Tell Me Why
Now You Know
I"
3/23
2001
AA
time you used it in conversation?
Second, the term comes from the
New Testament; you can find the
word, a derivative of the Greek phy-
lakterion, in Matthew 23:5.
Phylakterion means "safeguard" in
Greek, suggesting that tefillin are
some kind of good-luck charm.
While Judaism certainly has its
share of believers in so-called lucky
charms (ranging from the most secu-
lar to the most observant Jews), this
has absolutely nothing to do with
Halachah, Jewish law. God doesn't
watch over you more closely because
you wear a chai necklace. And if the
word ley, heart, has been inadver-
tently rubbed off on your mezuzah
scroll, it doesn't mean God is certain
to deliver heart trouble to someone
in the household; what it does mean
is that you need to get the scroll
repaired.
It's bad enough when people think
a necklace bearing a Magen David is
lucky. The whole notion that a
specifically religious item like tefillin
is a good-luck charm is preposterous;
Jews do not use tefillin for good
luck, but because it is a command-
ment to do so.
Exodus 13:9 and 13:16, along with
Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18, all
make mention of the tefillin,
though, interestingly enough, the
word "tefillin" is never used.
("Tefillin" is not used, but "totafot"
is — and no one can really provide
an accurate translation for this.)
Instead, Jews are commanded to
place a symbol "on the hand and
between the eyes." This is to remem-
ber that God redeemed the Jewish
people when they were slaves in the
Land of Egypt and took them to the
Promised Land. Tefillin also serve to
remind wearers to obey God's com-
mandments.
So what, exactly, is inside the
tefillin?
The box placed on the hand has
biblical passages written by a scribe
on one parchment. The box used on
the forehead has four compartments
inside, each of which contains a sep-
arate parchment bearing a different
passage. Though there are, of course,
plenty of theories, no one is certain
as to why one box has four separate
parchments and the other has just
one.
On the papers are written:
Exodus 13:1-10
Exodus 13:11-16
These passages recall how God
brought the Israelites out of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Deuteronomy 11:13-21
Once A Jew,
Always A Jew?
Can you convert out of Judaism?
These contain the Sherpa.
There is a precise way in which
caliph, Omar. After the surrender of the
tefillin must be applied, and this
Elizabeth and Phillip Applebaum
city, Omar visited Jerusalem and ascend-
starts with the way you write. Lefties
Special to The Jewish News
ed the Har ha-Bayit, the Temple Mount,
wear a tefila on the right hand, while
where the ancient Jewish Temple,
righties wear it on the left. Now why
Q: According to many rabbis, a
destroyed by the Romans, once stood.
would you place a tefila on the
Jew who chooses to believe in Jesus
Mohammed, the founder of Islam,
weaker of the two hands? The
cannot be a Jew. How, then, can a
was familiar with many Jewish tradi-
rahavtah, in speaking of the tefillin
Jew remain a Jew by following
tions. Through the Koran, his followers
and mezuzah, states, "And you shall
Krishna, Lao Tzu, Zoroaster, the
also came to know Jewish lore, hence
bind them for a sign upon your
Buddha or Confucius? These were
Omar's interest in the Temple site.
founders and leaders of pagan reli-
hand," then "and you shall write
Thus,
even though Jerusalem was occu-
them on the door posts of your
gions that undermine Judaism and
pied
mostly
by Christians, it is not sur-
all its teachings. Hinduism, for
house."
prising that Omar and his Arab follow-
The rabbis interpreted this to
example, says that millions of gods
ers chose to identify the city with its
mean that "the hand that writes
exist, while Judaism believes in one
Jewish
origins.
must be the same hand that binds."
God only. If one can't be consid-
They
called it Bayt al-Maqdis, the
(Obviously, if you are left-handed,
ered a Jew if he follows Jesus, then
Arabic
adaptation
of the Hebrew term,
you will be doing most of your
how can anyone be called a Jew
(the
Holy Temple). Al
Beit
ha
Mikdash
wrapping with that hand, and vice
who claims to be an atheist?
Quds
is
a
contraction
of the original
From reader kW in Chicago
versa.)
Arabic
name.
