Igrot Kodesh · Letter 159 — Machaneh Israel and the Meaning of Tefillin

By the grace of Hashem,

Thursday, 1 Tammuz 5704,

Brooklyn, New York,

To the very dear Mr. Tzvi Palmer,

New Jersey,

I greet you and bless you,

Your brother, our very dear Mr. Palmer, spoke to me about you, and it is on the basis of what he told me that I am writing to you.

I would first like to describe to you, in a few lines, the objectives of Machaneh Israel.

My father-in-law, the Lubavitcher Rebbe Shlita, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, founded this institution with the intention, among others, of making known the true meaning and the immense value of Yiddishkeit*, of spreading it among the broadest circles, of answering all the questions one might have concerning Yiddishkeit, the Torah, and the mitzvos.

According to the way your brother has presented you to me, I have been able to understand that you are interested in these questions. It is precisely for this reason that I am writing to you. I would like to tell you that we are ready to remain in contact with you. According to the information at our disposal — and which is a source of joy to us — different points evoked above concern you directly.

* * *

One of the essential values of Yiddishkeit is unity — not only the faith in one Hashem and in one Torah, but also unity in each Jew, in his personal life.

In opposition to conceptions that favor the body to the detriment of the soul, or those that impose suffering and mortifications on the body so long as it is bound to the soul, the Torah affirms that the soul can and must direct the body. It must not impose mortifications on it, but on the contrary, direct it, in good health, according to the directives of the Torah, which is called the Torah of life.

Unity must, in particular, be obtained in the moral life. There exist three conceptions of the ideal existence for a person:

A) The first privileges logic — cold and calculated intellect.

B) The second takes into account only the heart and warm emotion.

C) The third grants little importance to what one thinks or what one feels in one's heart. It establishes the fundamental role of concrete action, demanding that this be positive.

The Torah holds and decides that man must be wholehearted, must seek perfection. Now, the only way to attain this is to realize the unity between the head, the body, and the hand. All these limbs must function in a harmonious manner, in conformity with the Will of Hashem.

Engaging on the straight path is so important that this is the essential contribution of the tefillin*, as our Sages explain. When a Jew bears them on his arm — at the height of his heart — and on his head, these must establish harmony and allow him to live a true Jewish life, filled with Torah.

More profoundly, the fulfillment of the mitzvah of tefillin — the simple fact of wearing them — strengthens a Jew and increases tenfold his moral forces, allowing him to realize, in his existence, the harmony between the hand, the heart, and the head, in the manner defined by the Torah.

Certainly, we do not understand how the concrete action of putting on the tefillin can awaken the forces of the soul, just as the child does not understand the relationship between the bread he eats and his physical health, allowing his soul to remain in his body.

Various accounts and commentaries of our Sages emphasize the importance of the tefillin. I will cite a few here:

A) The whole of the Torah, with all its mitzvos, is compared to the tefillin, from which one can learn various details.

B) One can fulfill the mitzvah of the tefillin by putting them on a single time each day, at the synagogue or at home. Nevertheless, when men were purer and closer to spirituality, they wore them throughout the day, at the synagogue, at home, and in the street.

To verify to what point this mitzvah was precious to them, it suffices to consult the complaint of the Gemara when it reports a certain account concerning the tefillin.

A decree at that time[1] pronounced a death sentence against those who put on tefillin.

Did the Jews cease to wear them on this account? Not at all, and the Gemara does not complain at all on this subject. They did not cease putting them on.

Did the Jews limit themselves to acquitting the strict obligation, and did they wear the tefillin a single time per day? No more, and that is not what the Gemara says. As before, the Jews wore them in the street, at the peril of their lives, so precious was this mitzvah to them.

But it is only a few persons, like, for example, Elisha "who had wings,"[2] who adopted such conduct. The Gemara therefore considers that the mitzvah of the tefillin would have justified a more massive sacrifice.

In a precise analysis, the Tosafos hold that there was, again, no reason to complain. How was it possible to verify that the Jews were not observing the mitzvah of the tefillin with as much determination as they should have, which justifies the astonishment and the complaint of the Gemara?

The Gemara cites an example. At the time of the decree, Elisha was walking in the street, wearing, of course, his tefillin. An officer saw him, pursued him, and asked him what he was carrying. Elisha replied: "Dove's wings."

In other words, he did not have the courage to say that they were tefillin, and indeed, certain death awaited him if he had said so. It was considered, nevertheless, that the value he attributed to the tefillin was insufficient — that they merited, justified more enthusiasm on his part.

* * *

Numerous teachings can be learned from each mitzvah, and all strengthen the spiritual forces of man, even if we do not always perceive it clearly, as we have said.

How much more so is it the case for the commandments that we are asked to observe daily. This is the case of the tefillin, which one puts on each day, except on Shabbos and the festivals, and which are defined as an immutable sign of the union between Israel and Hashem.

* * *

I would be happy to have your news. Above all, do not hesitate to address yourself to us if you think we can come to your aid in any way whatsoever, as I said at the beginning of this letter.

With my best wishes, for an immediate teshuvah and an immediate redemption,

Rabbi Menachem Schneerson,

Director of the Executive Committee

Notes:

(1) At the time of the Romans.

(2) When the enemies seized him, the tefillin became birds' wings in his hands.