B"H
This week's portion, Parshat Bo (בא), translating as "Come," remembers the final three plagues experienced in the land of Pharaoh: locusts, darkness, and the eminent death of the Egyptian firstborn sons. A calendrical system of sorts is established, and the details of the Passover sacrifice are detailed. Through this sacrifice, the Hebrew people's firstborn sons are spared as G-D carried through with his final plague. Finally, Pharaoh frees Moses and the Hebrew people from slavery. Without a second to spare, the Hebrews pack up their belongings (and borrow treasures from the Egyptians), the firstborn Hebrew children are consecrated before G-D, and the tradition of Passover is established in ridding one's house of leavened goods, i.e.: the holiday of...you guessed it - Passover (פסח, Pesach). The commandment of wearing tefillin (תפילין) is codified as a reminder of G-D's actions in freeing the Jews from Egypt.
G-D gives to the Jewish people the first of many commandments this week (interesting timing with the secular calendar this year given this week also commemorates New Years), and the final commandment involving tefillin is of particular interest to me. For my non-Jewish readers, tefillin are unfortunately a bit difficult for me to describe...the English equivalent I've heard is "phylacteries," which is also not a particularly useful word. For a visual, just do an image search for "tefillin..." ... they are those black doohickies. Basically, they are black leather boxes containing a prayer written on a piece of parchment, and they are attached to long straps. A person has a pair of tefillin--one wraps seven times on your arm and the other on your head. A specific order is associated with the action and special prayers are said in accordance with this ritual. Jews who observe this custom will wrap the tefillin (more colloquially, the action is called "laying" tefillin) during weekday morning prayer.
In a prayer that I say when I wake up and go to sleep called the Shema (שמע), there is clear reference to G-D's commandment to lay tefillin, with the English translating something like: "And you shall bind [the tefillin] as a sign on your hand and they shall be a symbol upon your forehead." Although, I would be lying if I attest that I fulfill this commandment each and every day. People who know me, my customs, and my spirituality would readily recognize that I'm DEFINITELY not the stereotypical picture of an "observant Jew." Sure, some customs I do observe very strictly, but laying tefillin... honestly, I think the last time I laid tefillin was on my Birthright trip with Hillel at the George Washington University (three years ago today upon looking at some old photos I have from the trip...wow how time flies)! Laying tefillin is a tradition my dad introduced to me in conversation, but my synagogue's congregants didn't have a lot of people who readily observed this custom...as I recall in the few times I actually attended weekday morning service. However, in the times I can probably count that I have laid tefillin, I can certainly say, somehow in the complexity and meticulous nature of the ritual, it instills a very powerful spiritual connection to G-D.
While I cannot reconcile the fact I don't lay tefillin daily, I can say that my intention behind the act is present everyday. Let me elaborate: this commandment requires one's total focus. Actually, it is forbidden to speak or be distracted when one allows themselves in the embrace of tefillin. Another tradition is that the arm-tefillah (tefillah is the proper singular for tefillin) is placed on the weaker arm (so right-handed people put it on their left arm, and left-handed people put it on their right arm). This custom symbolically allows us to recognize that our strength is derived from our connection with G-D in the fulfillment of this mitzvah (commandment). In my very abbreviated, and technically non-complete act of daily prayer, when I make these prayers, I dedicate all that I am, in the minutes I give, in my prayer to G-D. For me, especially in morning prayer, I praise G-D for the strength G-D gives to me, my friends, and my family, for I recognize G-D's contribution to my life each and everyday.
So, the big take away from Bo and the act of laying tefillin: find a way to reflect daily on the good in your life. Forget the stress, the anxiety, the worry...and be thankful for all of the wonderful things in your life. Many religions, faiths, and cultures have somewhere in their texts this isolation and introspection. However you personally wish to express that satisfaction: through tefillin, meditation, daily prayer...whatever is meaningful to you, may it be a blessing for you.
As for me, I pray that I continue to foster my connection to my faith in daily prayer and that perhaps I find the personal strength to one day approach the humble act of laying tefillin.
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