Not the First Time Netanyahu Donned Tefillin

Many were excited to see a photo of Israel’s Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu putting on tefillin for all to see. While it may be the first public photo of him wearing tefillin, it certainly isn’t the first time PM Netanyahu put on tefillin.

By Anash.org reporter

Many were excited to see a photo of Israel’s Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu putting on tefillin for all to see. While it may be the first public photo of him wearing tefillin, it certainly isn’t the first time PM Netanyahu put on tefillin. In fact, he has done so many times.

Rabbi Dovid Nachshon, who heads the Mitzvah Tank office in Eretz Yisroel, shared how he helped the Prime Minister put on tefillin multiple times. Close to 40 years ago, when Netanyahu served as Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Rabbi Nachshon, along with Rabbi Shmuel Butman of Tzach, presented Netanyahu with tefillin in a bag embroidered with his name.

On one recent occasion, Rabbi Nachshon told Netanyahu the possuk that the Rebbe often quoted: “וְרָאוּ כָּל־עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ כִּי שֵׁם השם נִקְרָא עָלֶיךָ וְיָרְאוּ מִמֶּךָּ – and all the nations of the earth shall see that the name of Hashem is called upon you, and they shall be afraid of you” – about which Rabbi Eliezer Hagadol says “these refer to the tefillin on the head.”

The Prime Minister then offered his own thoughts: “The name of Hashem called upon you can also refer to a person’s emuna. When the nations see this burning faith, they will be deterred by it.”