A group of lecturers went to Rome to give a few lectures about Judaism. One lecture was canceled and the main speaker decided to take a tour of Rome.
Late in the afternoon he reached the Jewish section of Rome and went into a kosher restaurant to eat. A moment before he sat down to eat, someone turned to him and asked if he happened to have Tefillin with him (phylacteries used for prayer). It happened to be that there was a Jewish boy outside who wanted to put on Tefillin. The Rabbi took his Tefillin bag and went outside to find the boy. He scanned the area and saw a bicycle rider covered with tattoos from head to toe standing next to his vehicle. When the Rabbi called out: “Anyone here want Tefillin?” in an instant the boy left the bicycle and ran to get the bag in order to be able to pray before the sunset.
The boy seemed to be an expert in putting the Tefillin on and after he was done, the Rabbi smiled and asked why it is so important to fulfill this commandment. The boy replied: “I know I don’t look like someone who puts on Tefillin, but you should know that it has been many years that I decided to put on Tefillin and I haven’t missed a day since.” The Rabbi was very impressed and asked where was the boy’s own Tefillin…did he lose it? The boy explained that while he did decide to pray with Tefillin every day, he doesn’t observe Shabbat. “I live in Tel Aviv and I came here to ride in a two-week bike tour and we ride on Shabbats. As long as the Tefillin are in the closet in Tel Aviv and I ride on Shabbat then it is not so bad, but if the Tefillin were with me and I ride on Shabbat then this would be a lack of respect for the Tefillin since it is forbidden to carry around Tefillin on Shabbat. I made a deal with G-d before I left: ‘I won’t bring the Tefillin with me but I need Him to supply me with the Tefillin every day.” The Rabbi was stunned for it was by complete chance that he was at this restaurant. If the lecture was not canceled then he would not be there. The fact that the Tefillin bag was with him was also a strange ‘coincidence.’ The Rabbi then asked the boy what he will do tomorrow. The boy laughed and said: “Don’t you get it? Every day there was someone else, tomorrow I return to Israel and today was my last day here and you were the last messenger sent to me by the Creator!”