Tefillin and Mezuzot
10. Skin used for the parchment of tefillin;
11. Skin used for the parchment of the mezeuzah;
12. Skin used for the parchment of the Sefer Torha;
13. Formation of the shin on the head tefillin;
14. Formation of the knot on the head and arm tefillin;
15. Black strips for the tefillin;
16. Cubes for the shape of tefillin;
17. Slits in the bottom of the tefillin for the straps;
18. Tefillin parchments to be tied with hair of tahor animals;
19. Compartments of the tefillin to be sewed together with threads made from parts of tahor animals;
It shall be for you for a sign on your hand and for a reminder between your eyes, in order that the Eternal One ’s Instruction may be in your mouth, that by a strong hand did the Eternal One bring you out of Miztrayim. (Shemot 13:9)1
It shall be for a sign on your hand and for headbands between your eyes, for by strength of hand the Eternal One brought us out of Mitzrayim. (Shemot 13:16)1
The Rabbinic Jews take these verses literally and wear tefillin and place mezuzot upon their doorposts. However, what are these passages really referring to?
Notice that the verses of the Tanakh – and even these specific verses – are not mentioned within these verses. It doesn’t say that this text is to be a sign or a reminder. The subject of these texts must be the remembrance of the fact that by a strong hand did the Eternal One bring you out of Miztrayim (Shemot 13:9)1 and by extension the Chag HaMatzot – the Feast of Unleavened Bread – and the redemption of the firstborn. This is clearly seen in the very next verses.
You are to keep this law at its appointed-time from year-day to year-day! It shall be when the Eternal One brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you, you are to transfer every breacher of a womb to the Eternal One , every breacher, offspring of a beast that belongs to you, the males (are) for the Eternal One . Every breacher of a donkey you are to redeem with a lamb; if you do not redeem (it), you are to break its neck. And every firstborn of men, among your sons, you are to redeem. (Shemot 13:10-13)1
In addition, we see that these words are to be in your mouth which in no way indicates the use of tefillin or mezuzot. In fact, we are told that these words are to be in our mouths so that:
It shall be when your child asks you on the morrow, saying: What does this mean? You are to say to him: By strength of hand the Eternal One brought us out of Mitzrayim, out of a house of serfs. (Shemot 13:14)1
You are to place these, my words upon your heart and upon your being; you are to tie them as a sign on your hand, let them be as bands between your eyes… (Devarim 11:18)1
You are to tie them as a sign upon your hand, and they are to be for bands between your eyes. You are to write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Devarim 6:8-9)1
These verses from Devarim – read in context – are clearly speaking about the entirety of the Torah as we see from Devarim 6:6: “These words, which I myself command you today, are to be upon your heart.”2 Which begs the question, how do you write the entire Torah and wear them as tefillin or put them in mezuzot on your doorposts?
There are two reasons given as to why we are to have these words as a sign. First, we are to have them as a sign in order to teach the Torah to our children.
You are to repeat them with your children and are to speak of them in your sitting in your house and in your walking in the way, in your lying-down and in your rising-up. (Devarim 6:7)3
Second, we are to have the words of the Torah as a sign so that they will be remembered when the Yisraelites cross the Yarden into Cana’an. By remembering the Torah the Yisraelites will remember God and the fact that He brought them out of Mitzrayim.
Now it shall be when the Eternal One your God brings you to the land that he swore to your fathers, to Avraham, to Yitzhak, and to Ya’akov, to give you, towns great and good that you did not build, houses full of every good-thing that you did not fill, cisterns hewn out that you did not hew, vineyards and olive-goves that you did not plant, and you eat and you are satisfied, take care, lest you forget the Eternal One who brought you out of Mitzrayim, out of a house of serfs. the Eternal One your God you are to hold in awe, Him you are to serve, by His name you are to swear! (Devarim 6:10-13)1
There is no indication that tefillin or mezuzot were ever used by the Yisraelites prior to the Second Temple period (post-Babylonian exile). If tefillin and mezuzot were not used for hundreds of years after Sinai why would there ever be given an “Oral Law” regarding these innovations?
Sofrim
20. Kind of ink for the writing of the Sefer Torah;
21. Inkless, ruled guidelines used for the writing of the Sefer Torah;
The original Masoretes who were the soferim were mostly Karaites – those who reject an “Oral Law” – and therefore the rules that have been handed down to us have come from Karaites. Moshe wrote the very first Torah and it seems that from that time the copies were according to the tradition of Moshe and not according to any “Oral Law”.
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1Everett Fox. The Five Books of Moses. New York: Schocken Books, 1997.
2Naftali Silberberg. “What is the ‘Oral Torah?’” chabad.org. Chabad, n.d., accessed 15 April 2012. [http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/812102/jewish/What-is-the-Oral-Torah.htm]