Nissan Asher, whose daughter-in-law and granddaughters returned from captivity in Gaza last month, now puts on tefillin every day, Channel 14 News reported. Nissan told Channel 14 that during his family’s efforts to free his daughter-in-law and grandchildren, he met many leading officials in Israel and Europe. At one point, he encountered the Chabad tefillin stand of Rav Yaakov Mazuz and decided to put on tefillin. He turned to Rav Mazuz and asked him to give him a bracha for his daughter-in-law and granddaughters. Rav Mazuz was shocked by his request and asked to hear his story. From then on, Nissan would often come to the stand to put on tefillin. Eventually, he said, he realized that “the way of the Creator is very important in life and I connected to it. I also wanted to note the Chabad shlichim who flew my son, daughter, and my mother to New York to the Rebbe’s kever. This moved us very much.” “I admit that I’m not a religious man but this connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to Chabad, to putting on tefillin – did good for me.” Nissan’s son Yoni cried out Shema Yisrael at the European Parliament in Brussels during his fight for the release of his wife and children from Gaza. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)