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How Are Tefillin Connected to the Exodus From Egypt?

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Hidabroot - Torah & Judaism avatar
Hidabroot - Torah & Judaism

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What is the reason we put on tefillin? Putting on tefillin is a positive commandment from the Torah whose purpose is to connect us directly to the holy one, blessed be he. The tefillin of the arm correspond to the heart, which represents emotions, and the tefillin of the head correspond to the mind, which represents thoughts. By putting on tefillin, we connect our thoughts and emotions directly to the holy one, blessed be he. It's just like plugging a plug into a socket to create a connection between the physical and the spiritual. The holy one, blessed be he, commands us in the Torah, "And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes." And what is the purpose of this? So that we remember the Exodus from Egypt. So how are tefillin connected to the Exodus from Egypt? The boxes of the tefillin on the arm and on the head, there are passages from the Torah that describe the Exodus from Egypt. Among them the Shema Yisrael passage, which reminds us that the holy one, blessed be he, is one and unique, and that he redeemed us from Egypt. Now, how many times are we told to remember the Exodus from Egypt? Why do we need to remember it again and again? Before the Exodus from Egypt, we were simply an ordinary people, a nation without direction or purpose. And after the Exodus from Egypt, thanks to the kindness that the holy one, blessed be he, did for us, we transformed from a nation of slaves into a chosen people who represent the creator in this world. That's why we need to remember the Exodus from Egypt every single moment, because if the holy one, blessed be he, had not redeemed us from Egypt, we would most likely have remained slaves there. So if you still haven't put on tefillin, maybe this is a sign for you, because we were privileged to be Jews and to receive the Torah of the holy one, blessed be he.