A Lost Tallit Bag, a Determined Lady and an Act of Kindness

On Sunday afternoon, Lauren Wallenstein was walking past a bus stop at National Boulevard and Barrington Avenue when something caught her eye: a tallit bag, a tallit prayer shawl and a yarmulke. 

The bag, seated on the bench, featured beautifully embroidered depictions of Jerusalem’s Old City, a Torah scroll and a dove. The tallit and kippah, meanwhile, just lay there seemingly discarded, nearly tossed away into an adjacent trash can. 

“It seemed incongruous. ‘This is a bus stop bench and that is a tallis,’” Wallenstein later recounted in an interview. “’Why is it here?’”

A West L.A.-based human resources consultant, Wallenstein decided these ritual objects did not belong at a random bench. 

Fortunately, stitched in needlepoint in the bag’s top-left corner was a clue: The name, “Justin,” along with the Hebrew name, “Yosef,” written in Hebrew letters.

In an often-harsh world, Wallenstein decided to be the change she wants to see. She’d take the bag and find “Justin,” whoever and wherever he was.

Justin Field, 32, spent Saturday at IKAR, the Mid City-based egalitarian congregation, with his girlfriend, Jordan Richard-Craven. 

While there, they met Hannah Roth, an IKAR board member. The couple explained to Roth they intended to get married and have kids, and lately they’ve been “shul-hopping,” looking for a synagogue to join and call their own.

Richard-Craven, who isn’t Jewish, and Field, who identifies as Reform, have been taking an introductory Judaism course with Rabbi Tarlan Rabizadeh, Vice President, Director of the Maas Center and Miller Introduction to Judaism program at American Jewish University, as they’d like to raise their future children Jewish, Field explained to the IKAR leader. At one point during services, the two stood and recited the “visitor’s Aliyah.”

Later that Saturday, the couple returned to their home in Mar Vista. But Field left his tallit bag — which featured embroidered images of the Old City, a Torah scroll and a dove, as well his name stitched in the corner — inside the car, as he always had.

And he’d unintentionally left his car unlocked.

Around 2 a.m., camera footage shows someone breaking into Field’s car. The perpetrator walked up to the vehicle, opened the unlocked door and took several items, including Field’s hat, his work keys and the tallit bag. 

While Field was fortunate nothing else had been taken, the tallit bag had sentimental value. His grandmother had given it to him for his bar mitzvah when he was 13. She had handmade the bag as well as the atarah (collar) on the shawl.

If he could somehow get it back, he’d be grateful. 

Meanwhile, after finding the items on Sunday afternoon, Wallenstein’s first action was contacting the executive director of her synagogue. She let her know she was trying to track down the bag’s owner. 

The synagogue director was happy to assist. She reached out to her network of temple administrators and sent them a photo of Field’s tallit bag, which had been provided to her by Wallenstein.

One of these synagogue administrators, Jodi Berman, posted the photo of the tallit bag on Facebook along with the message, “What’s the Jewish Internet for? For this! I got a notification from a colleague that this was found at a bus stop at National and Barrington. Surely Jewish Facebook can help find Justin!”

In her message, Berman tagged Jewish writer and influencer Esther Kustanowitz, who has more than 6,000 followers on Facebook. Berman figured that Kustanowitz, who knew virtually everyone in the Jewish community, could help. 

Kustanowitz reposted the message about the tallit bag to her own followers.

One of the people who saw the post was Roth, the IKAR board member that Field had met that previous Saturday. She remembered having met a “Justin” at IKAR and his saying something about doing a class with Rabizadeh. 

So, this person tagged Rabizadeh in a post. 

Rabizadeh, in turn, confirmed the bag belonged to Field. She provided the director of Wallenstein’s shul with his contact information. Now, Wallenstein and Field could be in touch.

Ultimately, the work of tracking down Field took just a few posts and a few hours. 

On July 23, just three days after Wallenstein recovered the tallis bag from the bus stop, she met Field in person so that she could return it to him.

Just three days after Wallenstein recovered the tallis bag from the bus stop, she met Field in person so that she could return it to him. 

In separate interviews, the two reflected on the odd but heartwarming experience.

“I was shocked by the speed and efficiency of it all,” Wallenstein said. “Literally hours after this whole thing had begun, I saw a stack of emails coming into my inbox, and I saw [one from] Justin.”

“In a metropolis the size of L.A., to get this needle in a haystack reunited with its owner,” she added, “it’s wild.”

That Wallenstein cared enough to take the bag with her and attempt to find Field meant a lot, he said. This, coupled with the fact that several people had taken time to post about the bag, demonstrated the power of Jewish community. 

In an often-harsh world, a small act of kindness paid off.