Tag Archives: Egyptian Mythology

Mysteries & Secrets of Tefillin

At the end of this week’s parasha, Ekev, we read one of four passages in the Torah that speak of the great mitzvah of tefillin. In the list of 613, tefillin is actually two separate mitzvot—one for the head, and one for the arm. Some even say that tefillin counts as eight mitzvot, since we should multiply by four for the four times the Torah speaks of it! (Menachot 44a) Today, the mitzvah of tefillin is one of the best-known practices in all of Judaism, thanks in large part to the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s tefillin campaign starting in 1967, in the days leading up to the miraculous Six-Day War. We find many Jews who are otherwise secular or unaffiliated still laying tefillin every day. Following October 7, demand for tefillin was so high that there were reportedly shortages. Yet, tefillin binding hasn’t always been so widespread and well-known.

The Talmud (Berakhot 47a) suggests that one thing distinguishing Torah scholars (talmidei chakhamim) from the general public (am ha’aretz) is that the latter do not don tefillin. Even in responsa literature from the times of the Geonim (roughly 500-1000 CE), we find Jews asking if tefillin should be worn by all Jewish men, or if it was specifically reserved for great rabbis and Torah scholars. More puzzling still, we find that no other prophet besides Moses speaks of them, and there is no explicit mention of tefillin anywhere in the rest of Tanakh. Nor is there any historical or archaeological evidence of tefillin prior to about two millennia ago. Tefillin may just be the most mysterious Torah mitzvah we have. Where did it really come from, and what secrets does it contain? Continue reading →

The Bone of Resurrection and the City of Immortals

This week’s parasha, Vayetze, begins with Jacob’s famous vision of the Heavenly Ladder. This occurred at a place called Beit-El (literally “House of God”), which our Sages identified with the Temple Mount, where the House of God would be built in the future. The Torah makes sure to point out that the place was originally called “Luz” (Genesis 28:19). The same word appears one more time in this week’s parasha, when Jacob stimulates his sheep to produce different spots, and uses luz as a visual cue for them (Genesis 30:37). Rashi comments that luz is a type of nut, and says that in (Old) French it is called “coldre”. The Old French Anglo-Norman Dictionary defines “coldre” as a hazelnut. In Modern Hebrew, egozei luz refers to hazelnuts, too. Alternatively, it may refer to an almond, as the Midrash (Kohelet Rabbah 12:5) says:

“…and the almond shall blossom” (Ecclesiastes 12:5) Rabbi Levi says this refers to the luz of the vertebrae. Hadrian (may his bones be crushed and his name blotted out) asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah: “From what will man ‘blossom’ in the future?” He replied: “From the luz of the vertebrae.” He said to him: “Prove it to me.” [Rabbi Yehoshua] had one brought; he placed it in water but it did not dissolve; he put it in fire, but it was not burnt; he put it in a mill but it was not ground. He placed it on an anvil and struck it with a hammer; the anvil split and the hammer was broken but all this had no effect on the luz.

The wicked Roman emperor Hadrian (who crushed the Bar Kochva Revolt, during which Rabbi Akiva was executed, among countless others) once questioned Rabbi Yehoshua as to how people could be resurrected in the future if their bodies completely decompose. Rabbi Yehoshua answered that there is a special, tiny, nut-like bone in the human body, along the vertebrae, that is indestructible. From this bone, God will rebuild the entire person. Anatomically-speaking, which bone is this? Continue reading →