The mitzvah of Tefillin carries profound symbolism for the continuity and eternity of Am Yisrael. Tefillin serve as a physical embodiment of the Bris, Covenant, between Hashem and His People. It is a mitzvah in which we physically bind the words of the Shema, the central declaration of our faith in Hashem, to our bodies. These two leather boxes, which contain within them pesukim of the Torah, are a daily reminder of Jewish identity and heritage hailing back to the exodus from Egypt. Thus, when a person fulfills the mitzvah of Tefillin daily, he not only serves Hashem, but he also reinforces his relationship with Yahadus, Judaism, by wearing the uniform and badge of Jewish commitment. This ensures the preservation and continuity of this and other mitzvos. By physically binding the words of the Torah to our bodies, we learn to integrate and infuse Torah and mitzvos into all areas and every aspect of our lives. Indeed, one who does not wear Tefillin is considered a poshea Yisrael b’gufo, one who sins with his body. As a result, throughout the millennia, people adhere to the mitzvah of donning Tefillin daily, even when (as during the Holocaust) one’s life was in mortal danger.
One never knows how his religious endeavor will inspire another Jew – regardless of his secularly-imposed distance from observance. V’ra’u kol amei ha’aretz ki Shem Hashem nikra alechah, “And the people of the land will see that Hashem’s Name is called upon you” (Devarim 28:10). Chazal teach that this applies to the Tefillin Shel Rosh, worn on the forehead. Wearing Tefillin is a badge of honor which manifests Hashem’s Name. Something otherworldly ensues when one gazes upon the Tefillin that a Jew is wearing. The following story underscores this idea.
An elderly Yerushalmi talmid chacham, Torah scholar, was a patient in Hadassah hospital, gravely ill, and, for the most part, neither awake nor lucid. The illness appeared to be taking over the man’s body, and the end seemed near. One morning, he suddenly woke up, struggled to get up in bed, and declared, “I would like to put on Tefillin in the main lobby of the hospital.” He did not simply want to put on Tefillin; he wanted as many people as possible to take note of it.
His children, who were by his side, had no clue about his motivation to make a public display of donning Tefillin, but who were they to question? If their father wanted something, they would fulfill his request. They obtained a wheelchair and wheeled their father down to the lobby, where the scholar made a big display of putting on Tefillin with all the proper kavanos, devotion/intentions. In a distant corner of the lobby, unnoticed by the family, was another patient. When he saw the man put on Tefillin, he became very emotional, stood up and stared transfixed at the man with his Tefillin. He could not remove his eyes from this elderly Jew who was wrapped in his Tefillin praying fervently.
The man walked over to the Jew’s children who had surrounded their father. He asked, “May I also put on Tefillin?” While they were preparing the Tefillin for him, he related that he had grown up on a secular kibbutz where religious observance was an anathema. Indeed, the last time he had worn Tefillin was at his bar mitzvah – seventy-five years ago. When he saw their elderly father, connected to the various tubes and in obvious pain, put on Tefillin with such vigor, he no longer could contain himself. A spark, the Pintele Yid, ignited within him, and he decided that he, too, would put on Tefillin. The man concluded his little speech, put on the Tefillin and broke down in bitter weeping. The remorse he had over the many decades of his life during which he had shunned Torah and mitzvos haunted him and evoked great emotion. At that moment, he asked for two witnesses to attest to override his will. He had willed his body to science, to be dissected at the medical school by aspiring physicians. This is one of the most flagrant expressions of rejecting the basic foundations of the After life and Resurrection. To defile a Jewish body is in and of itself a grave sin. He wanted to be buried as a Jew in a Jewish cemetery. All this transpired because a Jew, during the final moments of his life, wanted to display his devotion to Hashem by publicly putting on Tefillin.
