New Tefillin Booth to Reach Thousands at Judaism’s Holiest Site

The world-famous tefillin booth operated by Chabad-Lubavitch at the Western Wall in Jerusalem has a new face on it, this thanks to the unveiling of a brand new stand.

Visited by thousands daily, from more than a dozen countries, the old booth was erected the first day the Western Wall was reopened to tourists and Israeli citizens following the 1967 Six Day War. The new structure, reports Rabbi Shmuli Weiss, boasts an expanded shade to shield those putting on tefillin from the heat and more space to lay out pairs of tefillin for ease of use.

"We speak a little Russian, French, Spanish and Dutch," says Weiss, who is joined daily by Rabbi Yossi Halperin, of the effort to get as many Jewish men as possible to don tefillin. And for those that speak some other tongue, "somehow we manage to communicate. There is something that is higher than language that connects us."

Now that the booth's expansion is complete, Weiss says there's one thing left to do: Add to the booth's cache of tefillin. Even though it sports 20 pairs, many times each day, that's still not enough to satisfy the lines of people waiting to perform the mitzvah.

"Standing out there it's hot, very hot; but it is worth every minute," adds the rabbi. "For every additional soul that we touch, it is worth it."