Tefillin

יקוק spoke further to Moses, saying, “Consecrate to Me every male first-born; human and beast, the first [male] issue of every womb among the Israelites is Mine.” And Moses said to the people,“Remember this day, on which you went free from Egypt, the house of bondage, how יקוק freed you from it with a mighty hand: no leavened bread shall be eaten. You go free on this day, in the month of Abib. So, when יקוק has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which was sworn to your fathers to be given you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall observe in this month the following practice: “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival of יקוק. 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. And you shall explain to your child on that day, ‘It is because of what יקוק did for me when I went free from Egypt.’ “And this shall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead —in order that the Teaching of יקוק may be in your mouth—that with a mighty hand יקוק freed you from Egypt. You shall keep this institution at its set time from year to year.

“And when יקוק has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, as [God] swore to you and to your fathers, and has given it to you, you shall set apart for יקוק every first issue of the womb: every male firstling that your cattle drop shall be יהוה’s. 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 male first-born among your children. And when, in time to come, a child of yours asks you, saying, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall reply, ‘It was with a mighty hand that יקוק brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, יקוק slew every [male] first-born in the land of Egypt, the first-born of both human and beast. Therefore I sacrifice to יקוק every first male issue of the womb, but redeem every male first-born among my children.’ “And so it shall be as a sign upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead that with a mighty hand יקוק freed us from Egypt.”

Hear, O Israel! יקוק is our God, יקוק alone. You shall love your God יקוק with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

For I will take away the names of the Be῾alim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name. And on that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild beasts, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them lie down in safety. And I will betroth thee to me for ever; and I will betroth thee to me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loyal love, and in mercies. And I will betroth thee to me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.

Rab Abin b. Rab Adda said in the name of R. Isaac : Whence is it that the Holy One, blessed be He, lays Tefillin ? As it is said, "The Lord hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength" (Is. Ixii. 8). "By His right hand" means Torah ; as it is said, "At His right hand was a fiery law unto them" (Deut. xxxiii. 2); "by the arm of His strength" means Tefillin, as it is said, "The Lord will give strength unto His people" (Ps. xxix. 11). But whence is it that the Tefillin are a strength to Israel? As it is written, "And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon thee, and they shall he afraid of thee" (Deut. xxviii. 10); and there is a teaching: R. Eliezer the Elder says : This refers to the Tefillin worn on the head. Rab Nahman b. Isaac asked Rab Hiyya b. Abin : What is written in the Tefillin of the Lord of the Universe ? He answered, "And who is like Thy people Israel, a nation one in the earth?" (I Chron. xvii 21). Does, then, the Holy One, blessed be He, glory in the praises of Israel ? Yes, for it is written, "Thou hast avouched the Lord this day" (Deut. xxvi. 17) and "The Lord hath avouched thee this day " (ibid. v. 18). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, "You have made Me the only object of your love in the world, so I shall make you the only object of My love in the world." "You have made Me the only object of your love in the world" — as it is said, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one" (ibid. vi. 4). "I shall make you the only object of My love in the world" — as it is said, "And who is like Thy people Israel, a nation one in the earth?" (I Chron. xvii. 21). Rab Aha b. Raba said to Rab Ashe : This is all very well with one case of the Tefillin ; what, however, of the other? He answered : [It contains the following :] "For what great nation is there," etc. (Deut. iv. 7), "And what great nation is there," etc. (ibid, v. 8), "Happy art thou, O Israel " etc. (ibid, xxxiii. 29), "Or hath God assayed to go" etc. (ibid. iv. 34), and "To make thee high above all nations" etc. (ibid. xxvi. 19). If so, it will have too many partitions ! Nay, "For what great nation is there" and "And what great nation is there," which are very similar, are in one partition; "Happy art thou, O Israel" and "Who is like Thy people Israel" in one ; "Or hath God assayed to go" in one ; and "To make thee high above all nations" in one.