy.

“My grandson blossomed and grew tremendously,” he recalled. “He immersed himself in Torah day and night, and I connect much of that spiritual growth to the holiness of those tefillin.”

A Lesson in True Generosity

The story offers a rare glimpse into Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky’s understanding of Torah, mitzvot, and kindness.

To many people, the Steipler’s tefillin would have been considered priceless heirlooms to protect at all costs. But Rabbi Chaim saw them differently: if another Jew needed them, then their highest purpose was to be used for a mitzvah.

For Rabbi Zilberstein, that unforgettable moment became a living example of what it truly means to give Hashem the “choicest” of one’s possessions.