Bo
Shemot (Exodus) 13:9, 16
“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…..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.”
When the great medieval sage, Rashbam (grandson of Rashi) described tefillin as an ornament to be worn like jewelry I doubt if he anticipated a time when the mitzvah of tefillin would be as neglected as it is today. Yet this mitzvah has always seemed to me to be one which is imbued with meaning on so many different levels.
First, putting on tefillin is a very concrete and tangible act that not only ties our hearts and minds to God, but invokes a verse of betrothal when wrapping the strap around the fingers such that it is as if each day we can re-consecrate our relationship with God in a fashion that mimics the most successful marriages.
Second, the tefillin have great historic and national significance for not only is Jewish literature replete with tales of brave Jews who donned tefillin in the most challenging of circumstances, but we have ancient tefillin in our possession discovered in the caves at Qumran that prove that this mitzvah has been observed continually for at least the last 2000 years.
Some note that two of the sources for the mitzvah are familiar to us from our daily recitations of the Shema where we may infer that the tefillin are pedagogic tools meant to remind us of the Oneness of God and of our special relationship with God.
Similarly, we can note that the other two sources are contained in this week’s parasha, Bo, where the mitzvah is commanded in the context of Pesah observances meant to perpetually remind us of the great miracles performed by God when we were freed from slavery in Egypt. This means that the tefillin not only serve to remind us of the special relationship we enjoy with the one and only God, but that at the foundation level of that relationship is our gratitude for the gift of freedom. Freedom is a foundation value of the Jewish people and of the Jewish religion.
How fortuitous then that we study this passage during the Shabbat when we commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of blessed memory. Dr. King devoted his life to guaranteeing that all human beings would know and enjoy this gift from God. And Dr. King died on the altar of freedom refusing to compromise his belief that every single human being had a right to claim this gift.
At Anshe Emet Synagogue we are once again commemorating Dr. King’s legacy in a variety of ways. Last Friday evening we hosted renown author, Richard Michelson, who spoke to our families about his award winning book for children, As Good As Anybody, which depicts the special friendship between Dr. King and the late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, of blessed memory.
This Friday night Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi will host our friend Pastor Chris Harris of Bright Star Church so that their two magnificent voices can raise our spirits to new heights in celebration of Dr. King’s legacy.
And on Monday, inauguration day, Rabbi David Russo, will lead a contingent of Anshe Emet adults and youths to spend the day engaged in communal activity with our friends at Bright Star Church.
This week when we put on our tefillin we will remember that every day we can commemorate the exodus from Egypt, the gift of freedom, and our arrival at an age when we are no longer judged by the color of our skin but by the content of our character.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Matt Futterman
Senior Educator
Rabbi Matt Futterman
Senior Educator
