Nov 12 2007
I thought I would take a break from denominational disputations to write a bit about one of my favorite Jewish spiritual practices - laying tefillin. If you are not sure what that means, go study here. As a Jewish male, I am obligated to put them on each weekday morning, and since I began doing so I have found it to be a very centering and powerful way to begin my morning prayers and my workday. Incidentally, Jewish women are not obligated to lay tefillin (one of the time-bound mitzvot), but, especially in non-Orthodox environments, they are allowed to do so if they choose to. The practice is an ancient one, and it is quite a tangible way that we are connected each morning to thousands of years of Jewish tradition.
There are many things to learn about laying tefillin. If you are curious, I highly recommend Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s excellent book “Tefillin” as a place to start learning.
Kaplan explains the laws and customs of tefillin from Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Chassidic perspectives, gives excellent instructions on how all three groups wrap them, and discusses the significance of the practice from a whole litany of texts. I highly recommend this book, and really, any written by the late Rabbi Kaplan, z”l.
Once the tallit has been put on, the tefillin are taken out. The first one, the shel yad, goes on the weak arm (left arm for a right-handed person), with the blessing for the mitzvah of tefillin being said. Next, the shel rosh goes on the head, and again a blessing is said. Then the strap of the shel yad is wound around the middle finger and hand with the following, from Hoshea 2:21-22, being said (thanks to Siddur Sim Shalom for the translation):
“Thus says the Lord: I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you with righteousness, with justice, with love, and with compassion. I will betroth you to Me with faithfulness, and you shall love the Lord”
Then you’re set for the morning prayers.
Beginning my day with this practice does a number of things. It reminds me each morning that no matter how I feel, I am, in fact, a Jew, with all of the associated responsibilities and joys. It makes me aware that I am a link in the chain of transmission extending back thousands of years in our history as a People. Because the batim (the “boxes”) contain written texts from the Torah, I am reminded of the centrality of our holy texts to our spiritual life and mission in the world as an ohr l’goyim, a “light to the nations.” When I rap the strap around my finger in the Ashkenazi fashion, I remember the vow I took personally at my conversion, and we took collectively as a people, to our G-d. Even the tell-tale marks left on my forearm for a little while after I take the tefillin off remind me that right down to my skin, my membership in Am Yisrael is sealed, my duties intact. If Shabbat is our “palace in time” as is argued by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, z”l, then tefillin are our crowns. In fact, they are called such by the rabbis.
Another aspect of tefillin is that although I know Jewish women are now taking up this practice, and I don’t begrudge my sisters this right, I feel my identity as a Jewish man reinforced in the observance of this mitzvah. The masculine nature of this practice is borne out by non-Orthodox movements too, especially Conservative Judaism, in that 1) the binding nature of the mitzvah on men is upheld, and 2) the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, a Conservative/Masorti organization, organizes a “World Wide Wrap” to encourage Jewish men to take up the practice. I feel strongly connected to our sages, our rabbis, and our generations of Jewish men who have come before, when I lay tefillin each day.
Feel free to post your comments, questions, or observations about your own observance of this mitzvah!
kol tuv,
Yair
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Yair,
Thank you for this post! Although laying tefillin is not something I feel necessary to my Jewish observance, I admire those who choose to keep this commandment! Having recently read the Rashi’s Daughters series I got to experience the fictional account of the daughters taking on tefillin. Of course there are many sources that cite women of the middle ages laying tefillin (curious how only recently women have reclaimed this mitzvah).
But thank you for this informational, and personal insight on tefillin for you!
Hi Chaviva,
Thanks for your comments. I’ve not read the Rashi’s Daughters books, but I have often almost done so, and hope to, maybe this winter. Imagine having your dad be Rashi….
