Parshas Bo 5779

Rabbi YY Jacobson

• January 11, 2019
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• 5 Sh'vat 5779
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  Bo/Yud Shevat: The Secret of Tefilin: Get Out of Your Head

  First He Donated His Kidney; Now His Liver too

  Rabbi YY Jacobson

  • January 11, 2019

  Spend, Spend

  Freda comes back from her trip to Brent Cross shopping center and tells her husband Morris that she’s just bought another new designer dress.

  "What? You must be joking," Morris shouts. "That’s the third one you’ve bought this week. Where on earth do you think I’m going to find the money to pay for them?"

  "I may be many things, darling," Freda replies, "but inquisitive I’m not."

  I Never Tried

  Becky is having lunch with Hannah, the world’s most perfect ‘Princess.’

  Becky says, "My husband David is just impossible. Absolutely nothing pleases him. Tell me, Hannah, is your Marvin hard to please?"

  Hannah shrugs and replies, "I wouldn't know. I've never tried."

  The Gold Spoon

  At a bar mitzvah, most Jewish boys don tefilin (phylacteries). Yet many of them, never don them again.

  There is even an old story about it. As the catering staff are clearing up after Benjy’s bar mitzvah party, they notice that one of the glittering gold spoons is missing – and it’s the one from where Rabbi Bloom sat. So they tell the hosts, Timmy and Sarah, of the disappearance.

  "Can you believe it, Sarah?" says Tim, "But how can we call our Rabbi a thief? We’ll just have to keep quiet about it."

  2 years later, whilst out buying bagels one Sunday morning, Tim finds himself next to his Rabbi.

  "Timmy, I’m glad we’ve met," says Rabbi Bloom, "what’s the problem, why have you been avoiding me for 2 years?"

  Timmy replies, "Now that you ask, Rabbi, I’ve been avoiding you ever since we discovered one of our gold spoons missing from Benjy’s party."

  Rabbi Bloom says, "But why didn’t you ask me about this. I put the spoon in Benjy’s tefillin bag. He obviously hasn’t opened it since his bar mitzvah day…"

  So today, I want to share with you some of profound messages contained in these tefilin, with the hope that this can inspire us each of us to appreciate this mitzvah with more depth.

  The Tefilin

  The mitzvah of Tefilin (phylacteries) is mentioned four times in the Torah—and the first two are in the weekly Torah portion, Bo.

  Tefilin are a pair of leather boxes, one worn on the arm opposite the heart, and the second worn on the head above the hairline, aligned with the space between the eyes. Inside the boxes are parchment scrolls inscribed with four sections of the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 13:1-10; Exodus 13:11-16; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Deuteronomy 11:13-21), containing the fundamentals of Jewish faith.

  Tefilin are the quintessential Jewish “uniform,” donned by every Jewish male from the age of bar mitzvah. From Sinai to Jerusalem, Babylon to Masada, Auschwitz to Manhattan, through fire, sword, forced labor, prosperity and affluence—we carried it to this day, guarding the chain of transmission with our very lives.

  The Questions

  A few obvious questions come to mind.

  1) Why the need for the two boxes, one on the arm and one on the head? Why not just one of them?

  2) According to the explicit order stated in the Torah, we first wrap the tefillin on the arm, and only afterward don the tefillin on the head.

  מנחות לו, א: תנא כשהוא מניח מניח של יד ואחר כך מניח של ראש וכשהוא חולץ חולץ של ראש ואחר כך חולץ של יד. בשלמא כשהוא מניח מניח של יד ואח"כ מניח של ראש דכתיב (דברים ו, ח) וקשרתם לאות על ידך והדר והיו לטוטפת בין עיניך אלא כשהוא חולץ חולץ של ראש ואח"כ חולץ של יד מנלן אמר רבה רב הונא אסברא לי אמר קרא והיו לטוטפת בין עיניך כל זמן שבין עיניך יהו שתים.

  In fact, according to many halachik authorities, if you reversed the order, putting first on the head tefillin and then the arm tefillin, you need to remove the tefillin, and start over again in the right order![1] Why is this order so significant?

