Riddle: Which Jewish artefact is mentioned in this week's Parasha and where?
A: Tefillin - 13.9 & 16
Source - Tefillin by Aryeh Kaplan
Stone Chumash - Page 362 v.9,
Page 364 v.13
Singers Prayer Book - Page 8,10
The four parshiot inside the Tefillin:
Two paragraphs above, Shema and Vehaya Im Shemoa
The Torah talks of le'ot - a singular sign to be worn on the hand - so all four paragraphs are written on one piece of parchament (klaf)
Totafot (plural) - so the paragraphs are split into four, one box for each paragraph
Rashi - Sanhedrin 4b - Totafot alludes to 4 = Tat (in Katpi) = 2
Fat (in Afriki) = 2
Connection between Tefillin and the Exodus
We can easily understand why the two paragraphs of the Shema are found in the Tefillin - they remind us of the uniqueness of Gd (Hashem Elokeinu - Hashem Echad), the fact that we should learn Torah every day and what will happen if we stray and start worshipping other deities (2nd paragraph).
The Shema explicitly tells us that we must put the words of the Torah onto our doorposts and gates (Mezuzot) and put them onto our arms (near the heart - seat of emotions) and between the eyes, near the brain (our minds/intellect)
(1) The LORD spoke further to Moses, saying, (2) “Consecrate to Me every first-born; man and beast, the first issue of every womb among the Israelites is Mine.” (3) And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, on which you went free from Egypt, the house of bondage, how the LORD freed you from it with a mighty hand: no leavened bread shall be eaten. (4) You go free on this day, in the month of Abib. (5) So, when the LORD has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall observe in this month the following practice: (6) “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival of the LORD. (7) Throughout the seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten; no leavened bread shall be found with you, and no leaven shall be found in all your territory. (8) And you shall explain to your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I went free from Egypt.’ (9) “And this shall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead—in order that the Teaching of the LORD may be in your mouth—that with a mighty hand the LORD freed you from Egypt. (10) You shall keep this institution at its set time from year to year. (11) “And when the LORD has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and has given it to you, (12) you shall set apart for the LORD every first issue of the womb: every male firstling that your cattle drop shall be the LORD’s. (13) But every firstling ass you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. And you must redeem every first-born male among your children. (14) And when, in time to come, your son asks you, saying, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘It was with a mighty hand that the LORD brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage. (15) When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD slew every first-born in the land of Egypt, the first-born of both man and beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD every first male issue of the womb, but redeem every first-born among my sons.’ (16) “And so it shall be as a sign upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead that with a mighty hand the LORD freed us from Egypt.”
What was so unique about Yetziat Mitzrayim?
Judaism is different from all the other religions:
In other religions, you have a single person who says that he has a special message.
He gradually gathers a following.
These people spread the word and gather converts.
Soon, a new religion is created. This applies to virtually every single world religion - except for the Jews
What happened 7 weeks after the exodus from Egypt?
Gd gathers 600,000 men - or approx. 3 million people and reveals himself at Mount Sinai - Mass revelation.
Every man, woman and child experiences this.
Gd has created a bond, a covenant of love with the Jewish people.
Something that cannot be forgotten. This can only come about, because of the Exodus from Egypt. We must not forget where we came from, Who delivered us, what happened as a result - the giving of the Torah and subsequent Jewish history.
(9) But take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes and so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live. And make them known to your children and to your children’s children: (10) The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to Me, “Gather the people to Me that I may let them hear My words, in order that they may learn to revere Me as long as they live on earth, and may so teach their children.”
(14) And when, in time to come, your son asks you, saying, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘It was with a mighty hand that the LORD brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage.
(16) “And so it shall be as a sign upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead that with a mighty hand the LORD freed us from Egypt.”
In order to remember the Exodus from Egypt, we need to have a daily reminder - which tells us who we are, where we came from and what happened to us - we need to teach this to our children.
What is one artefact we can use to do this?
Tefillin.
Tefillin contain the ingredients that are instrumental to our faith:
Paragraph 1) Remember the Exodus
Paragraph 2) The obligation to teach this tradition to our children
Paragraph 3) The Shema - speaking of Gd's unity and our mutual bond of love
Paragraph 4) Vehaya im Shemoa - declaring man's responsibility to Gd
For each and every one of us, male or female, the Exodus is more than just sitting at a Seder and eating matzah. It is at the heart of the Jewish experience.
The Tefillin reminds us on a daily basis of this fact.
Why don't ladies need to wear tefillin?
Because you don't need that reminder!
You are automatically programmed to do all of the above.
The Kaballah teaches us the box we put the tefillin into is a called a bayit - a house.
The rituals that we teach our children start in the home. Without your presence (Shechinah is a feminine word), the Jewish chain will be broken.
You are the tefillin that bind your family together, physically, emotionally and spiritually!