Regarding women and tefillin… I am not sure, as I haven’t studied it thoroughly, but a guess would be that once the codes started being written and used (Shulchan Aruch in particular), much of the freedom that allowed a much less uniform approach was lost. Things like excluding women from time-bound mitzvot became the rule, instead of just a loophole which allowed them to miss such things on account of raising children, etc… allowance of a break became a mandated prohibition, at least in custom. But this is only a guess…
Thanks!
kol tuv,
Yair
I also lay tefillin daily. I think of it as one of the most important practices of my observance. Honestly, it’s right there in the core of the v’havta, “And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.”
Maimonides said in the Mishneh Torah, “one who reads the Shema without tefillin is as if he testified falsely against himself. He who does not lay tefillin transgresses eight commandments; for in each of the four biblical passages there is a commandment to lay tefillin on the head and on the arm. But he who is accustomed to lay tefillin will live long.”
It’s really an amazing way to start your day. I’ll second Yair’s observation that you feel part of a chain stretching back thousands of years. There’s not much like it to be found in our transient secular modern culture.
Taking on the mitzvot of tefillin is also a great way to sharpen your Hebrew and davening skills. If you commit to lay tefillin you are simultaneously making a commitment to say at least a good chunk of the morning prayers.
Plus, don’t you want to be able to tell the Chabadniks on the street that you appreciate the offer to lay tefillin but that you already have done it this morning?
Hi Akiva,
Actually, I did tell the Chabad guys at the Kotel that when I was in Jerusalem in May :). I went there every day for Mincha and to soak in the atmosphere - lived in the Old City for 4 days… could spend a life time there - and when I went on the last day to distribute the rest of my tzedakah to one of their rabbis, who in turn could get it to a poor family, he asked if I wanted to lay tefillin. I told him, “I already did this morning.” He asked if I have my own set, and I said yes, at which point he gave me a big thumbs up.
Here’s an interesting note: according to that R. Aryeh Kaplan book I wrote about, the mitzvah of tefillin can be minimally fulfilled simply by putting them on and saying the requisite blessings before taking them off. I think for some folks it is easier to start with this, and adding the Shema, V’Ahavta, V’Haya, and V’Yomer, and eventually other prayers. Tefillin can be the anchor that keep new(er) daveners learning and growing, which is something all of us can encourage.
kol tuv!
Yair
Nice post! I have more to add but it’s time for bed now, so maybe tomorrow.
However I wanted to a moment and comment on the following from your last comment Yair.
according to that R. Aryeh Kaplan book I wrote about, the mitzvah of tefillin can be minimally fulfilled simply by putting them on and saying the requisite blessings before taking them off. I think for some folks it is easier to start with this, and adding the Shema, V’Ahavta, V’Haya, and V’Yomer, and eventually other prayers. Tefillin can be the anchor that keep new(er) daveners learning and growing, which is something all of us can encourage.
It’s funny that you say this because just tonight I was reading that very book by Kaplan and thought to myself “yup, that’s how I’m going to do it. Nice and simple and I can just slowly build on things”.
FYI I just bought my first pair of Teffilin last Friday, so I’m just learning all of this stuff right now for the first time.
Again nice post Yair!
PS Akiva I tried sending you an email tonight. If by chance it didn’t make it to you, would you mind dropping me a line via our contact page? thanks.
Hello,
I recently found this site, I wish I had found it a few years ago, while I was “in process”.
After finishing my conversion, I used to wear my tefillin daily, and lately I have become lazy and finding all reasons to stay up late, and wake up late, and rush off to work, and only on some days perform this mitzvah. Even on Sundays I have been lacking. But I love the mitzvah, I liked the way I felt when I first put on tefillin at a WWW function, and I feel good in the day after doing this. When I completed my conversion I bought a pretty nice set, which have worn quite well for me, needing only minor maintenance.
So I am happy to have read this post, and I will apply myself to resume the daily mitzvah. I really think it is important, as someone mentioned, it IS right there 2 times in V’havta and Vyomer, central to our most revered prayer, yet seems to be put on “optional” basis by many.
Anyway I ramble. Thank you for this post.
Avi -
“FYI I just bought my first pair of Tefillin last Friday, so I’m just learning all of this stuff right now for the first time.”