  3) When it comes to removing the tefillin, the order is reversed. As the Talmud deduces from the Torah text, you must never don the head-tefilin without having on you the arm tefillin. Thus, when we wrap the tefillin, we don the head tefillin after the arm tefillin, and when it comes time to remove the tefilin, we take off the head tefillin first, and only afterward the arm tefillin. That way we are never wearing our head tefillin independently. But why? Why does the Torah care if you are wearing the head tefillin without the arm tefillin? What’s the big deal?

  4) We begin, as we said, with wrapping the arm tefillin. But before we complete this process, prior to wrapping it around out finger, we take a break, we don the head tefillin, and then we go back to the arm and conclude with wrapping the arm tefillin around our finger. Why don’t we finish with one, and then move on to the other?

  5) The tefillin we place upon our head is conspicuously divided into four sections, each chamber, or box, contains another fragment of parchment inscribed with one portion of the Torah. In contrast, the tefillin we place on our arm is conspicuously made of one chamber, and all the four portions are inscribed on a single piece of parchment placed in one container or box. They both contain the identical four chapters, but the placement is so different. Why?

  6) We always wrap the tefillin on our weaker arm. If you are a righty, you don your tefillin on your left arm; if you’re a lefty you wrap it on your right arm. What is the significance in that? Should G-d’s uniform not decorate the stronger arm, the one used more often and more effectively?

  It was during a public address exactly 50 years ago, on Wednesday, Shevat 10, 5729, January 29, 1969  (and then during a second address, eight years later, on Motzaei Shabbos Parshas Bo, 10 Shevat, 5737, January 29, 1977), when the Lubavitcher Rebbe offered a beautiful explanation.[2]

  Two Dimensions of Judaism

  Jewish life consists of two aspects—the head and the arm.

  The “head” of Judaism represents our love for learning and the workings of the mind. Over millennia we developed a culture of studying, debating, reflecting, analyzing, and achieving extraordinary intellectual heights. The mitzvah of Torah study is considered one of the greatest mitzvos of the Torah, if not the greatest.[3] This is something unique to Judaism, where learning for the sake of the learning, even without practical relevance, is seen as a Divine commandment, as a way of connecting to G-d. While great Empires and nations were building armies, gymnasiums, cathedrals, and colosseums, we were sitting in Batei Midrashim (synagogues, yeshivos and centers of learning), studying, arguing, dissecting, and pondering.

  We are the people whose heroes are teachers, whose citadels are houses of study, and whose passion is learning and the life of the mind. Even in times when they lacked all else, Jews never ceased to value education as a sacred task, endowing the individual with dignity and depth. In the Warsaw Ghetto there was classes in the Talmud, and (lehavdil) in Yiddish poetry.

  Rabbi Jonathan Sacks tells the story of when he fell deathly ill.[4] “Many years ago, I was rushed into the hospital with a life-threatening condition. I was rushed straight from my doctor to hospital, had an operation, and it saved my life. I was just waking up from Anesthesia, when there’s a knock on my hospital door. There an 80-year-old Jew with a volume of Gemara (Talmud) under his arm. saying, “Oh, I heard you were here Rabbi Sacks. I thought we could learn Gemara together!”

  “I’m trying to die, and he wants to learn Gemara!”

  What a Jewish story! Yes, we live in our brains, sometimes to a fault.

  But Judaism has another side to it—its “arm,” representing action and implementation. To be a Jew is not only to exercise the brain, to be an educated, knowledgeable Jew, a proud member of the “people of the book.” That is important but it’s not all. Judaism’s greatness is that it takes the highest ideals and most exalted visions and turns them into patterns of daily behavior and activities, we call Mitzvos.

  Judaism is not only about profound philosophical, theological, spiritual, psychological and social ideas. It is something the Jew lives every moment of his life, in words and in actions. It is the dedication of ordinary people to construct, through daily ordinary acts, a fragment of heaven on planet earth. It is a 613-step program toward perfecting ourselves and the world around us—actions through which we carve out our selves and the world around us to reflect the image of the Divine.

