Tefillin: How the Torah Binds Mind, Heart, and Deed

Rediscovering Tefillin

I was clearing out my closet and found my old pair of tefillin. I haven't worn them since my Bar Mitzvah. I know they're supposed to be placed on the head and arm, but beyond that, I have no idea what they're all about...

This question was posed to Rabbi Aaron Moss, rabbi of the Nefesh Centre in the Bondi Beach neighborhood, Sydney, Australia, who answered with his characteristic out-of-the-box thinking:

The Three Levels of a Human Being

People exist on three basic levels: intellect, emotion, and action — what we think, what we feel, and what we do.

Intellect: The knowledge I have which forms my beliefs on various matters, my philosophies on life, my approaches and perspectives regarding myself and others.

Emotion: My moods, my desires and longings, what I love and what I hate, what I fear and what attracts me.

Action: Not beliefs or feelings, but what I actually do, how I live my life and how I use my time and abilities.

When the System Breaks Down

Ideally, these three levels should work together. My knowledge and ideals should guide my passions and aspirations, and these in turn should mold my lifestyle. But all too often we find things working backwards. What I know is right doesn't always "feel" right, and what I feel like doing isn't necessarily what I actually  end up doing.

For example:

• I know I should help my mother bring in the groceries, but I feel like staying on the couch and eating chips. (And then I hear the phone ringing and I jump to answer it.)
• I know I shouldn't lie to cover up a mistake, and I even feel guilty about it, but I still lie.
• My mind tells me I'm in a destructive relationship, but my heart is afraid and won't let me face the truth, so I act as if everything is fine.

The Struggle for Integration

One of the greatest challenges in life is trying to overcome this disconnect between mind, heart, and body — to develop a correct approach in the intellectual realm, which then engenders positive longings in the emotional realm (in the heart), and then to realize these two through correct action. It is not easy to do this.

How Tefillin Help Align Us

This is where tefillin come into the picture. Tefillin help us achieve balance and spiritual alignment between the mind, heart, and body. They bring about a unification of our thoughts, feelings, and actions and direct them to a power higher than all three combined.

These black boxes are sacred objects, tiny treasure chests that contain tremendous Divine power. We place one box on the head (the home of the intellect) and its straps hang down over the heart, the seat of emotion. The other box is placed on the forearm close to the heart, with its straps wrapped around the arm and hand — our tools for action.

Tuning the Self to a Higher Purpose

The tefillin shel rosh (head tefillin) binds our mind to the Divine will, so that we know to distinguish between falsehood and truth, between right and wrong, between good deeds and bad deeds. The straps hang downward so that this knowledge flows into our hearts and is transformed into passion and enthusiasm for doing good. The enthusiasm within our hearts should in turn become action, so that we live lives filled with meaning and purpose based on clear moral values and pure desires.

Putting on tefillin is like a daily tuning of your mind, heart, and body. It will give you new meaning to life.