Mazel Tov! As someone told me when I got my first tallit - you should live to wear it out! If you haven’t already, say shecheyanu when you put them on the first time.
It is absolutely fine to start with as little or as much tefillah as you are comfortable with. Just to say the blessings will fulfill the mitzvot. I was taught to read at least a bit of Torah as well, the V’havta being a perfectly respectable amount.
I sometimes am forced to put them on a bit later in the day instead of first thing. It is fine to put them on anytime during the daylight (AFAIK), but the later you let it slide the harder it is to make time for it in my experience.
As a convert I think it is of extreme importance to fulfill these mitzvot. They reinforce your connection to Hashem on an everyday basis.
For myself I found taking on negative mitzvot (the “thou shalt not’s”) to be easy. No pork? No problem. No work on Shabbat? No problem. The positive mitzvot are much harder for me to fulfill. I constantly fret about having given enough tzedaka, or having done any acts of kindness recently. In my experience, tefillin are an easy bridge to more actively doing more positive mitzvot.
As I said yesterday Yair, Great Post!
You hit on something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and have actually discussed with Tamara a couple of times now.
You said:
Incidentally, Jewish women are not obligated to lay tefillin (one of the time-bound mitzvot), but, especially in non-Orthodox environments, they are allowed to do so if they choose to.
I wonder if this is actually true from within a conservative context. Now, I buy what you’re saying of course from an Orthodox point of view. However from an egalitarian Conservative point of view, views show no one where women are viewed as spiritual equals and in fact can become rabbis, does your statement still hold true?
I’m not sure that it does. Here’s a quote from an article titled “Conservative Judaism” by Rabbi Craig Scheff that illustrates one of the reasons why I’m not convinced.
Conservative Judaism reinterpreted women’s roles in Judaism based on the idea that in today’s world, nothing prevents a woman from assuming the same religious obligations that men have.
So bearing the above in mind are women (at least those who participate from within an egalitarian Conservative framework) truly NOT obligated to perform ” time bound Mitzvot”? I’m not sure what the answer is but I’m certainly not convinced that it is definitively a no. I mean if I think about it in terms of true equality, it can’t just be about ” equal access” because men don’t have it as an option and therefore maybe he quality in tales that it not be an option for women either but rather an obligation.
Doesn’t there need to be some sort of consideration or at least awareness in terms of this being about more than just writes and actually can or should be considered more in terms of rights and responsibilities from within an egalitarian framework?
Anyhow, like I said I’m not claiming to have the answer here nor my suggesting that it should be one way or the other. But you brought something up in your post that I’ve been thinking about recently and I thought I’d take it as an opportunity to bring up the issue.
PS Akiva - Thanks for the kind words!
Hi Avi,
Regarding women and tefillin, the sources I have checked indicate that according to Conservative approaches to Halakha, women are NOT bound to the time-bound mitzot, but can choose to take them up. Here’s a female Conservative rabbi writing on the topic:
“Jewish law considers tefillin to be a time bound positive commandment. Women are exempt from such commandments (Mishna Berakhot 3:3; Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 38, 3). Nonetheless, Halakha (Jewish Law) does not forbid women from putting , on tefillin. They can decide to take this commandment upon themselves. The Conservative Movement tends to encourage women to put on tefillin, especially as Rabbis, but this remains an individual choice. At the Jewish Theological Seminary, putting on tefillin is mandatory for Rabbinical students, but not in the Rabbinical Seminary of the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem where the decision is left to each woman. On the issue of tefillin as in many issues, the Conservative Movement is pluralistic in their application of Jewish Law.”
Rabbi Monique Susskind Goldberg
January, 2006
So, in this light, egalitarian does not mean equal obligation, but equal opportunity. Conservative approaches to Halakha do not require women to take these on, because there is not a reason to do so, but it does not discourage, and in many cases encourages, women to take them on. In particular, as Rabbi Susskind Goldberg points out above, female rabbis should consider doing so, and certainly MUST know the halakha associated with tefillin.