  Not Only in the Head

  That is why we don daily a pair of tefillin, one for the head and the arm. You may read many books on wellness, nutrition, eating and living healthy. But if you don’t implement the ideas and visions in real actions, in real time, day after day, hour after hour, it is futile. The Book of Books is not only about ideas; it is G-d’s instructions how to live in our daily lives, as a member of His people, as His ambassador in this world.   

  There are those who have made the error that a Judaism of the mind will suffice. Many great Jewish minds of the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th century thought that Jewish intellectualism will have the power to maintain Jewish identity and keep it vigorous. It did not work; most of their children and grandchildren assimilated and were lost to our people. I can’t only be a Jew “in my head;” I must be a Jew “in my arms,” the same arm with which I throw a football. I need to live like a Jew—in thoughts, words, and most importantly actions!

  She Sent Out Her Arm

  It is not a coincidence this mitzvah is communicated to us by Moses, on the day we left Egypt, under his leadership.

  If there was anyone who understood the power of the “arm” over the “head” it was Moses; and if there was ever a day it was appreciated—it was on the day of Egyptian Exodus, when the long drama between Moses and Pharaoh came to an end.

  As we recall, from the beginning of Shemos, Pharaoh had decreed death for every male Israelite child. Yocheved, Moses’ mother, had a baby boy. For three months she was able to conceal his existence, but no longer. Fearing his certain death if she kept him, she set him afloat on the Nile in a basket, hoping against hope that someone might see him and take pity on him. This is what follows:

  Pharaoh’s daughter went to bathe in the Nile, while her maids walked along the Nile’s edge. She saw the box in the reeds and sent out her arm to fetch it.[5] Opening it, she saw the boy. The child began to cry, and she had pity on it. “This is one of the Hebrew boys,” she said.[6]

  Note the choice of words. “She sent out her arm!” The natural thing for her to do was to save him only in her head. After all, for her to bring him home was absurd and dangerous. It would be like brining a child to Hitler’s home in 1942. In her mind she could save him, but nit more. She might have pondered in her brain what a pity it is on this poor little thing; maybe try to strategize in her brain how she might defy her father’s orders, or to try to make sense of Egyptian madness.

  Had she done that, Moses might have never lived. Thank goodness, she did not live in her head. “She sent out her arm!” She translated a noble and heroic gesture into pragmatic action. She stretched out her arm and saved the baby.

  The rest is history.

  The Weak Arm

  Sometimes I feel “my arm is weak.” I can think about it, but I can’t do it. Actions are often so difficult. I can talk the talk, but can I walk the walk?

  So the tefillin is placed on the weaker arm of the two, to represent the vital need to empower and infuse even our weakest arm with the vibrancy and passion to get the job done.

  Zorba The Greek

  This coming Wednesday, the 10^th of Shevat, marks the 69^th yartzeit of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, and the anniversary of the leadership of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1950-2019).

  The late Mr. Gordon Zacks was general chairman designate of the National UJA and was a founding member and chairman of the Young Leadership Cabinet of the UJA. In his book Defining Moments he shares details of his audience with the Rebbe in 1969, when the Rebbe tried to encourage him to embrace more of Yiddishkeit and asked him to give Chabad 100 million dollars he was trying to fundraise for Jewish education in America.

  Zacks writes:

  The Rebbe quoted Kazantzakis' book ‘Zorba the Greek’ to me during our conversation. "Do you remember the young man talking with Zorba on the beach, when Zorba asks what the purpose of life is? The young fellow admits he doesn't know. And Zorba comments, 'Well, all those books you read -- what good are they? Why do you read them?' Zorba's friend says he doesn't know. Zorba can see his friend doesn't have an answer to the most fundamental question.

  “’That's the trouble with you. A man's head is like a grocer,' Zorba says, 'it keeps accounts... The head's a careful little shopkeeper; it never risks all it has, always keeps something in reserve. It never breaks the string.' Wise men and grocers weigh everything. They can never cut the cord and be free.

