Gov. Terry Branstad attended many menorah-lightings and welcomed the rabbi to his office many times during his years of service to the people of Iowa. For more than 30 years, America’s longest-serving governor maintained a warm relationship with Rabbi Yossi Jacobson of Chabad-Lubavitch of Iowa, who has led the state’s Jewish community with his wife, Chana, since 1992. But one thing had always remained just out of reach.

“While I offered several times over the years,” Jacobson told Chabad.org, “he never wanted to put on tefillin.”

But that changed last Monday.

Branstad, 79, who served 22 years as governor of Iowa and then as U.S. ambassador to China, is now retired and residing at an independent living center in Des Moines.

When Jacobson learned he was nearby, he reached out to arrange a visit.

The governor, though not well, is still sharp, and was very happy to welcome the rabbi. Jacobson brought along a kosher meal from Chabad’s popular deli, and a special pair of tefillin: those that were worn by his late brother, Shloimy.

Shloimy Jacobson passed away in April 2020 at the age of 33. Despite living with significant health challenges, Shloimy was known for his devotion to the mitzvah of tefillin. He would often cry while wearing them, and those tears, Jacobson said, had a way of moving people.

“The tears he cried in his tefillin weren’t bitter tears,” says Jacobson. “They're watering the dormant souls of the Jews in Iowa, even years after his passing.”

Shloimy never married and had no children. But his pair of tefillin have remained in use at the deli where the Jacobsons have greeted thousands of Jewish people over the years and give regular Torah classes. Hundreds of people have performed the mitzvah with these tefillin, including Jews who had never done so before, once they hear about how a special man had deeply cherished them.

It was Shloimy’s story that Jacobson shared with Branstad, and the governor was moved. When the rabbi asked if Branstad would like to perform the mitzvah with Shloimy’s tefillin, the answer—more than three decades after the first offer—was yes. Wrapping tefillin for the first time at the age of 78, the governor said the blessings and the Shema prayer, and shared how much he appreciated the visit.

Jacobson has two takeaways from the special encounter.

“It’s clear that it’s never too late for someone to perform a mitzvah. The neshamah is still there, just waiting for a chance to grab a mitzvah opportunity,” he says.

“And it’s a tremendous merit for Shloimy’s soul, and a credit to the special person he was, that he is still moving and impacting people. Through his tefillin, he lives on.”