Consider the quote you offered:
“Conservative Judaism reinterpreted women’s roles in Judaism based on the idea that in today’s world, nothing prevents a woman from assuming the same religious obligations that men have.”
The key phrase there is “nothing prevents a woman from ASSUMING the same religious obligations that men have.” Women are free to take up these obligations, but they are not there as a matter of fact for all Jewish women. The fact that nothing prevents a women from laying tefillin does not mean she is obligated to do so.
Egalitarianism isn’t about dissolving gender differences, it’s about not using gender as a reason to deny either group access to the tradition, recognizing the importance of both male and female voices. I am glad the distinctions exist in a way that allows us to share the things to which men are bound and women choose to take up.
kol tuv!
Yair
Yaakov,
Thanks for your comments, and for dropping by our blog!
kol tuv,
Yair
Avi,
One more thought I had after I posted a reply above…
I mentioned that opening time-bound mitzvot like tefillin up to women is not the same as obligating women to them, and I outlined the halakhic reasoning behind this position. What I forgot to mention was that there is a counter argument to the idea that egalitarianism means women are now obligated to these mitzvot, and it is based on fairness. Here’s an example:
I know two wonderful Jewish women, one of whom is a rabbi, the other about to be a rabbinical student. The former feels no affinity to the mitzvah of tefillin, the latter lays them every day. While fairness - e.g., egalitarianism - opens the door for the soon-to-be student to lay tefillin as her heart desires, it would not be fair to women like the former, who have no interest in taking up the practice, if being in an egal atmosphere meant needing to feel bound to mitzvot to which Jewish women have NEVER been bound in the history of our people.
Just two more shekelim from your bro up north :)!
kol tuv,
Yair
Wow Yair well researched response and one which clarifies the situation rather nicely!
Thanks!
Hello boys! Here’s a bit from a Conservative rabbi at a shul in New Haven, writing on the topic of women and teffilin: http://www.beki.org/womentefillin.html
In sum: “It is essential for each Conservative Jew to be aware that the approval of our Rabbis today for women to wear tefillin is based on a fulfillment of our tradition. While one may legitimately question whether it is advisable for women to wear tefillin (and I encourage men and women alike to wear them), and while a religious leader of a community has it within his or her legitimate rabbinic discretion to endorse or censure the practice, it is sheer ignorance to claim that women wearing tefillin has not been permitted by our sages or could not be consistent with Jewish law. At the same time, the ruling of one’s own rabbi on this and most other issues is definitive for their own community.”
Forgive me if someone already posted this
Thanks Chaviva, it seems that your info seems to support Yair’s .
Yair:
Thanks for the post. Laying tefillin in the morning is my favorite mitzvah, and an essential part of starting my day. Putting on the tallit and tefillin in the morning before prayer helps me create a tangible sense of the sacred around me, of sacred space, and helps me focus on the fact that I have set aside this time solely for communing with the Divine.
When I put on the tefillin I too think of all the ages of Jews who have done the same reaching back through time. The oldest pair of tefillin in the world was found preserved in the ruins of Masada. They are exactly the same as the tefillin of today. On every level, it is a beautiful practice and a beautiful way to start the day.
Hi Yankel,
Thanks for your comments! On a related note, I bought a new tallit when I was in Tzefat in May, and a week later I used it for the first time when I was in the ruins of the synagogue on top of Masada. I forgot my tefillin in my bag back in the youth hostel :(… but breaking in the new tallit standing on the edge of the ruins where the rebels prayed, facing Yerushalayim across the Judean Desert, was sort of mind blowing, and profoundly moving. I can’t remember if I saw the tefillin you mentioned in the museum there, but I have read that before too. Anyway… my point about the tallit is that the sacred choreography of wrapping yourself in the tallit and then laying tefillin is, indeed, creating sacred time and space for communication with G-d. It’s an unbeatable part of observance, I share your thoughts there.