  “Your problem, Mr. Zacks, is that you are trying to find G-d's map through your head. You are unlikely to find it that way. You have to experience before you can truly feel and then be free to learn. Let me send a teacher to live with you for a year and teach you how to be Jewish. You will unleash a whole new dimension to your life. If you really want to change the world, change yourself! It's like dropping a stone into a pool of water and watching the concentric circles radiate to the shore. You will influence all the people around you, and they will influence others in turn. That's how you bring about improvement in the world."

  Zacks concludes: “He may not have gotten exactly what he wanted from me, but the Rebbe surely taught me the power of changing yourself to influence others. He wanted to enlist me as his fundraiser for Jewish education. While I certainly considered his invitation, I declined it. Still he may have been the most charismatic man I ever met. He had an incredible aura to him, partly because he was such a combination of charisma and pragmatism. This man came out of the scientific community to return to the religious life. Every Israeli prime minister and Israeli chief of staff found his way to the Rebbe's doorstep when they came to the United States.

  “The essence of the Rebbe's teaching is celebration of G-d. The Chabad radiate a wonderful joy of life that is a reverberation of the Rebbe's spirit. I wish I could believe the way they do, with their absolute confidence in their answer. Their sheer love in celebrating the Jewish traditions with singing and dancing is unmatched. Nothing equals the celebration of a Shabbat with a Chabadnik. The food is homemade, delicious -- though not necessarily healthy for your arteries -- but it's only the beginning of the positive energy that flows in each Shabbat from celebrating the birthday of the world!”

  Time to Learn

  But tefillin on the arm is not enough.

  Judaism is not only about routine, rituals, and behaviors. It may begin this way but should never end this way. G-d wants you to learn, study, reflect, understand and appreciate with your minds whatever you can of the Torah and Mitzvos. The Creator desires not only commitment and actions; He wants you to use your mind to the fullest, to actualize your intellectual potential to its maximum, to learn more and then more, and then some more.

  In the words of the Rambam:

  רמב"ם הלכות תלמוד תורה א, ח: כל איש מישראל חייב בתלמוד תורה בין עני בין עשיר... ואפילו בעל אשה ובנים חייב לקבוע לו זמן לתלמוד תורה ביום ובלילה שנאמר והגית בו יומם ולילה.

  אור החיים כי תבוא כו, יא: ירמוז במאמר וכל הטוב אל התורה, כאומרם ז"ל (ברכות ה.) "ואין טוב אלא תורה", שאם היו בני אדם מרגישין במתיקות ועריבות טוב התורה, היו משתגעים ומתלהטים אחריה, ולא יחשב בעיניהם מלוא עולם כסף וזהב למאומה, כי התורה כוללת כל הטובות שבעולם.

  In the words of Rabbi Chaim ben Atar, the Ohr Hachaim:

  If people would sense the sweetness and delight and goodness of Torah, they would go insane, running after it with an explosive passion. In their eyes, an entire world of silver and gold would be considered valueless, because the Torah encompasses all the good of the world.

  The Right Order

  We first wrap the tefillin on our arm, then on our head. There is deep symbolism in that.

  You can’t wait for your brain to get it all before you begin acting. It would be like waiting till you understand everything about the chemistry of the doctor’s prescription before you take the medicine to heal the infection. By all means go to pharmacy school for four years, but if you wait to inject the medicine till you graduate, there may be no one left waiting…

  If he is a trusted doctor, take the prescription now and then go study it.

  Imagine your child tells you, mommy, daddy, I will not eat until I understand how digesting eggs, cheese, salad, fish, or chicken will give me energy, vitality, and life. After I understand how a cucumber will be converted into my blood, then I will consume it.

  Oy. By all means, study biology, food chemistry, and the digestive system. It is beyond stupendous. But don’t wait till you graduate medical school to have your first meal. On the contrary, if you eat now the foods that your loving parent prepares for you, will have the stamina and energy to be able to pursue your studies and understand why we eat these foods.

  The most trusting physician, and most loving parent, has prescribed 613 mitzvos for the Jewish body and soul. There are infinite layers of depth and meaning in each of these mitzvos and their nuances. You can and should spend a lifetime studying Torah, appreciating Yiddishkeit, trying to grasp G-d’s mind and plan, but don’t wait to start eating the foods your soul needs until you get it all.