Tefillin are affixed only after one
A: For generations, there has been a
Q: My best friend and I are so
has put on a tallit. This is because in
consensus among rabbis and Torah
depressed. No more Barbra Streisand
Judaism, it is proper to perform the
scholars that a person's status as Jew
concerts — ever, what are we going to
more frequent ritual first. One uses a
(either by birth or conversion) is
do? As we prepared, tearily, to watch
tallit everyday, while tefillin's appli-
permanent. One cannot convert out
her farewell appearance last month,
cation is limited.
of, or be expelled from, Judaism. A
we got into a debate about exactly
Occasionally, tefillin make an
Jew may reject Judaism or profess a
when and where Streisand got her
appearance in some Hollywood pro-
new religion, but he or she is still
start in films. I say she made her
duction and it's virtually always
obligated to live by the Torah's 613
debut in Funny Girl. My friend says
wrong, wrong, wrong — much like
commandments. The Talmud, in
no way, that an unknown would never
those insipid movie scenes that show
Sanhedrin 44a, expresses this view
have received the lead in such a big
Jews putting on a tallit to light
emphatically: "A Jew, even though he
film. Who is right?
Chanukah candles, or simply as they
has sinned, remains a Jew."
A: You are. While Streisand certainly
are walking down the street on an
Nonetheless, probably most rabbis
did not begin her acting career in Funny
ordinary day.
would agree that if a Jew abandons
Girl (in fact, she got started the old-
While in talmudic times men actu- Judaism then he or she, although Jewish
fashioned
way: on the stage), this was
ally did wear tefillin all day long, no
under the law, is not functionally Jewish.
indeed
her
first film. She starred as
one does this today, and tefillin are
His or her mindset and lifestyle are so
Fanny
Brice
in the 1968 movie, then
used only at specific times, namely
divergent from what Judaism expects of
madeyet
another
huge film, Hello,
morning davening.
a Jew that he or she, in effect, lives as a
just
one
year
later.
Dolly!,
Different customs exist as to
gentile. This holds true for apostasy to
Soon
after
making
the latter, Streisand
whether tefillin should be used dur-
any religion or to atheism.
remarked,
"Stardom
didn't
sit well with
the
intermediate
chol
hamoed,
Q:
I
know
that
non-kosher
food
is
ing
me.
It
drove
me
into
analysis,
it gave me
days of Sukkot and Pesach.
called treife. What exactly does this
psychosomatic
illnesses.
I
all
of
a sudden
Chasidim and Sephardim generally
mean?
thought,
what
do
people
expect
of me?
do not, while many other Ashkenazi
A: The literal translation of treife
You
know,
how
great
do
I
have
to
be?
Jews do. But no one uses tefillin on
(which, incidentally, is correctly pro-
And
to
live
up
to
people's
expectations.
Shabbat or the holidays. This is
nounced tray-fah, not trayf) is "torn." It
It was tough, it was really tough."
because by observing these days,
comes from Exodus 22:30, which states,
Q: True or false: a brit can be held on
Jews already are showing their devo-
"You shall not eat any flesh that is torn
Kippur?
Yom
tion to God, whereas any other day
[treife] of beasts," meaning, animals
A: Assuming the baby is healthy, a brit
most likely will be consumed with
killed by other animals in an open field.
can be held any day of the week, on any
ordinary and mundane activities.
The word has since come to include all
Jewish
holiday, including Shabbat and
Additionally, Jews do not use
foods that are not kosher.
Yom
Kippur.
This is because the rabbis
tefillin following news of the death
Q What is the origin of Al Quds, the
regarded
the
ceremony
an exceedingly
of a family member and until after
Arabic/Muslim name for Jerusalem?
important
commandment,
and it must
the funeral. This is becaise Jews are
A: Its origin is in Judaism and Hebrew.
be
performed
on
the
8th
day
after a
to regard the use of tefillin as a priv-
In 638 C.E., Jerusalem was conquered
baby's
birth
unless
the
child's
health
ilege that brings joy, and it's improp-
from the Byzantines by the Muslim
would
be
endangered.
er to be feeling happiness after a rel-
Arabs under the leadership of the second
ative has just died.
—
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