BTW, I know you regularly attend the Shacharit minyan at Chabad, but largely consider yourself Conservative… do you lay Chabad tefillin, or Ashkenazi? I think the Chabad minhag is really nice, but as my community is Ashkenazi, that’s my practice…
kol tuv!
Yair
Yair:
It’s funny you should ask because right up til today I was using Chabad teffillin. But Avi sent me the website of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs (the umbrella group for Conservative Men’s Clubs) and bought a pair of tefillin from their site. I just got them Friday and I’m going to use them this morning for the first time.
When I told my Rabbi about it he was not happy. He started saying something about how the intentions of the sofer at the time the tefillin were made influences their efficacy as tefillin. I don’t think he’d go as far as to say they were unKosher, but I’m sure he was thinking it. I’m bringing them to him today so he can adjust the knots. It’ll be interesting to hear what he has to say,
But yes, everything I know about tefillin I learned from Chabad so I do it in the Chabad way. Which brings me to a question:
When Chabadniks wrap teffillin on their forearms, after they’ve wrapped three times on the upper arm, they count the first wrap leading from the upper arm to the forearm as 1/2 of a wrap, then wrap six times around the forearm, and count the 1/2 wrap leading from the forearm to the hand as 1/2 wrap, making seven in all. But in the longer video that’s on Avi’s post about tefillin, the rabbi says you wrap the forearm seven times, that is seven full wraps, and doesn’t mention 1/2 wraps. How do you do it?
And by the way, praying shacharit at Masada? It gives me chills just thinking about it. That must have been something.
Hi Yankel,
It’s interesting to me that you rabbi said that about the FJMC tefillin… that’s where I got my current set, and they are very nice. I got the deluxe ones, and they are of a quality that would cost much more through a Judaica shop. And, they are all kosher. About the intention of the sofer (and this is in humor, not anger) - who’s to say the Chabad sofer who made yours wasn’t having a bad day when he made yours? Maybe he’s a big Jets fan :). The FJMC ones are made by Orthodox scribes from what I understand. Although, I think that Conservative Judaism would have a lot more soul if we would be able to have our institutions train our OWN rabbis in sofrut, etc… But that’s a discussion for another post!
About wrapping - I count seven full wraps on the forearm, which is the Ashkenazi method. FJMC sells tefillin for the Sephardi minhag as well, but since I am in an Ashkenazi community - like most of us American Jews who are not Chassidic - that’s what I went with. Anyway, seven wraps on the forearm, toward yourself and over the top, and after wrapping the middle finger, the strap is wound to make a shin on the back of the hand.
And yes, Shacharit at Masada was incredible. I will remember it for as long as I live, no question.
Good luck getting your knots adjusted, and enjoy your new set!
kol tuv,
Yair
I bought the exact same set. They look and feel just like the tefillin Chabad uses.
Since I wrote you this morning I took the tefilliin into my Rabbi for him to inspect. He says it’s not a question of whether the tefillin is kosher or not, but it’s a difference between just kosher and glatt kosher. He said, for example, halacha demands that certain parts of the the tefillin, I think the bases of the boxes, have to be made from the skin of the same kind of animal. Some sofers cut corners and don’t follow this particular halacha. The workmanship also could be sub-standard, and flaws in workmanship could indicate flaws in following halacha in more important parts of the tefilliin.
But mostly I think that his lack of trust of them stems from the fact that they weren’t done the Lubavitch way, so how can it possibly be right?
My knots are adjusted, I changed the hand knot to the Chabad style this afternoon, tomorrow I break them in.
Yair:
My Rabbi checked out our tefillin, and they pass! He said they were made by Oter Israel, a very reputable and kosher distributer. Now we can wrap with confidence!
Yankel:
Thanks for the note! I was just wondering today about that (in horror), realizing that they did not come with a STaM certificate. I assumed they were kosher when I bought them, because the USCJ insists on this standard, but I was starting to wonder… and your post is very reassuring!
Thanks again!
Yair