  And even as you travel from arm to head, you must ensure that when the tefillin is on your head, the other tefillin always remains on your arm. As the Mishnah puts it in Ethics of the Fathers: “Anyone whose fear of sin precedes his wisdom, his wisdom will endure. And anyone whose wisdom precedes his fear of sin, his wisdom will not endure."[7] Wisdom without moral actions to accompany it is empty, shallow, and vain. For scholarship and wisdom to endure it must be preceded and accompanied by “fear of sin,” by dedication to G-d and His instructions. Never allow your head to be detached from your hands. Tefillin on the head devoid of tefillin on the arms can be at best meaningless and at worst even dangerous.

  Nobody cares how much you know, until they know much you care…

  Thus, even after you spend a life-time of learning and understanding, the grand finale is always with the tefillin on the arm. Again, as Ethics of the Fathers teaches us: “The essential thing is not study, but deed.”[8] The bottom line, the punch line, must be deeds and actions.

  The Saint

  For me, the greatest illustration for the compelling power of this message is in the heroism of my dear colleague, the Chabad ambassador to Teaneck, NJ.

  As the New York Post, in an article this past Wednesday, January 9, 2018, phrased it:[9]

  “It wasn’t enough that he donated his kidney to a stranger 10 years ago: Last month, a 50-year-old Teaneck, NJ, father of nine gave part of his liver to save yet another stranger.

  “Little wonder why some people think Chabad Rabbi Ephraim Simon is a saint.”

  I think I agree with the NY Post. And remember, for a “rabbi” to get the title “saint” in the media is history! Usually, they have other titles reserved for rabbis…

  This is no simple feat, my friends. A living liver donation is a risky surgery in general, but especially when a person only has one kidney. Then the risk is greater since excessive bleeding could compromise the remaining one kidney.

  But Rabbi Simon didn’t flinch. He has a full-time job, is a very busy Rabbi, and is a father of nine, yet he traveled to the Cleaved Clinic. He underwent a seven-hour surgery, spent a day in ICU, and then a full week in the hospital. During the surgery one-third of Rabbi Simon’s liver was transplanted into a 44-year-old Long Island Jewish father of three.

   “I was never scared,” he says. “The only thing I was afraid of was failing the test to match. So many people pass away waiting for an organ. A few days of discomfort, and I’m back to myself, and this person will have a long life ahead of him.”

  Adam Levitz, the recipient of the rabbi’s latest gift, was moved to his core. “Who knows how long I’d be waiting for a donor?” says Levitz, who feared he’d never see his 17-year-old twins graduate from high school this spring.

  “And Rabbi Simon never asked for anything in return.”

  It was Chaya Lipschutz — a Borough Park-based “kidney and liver matchmaker,” as she describes herself — who first connected the two strangers in October. “Rabbi Simon was plotzing to do this. It’s extremely unusual to do a double organ donation. There are no hospitals in New York that will allow kidney donors to also donate part of their liver.” That’s why he had to go to Cleveland. “It’s much riskier to donate a liver than a kidney — it makes kidney extraction look like a walk in the park.”

  So why did he do it?

  This is what Rabbi Simon told the Post. “I always talk about living a life that matters and sacrificing for others; now I can be a living example of that.”

  The rabbi and his recipient met right before the surgery at the hospital, their families by their side. Rabbi Simon said to him, ‘We’re going to be connected for life; we’re going to be brothers. I’m going to be at your kids’ weddings,’ says Levitz, who’s still recovering in the hospital.

  .

  And he’s not done yet, says Simon, whose community is raising money for him to recoup some of the costs accrued by his donation. “I donate blood regularly and I’ve been on the Gift of Life registry for years. If there was more for me to give, I would do it tomorrow.”

  Here you have a living embodiment of the mitzvah of tefillin, where head and arm are synchronized in such a seamless way.

