{"id":41075,"date":"2018-09-27T09:41:45","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T06:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=41075"},"modified":"2022-05-02T17:18:21","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T14:18:21","slug":"tefillin-and-exodus-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/tefillin-and-exodus-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Tefillin and Exodus 13?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Exodus 13 contains some strange imagery, with our chapter including two passages (in reality one extended passage) that are among the texts inside both head and arm <\/span>Tefillin<\/span><\/i>. \u201cIn four places the Torah mentions <\/span>Tefillin<\/span><\/em>\u201d, says the Midrash <\/span>Mekhilta Derabbi Yishma\u2019el<\/span><\/em>, referring to Exodus 13:1-10, Exodus 13:11-16, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Deuteronomy 11:13-21. The two Deuteronomy passages cited are the first and second paragraphs of the Shema prayer, but the Exodus verses are not recited as prayers, being only encountered in the liturgy during the Torah reading of <\/span>Parashat Bo<\/span><\/em>. Their mention of <\/span>Tefillin<\/span><\/em> is taken for granted by the rabbis, resulting from a parallel in the language of Exodus 13 to that of the <\/span>Shema<\/span><\/em>, both of whose first two passages talk of tying words as a sign on one\u2019s hand and having them as <\/span>Totafot<\/span><\/em> (a very rare Hebrew word of uncertain derivation) on one\u2019s forehead.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hebrew word rendered as \u201csymbol\u201d in Exodus 13:16 is the same <\/span>Totafot<\/span><\/em> on one\u2019s forehead known from Deuteronomy, and the \u201creminder\u201d in Exodus 13:9 is also on the forehead. In addition, both these Exodus verses mention a sign on the hand. Here then is a connection to the <\/span>Shema<\/span><\/em>, and by extension to <\/span>Tefillin<\/span><\/em>, although unlike the <\/span>Shema<\/span><\/em> these verses include no mention of tying, nor of words.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Exodus verses state clearly what it is that the sign \/ reminder (or symbol) signify \u2013 namely the Lord\u2019s \u201cmighty hand\u201d that freed the people from Egyptian slavery. (The Shema <\/em>verses, in contrast, do not make clear what it is that the signs they mention are supposed to signify).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Whereas in the <\/span>Shema,<\/span><\/em> words themselves constitute signs, the signs in Exodus are rituals that are described in some detail. Exodus 13:3-8 talk of eating no leavened bread on the day of the Exodus from Egypt, and of a commemorative week of eating only unleavened bread, ending with a festival. It is these practices, combined with their evocation of the Exodus to one\u2019s children, that \u201cshall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead\u201d in verse 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the following section verses 11-13 discuss the rituals of consecrating, or alternatively redeeming, human and animal first-born males. Verses 14-15 specify that a child asking for an explanation of these practices be told of their connection to the slaying of the Egyptian first-born. In verse 16, in a parallel to verse 9, this \u201cshall be as a sign upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

What is meant by holiday and first-born rituals becoming a sign \/ reminder \/ symbol on hands and foreheads? To Rashi\u2019s grandson Rashbam (Rabbi Samuel ben Meir) it is all plainly metaphorical. He explains as follows, in his commentary to verse 9: <\/span>\u201c\u2018As a sign on your hand\u2019: According to the fundamental meaning \u2013 it should be a permanent reminder for you, as though written on your hand \u2026\u2019On your forehead\u2019: Like a piece of ornamental jewelry or gold band, customarily placed on the forehead.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

image: Medieval arm-tefillin found in the Cairo genizah. By Julius H. Greenstone, Joseph Jacobs, Ludwig Blau, Emil G. 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