Kriat Shema Al Hamitah (Part 10)
“The amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more.”
Wilson Mizener – American Playwright
The first paragraph of the Shema concludes: “Bind them as a sign upon your arm and let them be totafot between your eyes. And write them on the doorposts of your home and upon your gates.”
There is so much that can be written about Tefillin. The spiritual power that they generate. How their physical elements blend with the spiritual elements. How the box of the Arm Tefillin is positioned so that it points towards the heart and how the Head Tefillin sits on the fontanelle because the fontanelle represents our intellect and our intelligence which is found in the brain, and the heart is the center of our emotions. Rabbeinu Bachya (Kad Hakemach) writes that one of the underlying lessons that Tefillin portrays is that we must utilize both our hearts and our intellect to serve Hashem properly. Our hearts to love Him, and our intellect to recognize Him.
I would like to focus on one feature about Tefillin, which Rabbeinu Bachya draws to our attention. He points out that the Arm Tefillin and the Head Tefillin are not constructed exactly the same. The Arm Tefillin has only one compartment with one piece of parchment containing four paragraphs from the Torah, whereas the Head Tefillin is divided into four distinct compartments, each one containing one paragraph written on a separate piece of parchment. Rabbeinu Bachya brilliantly connects the single compartment of the Arm Tefillin and the four compartments of the Head Tefillin to our five senses. The five senses are touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. The sense of touch is centered around the arm, while the other four senses – sight, hearing, smell and taste – are all centered around the head. That is why there is one compartment for the Arm Tefillin, representing the sense of touch, and four compartments for the Head Tefillin, representing the other four senses. Rabbeinu Bachya eloquently describes how, when we put on our Tefillin, we are binding together our five senses and dedicating them to the service of Hashem.
The Shema then turns to the Mitzvah of putting Mezuzot on the doorways of our homes. The Rambam (end of Hilchot Mezuzah) writes, “When a person comes and goes, they should be aware of the existence of Hashem and remember their love for Hashem, and this will awaken them from their ‘sleep’ and their mistaken way in their fleeting life… and they should know that there is nothing else in this world that has any permanent value other than the knowledge of Hashem, and by passing by [the doorway with the Mezuzah], they will return to themselves and continue on the correct path.
Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch explains that the purpose of the Mezuzah is to serve as fortification against the pervasive and destructive foreign cultures that encroach upon the holiness and purity of a home built on Torah ideals. When we leave our homes, we have no real control over what is waiting for us outside. We are bombarded with a kaleidoscope of sights, clothing and adverts that often lack the purity that we crave. Outside is beyond our control but inside is not. It is we, alone, who define what the tone of our homes will be. The Mezuzah is the proud “sentry” standing at our doorways and making sure that nothing undesirable crosses our threshold. In effect, the Mezuzah is a constant reminder that it is what we make of our homes that matters, and not what our homes make of us.
Aside from the Mitzvah to love Hashem, there are three central Mitzvot in the first paragraph of the Shema. They are: teaching our children, Tefillin, and Mezuzah. Together with loving Hashem, these three Mitzvot are paramount to the continuity of the Jewish People. Teaching our children the values of the Torah is our future. Wearing Tefillin denotes our personal relationship with Hashem. And the Mezuzah symbolizes the purity and the sanctity of the Jewish home.
As has been abundantly proved throughout the generations – including ours today – the world that we live in does not care for Jews very much, to put it mildly. The Shema is teaching us that the only way to survive living alongside such hatred is through complete sublimation to Hashem. Ultimately, the only guarantee that we have for the continuity of the Jewish People is dedicating our children, ourselves and our homes to Hashem.
To be continued…