  Differentiation Vs. Oneness

  This is why the head tefillin is differentiated, where the arm tefillin is holistic. The head tefillin represents the working of the mind, dissecting, dismembering, breaking thigs apart, examining, scrutinizing. The fertile mind takes must take things apart, if it is to do its job right.

  The arm tefillin, in contrast, represent commitment, dedication, action. It is holistic, unified, and integrated. I am completely committed to the cause.

  What is more, on the "head" level — the analytical level — Judaism is profoundly diversified. The Talmud is filled with debates and disputations. We have a mosaic of ideas and perspectives, each one reflecting another dimension, another ray of truth. But when it comes to actions, we have the Halacha, the verdict of how we do it. There is one way.

  It’s like in marriage. Diversity between couples is desirable. Debates between spouses are normal, even healthy at times. Let each party argue his or her point. Let each one listen to another point of view; let every husband and wife learn what the world looks like from the other’s “window.” However, on the "arm" level — the level of implementation and action — there must be one path, one verdict, one pattern of behavior. If not, chaos might reign, and the home will suffer. Children know how to identify the weak spot, the point of contention, and will intensify the discord and undermine structure in the home. On an action level, husband and wife need to form one united unbreachable front. If not, the home will fall apart.

  Same in Judaism. On a “head” level we debate and debate, and then debate some more. But for Judaism to survive, it always had the “halacha,” the singular way in which we did things, followed by all Jews equally. This is what held our “home” together.     

  Yadin’s Train Ride

  Yigael Yadin (1917–1984) was a well-known Israeli archeologist and politician, and the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.

  At the age of fifteen he joined the Haganah (pre–State of Israel Jewish paramilitary organization) and served in various military positions during Israel’s War of Independence in 1948. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces in 1949. At age thirty-five he left the military, and began his life’s work in archeology. As an archeologist, he excavated some of the most important sites in Israel, including Masada.

  The following story he wrote in his book Chavayotav Shel Archeolog Yehudi (Experiences of a Jewish Archeologist):[10]

  Shortly after the Six-Day War, I purchased an antique object for the Shrine of the Book, a division of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The article I purchased turned out to be an ancient pair of tefillin with all four of its parshiot (tefillin scrolls). This tefillin was later verified to be the oldest known tefillin in existence today, written during the Second Temple era.

  The ancient script was exceptionally small. When certain questions arose regarding these tefillin, it was necessary for the scrolls to be analyzed by equipment which at the time was to be found only in the central police lab in Tel Aviv. So, one day, carrying photocopies of the tefillin scrolls that had not yet been seen by anybody but myself, I found myself riding the train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Obviously, what I was holding in my hand—worth millions and millions of dollars—was top secret.

  The town of Kfar Chabad is one of the stops on the way from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. At the Kfar Chabad station, some young men boarded the train and started making the rounds through the train’s cars. I was actually used to this scene: the Chabadniks would go from person to person, trying to get people to lay tefillin.

  Soon it was my turn to be approached. I politely refused, but couldn’t help noticing the foreign accent of the young man who asked me to lay tefillin.

  “Where are you from?” I asked.

  He informed me that he was a recent immigrant from the Soviet Union.

  “And did you lay tefillin in the Soviet Union?” I wondered aloud.

  “I’ve been laying tefillin every day since my bar mitzvah.”

  When I heard that, I reconsidered. “If you did this mitzvah in the repressive Soviet Union, I won’t be the one to refuse you now in the Jewish homeland!”

  I put on tefilin with this young Chabadnik from the Soviet Union.

  Little did this boy know that Yigal Yadin was one of the most famous figures in Israel and was holding at the time tefilin that were written by a Jew some two thousands or 2500 years earlier, during the era when the Chanukah events transpired!….

  Before getting off the train in Tel Aviv, a woman approached Yigal Yadin while still sitting on the train.

   “Professor Yadin, I am glad that you agreed to the request of that young man—who obviously did not recognize who you are.

  “You see, my son, also a Chabadnik, was a paratrooper who was mortally wounded in battle near the Suez Canal (in the Six Day War). Before he died, the members of his platoon visited him in the hospital. His last request of them was that they lay tefillin. In my mind, when you donned tefillin today, you too joined in fulfilling my son’s last request, moments before he died.”

