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Chabad.org » Jewish Practice » Tallit and Tzitzit » Readings » My Father's Tzitzis
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My Father's Tzitzis



After all, what could he teach a girl who got straight A’s in school and wanted to go to an Ivy League college? And yet, today, what I remember from college seems like a blur of intellectual trivia compared to the simple lessons of my father...

16 Comments Posted
Reader Comments
Posted: Mar 29, 2006
MY FATHER'S TZITZIS
I LOVED THE STORY OF MY FATHER'S TZITZIS! ONE OF MY MOST FAVORITE MEMORIES IS HIDING UNDER MY FATHER'S TALLIS AS HE DAVENED IN THE MORNING. THE WARMTH AND SECURE FEELING I HAD IN THIS SPECIAL HIDING PLACE WILL GIVE ME COMFORT FOREVER!
Posted By PEARLENA BODZIN, SOUTHFIELD, MI USA

Posted: Mar 29, 2006
What a beautiful story
I could not help but crying. May the memory of Mrs. Levenbrown's father continue to be such a blessing for all.
Posted By Hadassah, NY

Posted: Mar 30, 2006
My Father's Tzitzis
I just found this article, and I'm in awe. What a beautiful tribute to your father. Truly remarkable.

Gd bless you.


Posted By Chris, Kennewick, WA

Posted: Apr 3, 2006
THank you
Thank you for one of the most beautiful and endearing short stories I have ever read.

My Dad is gone for 1 1/2 years and each time I touch his prayer book, which he used in the Army, I feel his energy and love of his religion surge through me.

There is nothing like the beautiful memories shared between daughter and father.


Posted By Arlene, Fairfield, CT

Posted: Apr 18, 2006
A beautiful moving story Thank You
Posted By Anonymous

Posted: Apr 27, 2006
Author reply
Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful responses. It means so much to have been able to share a piece of my father with all of you.
Posted By Jessica Klein Levenbrown, Los Angeles, CA

Posted: June 6, 2006
My Father's Tzitzis
My own father Joseph Kluger passed away 21 years ago, on the 11 of Sivan of the English year 1985 (that year it was May 31). Tonight is his Yahrtzeit. My children remember fondly their Grandpa Joe and my middle son is named for him, Yosef Chaim (also my second grandson). We all loved Grandpa Joe. He left 2 daughters and no sons, but my husband says Kaddish for him. I'm sure that he sits next to your father in Gan Eden and that they both look down on us and "shep nachas" from their daughters and from the Mitzvot that we do and the Jewish, Torah-observant lives that we live. This is the greatest joy for our fathers' souls in heaven.
Posted By Judy Resnick, Far Rockaway, NY

Posted: June 13, 2006
What a beautiful, beautiful story. That one line, "...as this physical connection was broken, a new bond was formed" is one that took my breath away. My instinct is that that line gave many people a new and unexpectedly optimistic emotion with which to approach death and loss. What a gift! Thank you!
Posted By Deborah Gruen

Posted: June 14, 2006
Daddy's tallis
My first grandchild had his bris last Shabbos and they named their little boy for my late father. So when I got this email, it, too, reminded me of Daddy and of his death. He did take me to shul a few times when I was little, and on those occasions I used to page through the siddur looking for instances of the Shma, which has a rolling resonance which I have always loved. And I did have to decide what to do with his tallis when he died. However, nobody told me I could keep the tsitsis. I do still have two of his older tallesim in a drawer. One of them is really old; he must have used it for years before he switched to a newer one. And he is buried in a yet newer one. I asked my brother whether he would like to swap his own newest one for Daddy's newest one, and he did that. So Daddy's newest tallis now belongs to my brother, and Daddy in his grave wears my brother's new tallis.
Posted By Ann Arlosoroff Vise Nunes, Houston, Texas

Posted: June 15, 2006
-Jessica: Thank-you! Tomorrow is the 38'th Yarhartz (21'st Sivan) of my father: Shepsel ben Nochum, z''l, passing. Reading your article:
has left me in tears. I was 9 years of age when G-d called him home. It is only in the past few years that I realize just how much of a void that was never filled, that his loss was to both my mother: Tzipia Etel Bais Chava, z''l,
and I. These bitter sweet tears; those of the child and adult that still cries out for her 'daddy'.
Each tear holds a memory; and finds comfort in the knowledge of our mutual father: Avinu Malkeinu, our Father our King. 'In our hearts forever'.
Posted By Tzina Nechumah Winters, Toronto, Canada

Posted: June 15, 2006
my fathers tzitzis
Im 12 and my comment is you wrote the best storey ive have read in chabad.org
Posted By David Israel Tenowitz, Bet El, Israel

Posted: June 16, 2006
This was a beautiful story.
Posted By Anonymous, West Jordan, UT

Posted: Nov 5, 2006
My fathers Tallis

How ironic I read this article yesterday 10/31/06 and it gave me warm feelings, as my daughter braided the tzitzis of my tallis when I could keep her in shul for a while. I put on tallis and tefillin in the morning and the braided tzitzis remind me of my daughter(now a wife and the mother of 3). I returned to print the article as I had told my wife about it, and wanted to show it to her. I decided to read the posted comments and the first one is from my sister last March regarding my late father. I didn't know she read the article, and she didn't know I had.
Posted By Allan Wilson, waterford, Mi

Posted: Nov 20, 2008
wow.
Wow, i simply could not stop crying. Thank you so much for sharing this with us all.
Posted By me

Posted: Dec 22, 2008
Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful
I was immediately moved and started to cry! I am blessed to still have my parents, but I do understand the significance of losing a parent... (GRANDPARENT). Your story moved me sooo & Thank you for sharing. I am sure that man you held so dear... is so proud of you. The apple never falls too far from the tree!
Posted By Jaison Guterman

Posted: June 19, 2009
My father's Tallis
Anything relating to a young daughter attending shul with her father brings back warm, loving memories to me. Looking up at the beautiful stained glass dome on the ceiling kept me still, as well as watching the back of the old man's swaying head, who sat in front of my dad. For some reason these memories never left me.
Posted By Eleanor Goldman Halpern, Livingston, N.J.
via chabadcares.com

 


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