Zvi's Tefillin - In Memory of Rabbi Zvi Kogan

The Idea

Borrow them for your trip. Return it for the next traveler to have a turn.

Zvi spent his life showing up for others, now his tefillin are doing the same.

Borrow a pair of tefillin from the local Chabad House during your travels. Wear them daily for the length of your trip.

Then return them to a participating Chabad House for next traveler to get the same mitzvah - in Zvi's memory.

STEP 01 / DEPARTURE

Find the local Chabad House

Wherever your trip takes you, ask the Chabad House in that city if they carry Zvi's Tefillin. All participating houses keep a set ready for visitors to borrow.

Growing city by city

STEP 02 / IN TRANSIT

It's yours for the trip

A small refundable deposit just keeps each set accounted for as it travels from person to person - you'll get it back the moment you return it. They are yours to wear daily for the duration of your trip.

Right and left handed sets available

STEP 03 / RETURN

Return them

When your trip ends, return the set to any participating Chabad House for the next person to borrow and your deposit will be returned. Snap a photo of yourself wearing Zvi's tefillin, post it, and tag @remember.tzvi – let's spread his light further.

#ZvisTefillin

New to tefillin? Watch a short how-to-wear guide

A step-by-step guide as a refresher or for a first-timer.

Join The Circle

Wore it? We want to see it.

Every tagged photo is another traveler who found a moment of connection because of Zvi. Follow along, share your own, and help us find the next station.

Tap or scan to open @remember.tzvi on Instagram

Full memorial site - zvi-kogan.com Memorial video shorts contact@zvi-kogan.com

In His Joy

The Zvi his friends remember.

The one who danced hard on Simchat Torah, cooked happily for others, and made every holiday feel like a party. This is the life the tefillin initiative is perpetuating.

L'chaim with friends

Serving in the IDF

Helping a guest put on tefillin

Learning together at a Shabbat table

Waving the lulav on Sukkot

With a friend, overlooking the Hollywood Hills

Checking etrogim ordered for the community

With Chief Rabbi of Israel Yisrael Meir Lau

With members of the community

On his way to the next community

His Legacy In Motion

Zvi's Tefillin: a mitzvah that keeps traveling.

Zvi helped countless travelers put on tefillin for the first time in years - sometimes for the first time ever. Therefore his community built something he would have recognized instantly: a network of tefillin, placed exactly where he would stand.

Zvi's light spread through his accomplishments: one city, one traveler, one mitzvah at a time. This is what the project is preserving. We're spreading his light with Zvi's tefillin.

Est. 2025 · United Arab Emirates & The Gulf

"ZVI'S TEFILLIN"

Each set is stitched with Zvi's name and comes in two versions - a gold zipper for right-handed use, a silver zipper for left. A small tracker inside each pouch helps us keep track of them. At the project's launch, 60 men put on tefillin together, and 50 more sets were pledged in his memory.

A traveler putting on tefillin in the UAE

Every destination travelers visitTefillin stations are placed across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah - in tourist hubs and community members' homes. Sets are also available in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
One set never leaves RimonA permanent pair stays in Dubai's Rimon Kosher Grocery - the store where Zvi worked until the afternoon he was killed.
Now growing past the GulfThe next chapter takes this worldwide: partnering Chabad Houses everywhere will carry a set of Zvi's Tefillin for any traveler to borrow.

Add To His Story

Know Zvi, or visited one of his tefillin stations?

The family and community are still collecting stories, photos and videos of Zvi, and updates from travelers who've used a Zvi's Tefillin station. Reach out on Instagram or by email - every memory helps keep his legacy alive.

Share a story

The Route

From one grocery store in Dubai to the whole Gulf.

Zvi's Tefillin began at a single counter in Dubai and has since reached travelers across the Gulf.

The gold pins mark active stations - places you can borrow a set right now
The arrows trace the route from that first counter
The orange pin is Thailand, the next stop we're heading to.

Explore the map - zoom, pan, and tap any pin for details.

For every place he didn't get to visit, now his Tefillin can.

See it in action