  [Although Yigal Yadin did not know this, the fallen hero in this story was Rabbi David Marasow, a resident of Kfar Chabad. Immediately after the Six-Day War, his widow, Shifra, spearheaded the Chabad effort to benefit the widows and orphans of the soldiers who perished during the war. She arranged holiday programs, a camp, and grand bar and bat mitzvahs for the orphans. Following the war, the family of every slain soldier received a financial compensation package from the government. Mrs. Marasow (Golombovitz) selflessly used this money allotted to her to purchase tefillin for all the orphans, due to her husband’s last request!]

  Yigal Yadin continues the story:

  I found myself fighting back tears. “What a remarkable chain of events!” I told her. “I have in my pocket photocopies of the oldest known existing tefillin. I cannot think of anything more appropriate than to show them to you at this moment!”

  Yigal Yadin took out the tefilin and showed them to Mrs. Marasow.

  Think about the story:

  Yigal Yadin was a brilliant Jew—dedicated to the security and history of Israel. In his hand, he carried tefillin 2000 years old, for which he dedicated years and years to discover, research and preserve. Yet, it did not dawn at him that he should also put on tefillin!

  His deep connection with the tefillin was via his mind!

  But on that train ride he met a Soviet Jew who gave his blood, sweat and tears for Yiddishkeit. Yigal Yadin met a Jew not only in the head, but also in his entire body. And this inspired him! He saw not only the head of Judaism, but the arm of Judaism. He observed, commitment, sacrifice and conviction. He saw real actions, which are far louder than words and ideas. When he met the Russian Jew and the Chabad widow, his heart melted. His head submitted to actions. He donned tefillin with pride, humility and joy.

  This is the power of living Yiddishkeit, not just a Judaism which lives in the brain, but a Judaism which breathes and lives and vibrates through the entire body.

  So today, consider donning something of Judaism on your arm. We all learn, come to shul and study. But take on an action!

  Protection

  And there is something else about tefilin. “And all the nations of the world will see that the Name of G-d is upon you and they will fear you, the Torah states.[11] What does it mean that "the Name of G-d is upon you"?

  The Talmud[12] quotes Rabbi Eliezer the Great who explained that the verse refers to the tefillin worn on the head, which bear the letter Shins symbolizing G-d's name. These are visible to the eye and have the spiritual power to inspire fear in the hearts of our enemies.

  Today is a time when we need the protection offered by tefilin. I want to request that all of us should increase our dedication to the mitzvah of tefilin. Those of us who put on tefilin daily, should be extra sensitive to its holiness, and should influence others to wear tefilin. Those of us who don’t yet put them on daily, should try to put on tefilin each day.

  May the tefilin protect all of our brothers and sisters the world over, and bring us the redemption speedily in our days, now!

  ---

  [1] It is a famous argument between the Magan Avraham and the Taz, see Likkutei Sichos vol. 19 Vaeschanan.

  [2] Toras Menachem and Sichos Kodesh 5729, and 5737. A small part of it was published in Likkutei Sichos vol. 34 Vaeschanan and Likkutei Sichos vol. 19 Vaeschanan. The Rebbe did not address all the above questions (only four of them), but the answer sheds light on all these questions, and many others as well.

  [3] Mishnah Peiah 1:1. Cf. Tanya chapters 5, 23, 37.

  [4] http://rabbisacks.org/greatness-jewish-watch-rabbi-sacks-remarks-2017-olami-summit/

  [5] According to one interpretation in Midrash and Rashi. Alternatively, she send forth her maid to fetch him.

  [6] Exodus 2:6.

  [7] Ethics of the Fathers, 3:11

  [8] Ethics of the Fathers 1:17

  [9] https://nypost.com/2019/01/09/selfless-rabbi-saves-2-lives-a-decade-apart-with-organ-donations/ 

  [10] http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/522826/jewish/Tefillin-on-the-Train.htm

  [11] Deuteronomy 28:10

  [12] Talmud Berachos 6a

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