Rabbi Azriel Balter once came to the Apter Rav. He noticed that the Apter Rav donned Rabbenu Tam’s tefillin before U’va LeTzion.
He asked him: how can it be? – R’ Velvel (R’ Binyomin Ze’ev) Balter saw the Besht put on Rabbenu Tam’s tefillin only after his prayers.
The Apter Rav answered him, what kind of a question is that? The Besht always recited Kedushah (Doxology) together with the angels. When he reached the phrase “they receive one from another” (Mikablim den m’den), the angels received more from the Besht than he did from them.
We – the Apter Rav said further – do not receive anything from the angels and they certainly do not receive anything from us. It would be as logical to don tefillin for Kedishah as it would be to recite kiddush over challah instead of over wine.
The story was related by R’ Yitzchak Meir – who himself heard it from his father – the Apter Rav.
Y.F.
Pinchas Landau