Parshas Bo 5758
Out of Africa
Volume 4 Issue 17
by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
Imagine that you are a tourist on your way to see this nation's most
revered document, the one that forged our beliefs and principles. You
enter the hallowed halls of the Library of Congress and ask a guard,
"which way to the Declaration of Independence?" He points to a sign with
bold letters. The sign has a large arrow and reads; "This way to the
"Declaratsiya o Nezavisimossti" " In small print it translates the two
Russian words - "Declaration of Independence."
You would be shocked. Why in the world would the United States
government use a foreign language to identify the very document that
symbolizes the essence of America?
Of course the story is not true, and probably can never happen.
That is why I am troubled by the Torah's choice of words to introduce us
to the most Jewish of all symbols - tefillin. The Torah commands the
children of Israel to wear tefillin with an interesting expression.
"They shall be for totafos between your eyes." (Exodus 13:16) The
Talmud in Sanhedrin is concerned with the origins of the word totafos,
clearly it has no Jewish origin. The Talmud declares that totafos is a
compound word that combines two foreign words. The word tot in Afriki (I
assume Africa) means two, and the word pas in the Coptic language means
two. The tefillin on the head has four compartments. Thus, tat-pas or
totafos, means four.
How baffling! Why would the Torah use a compound of two very foreign
words to describe a Jewish - perhaps the most Jewish -- symbol?
What is even more interesting is that just a few verses prior the Torah
refers to the tefillin boxes as a zikoron (remembrance) between the eyes
(Exodus 13:9). If the Torah calls tefillin a remembrance than why does
it refer to them as totafos? Moreover, if they are totafos then why call
them a remembrance?
Stephen Savitsky, CEO of Staff Builders, one of America's leading home
health care providers, spends quite a bit of time travelling on
airplanes. It is at 35,000 feet where he has met Jews of great
diversity, backgrounds, and beliefs. Once on a flight out of Baton Rouge
toward Wichita, Kansas, he was bumped to first class. He was seated next
to a large man who had a thick gold ring on his pinkie and an even
thicker gold chain hanging loosely from his neck. The man was chewing an
unlit cigar while immersing himself in a sports magazine. As soon as the
seat belt sign was turned off he ordered two drinks. All the while the
flamboyant jet-setter was immersed in his own self, and hardly glanced at
the neatly groomed executive who was sitting next to him. He surely did
not notice that Steve's head was covered during the entire flight.
The flight attendants began serving the meal. The smell of glazed ham
that was wafting from his neighbor's tray made it difficult for Steve to
eat his kosher food. It was only after the meals were cleared and the
trays removed did Mr. Savitsky take out a small siddur (prayer book) to
say Grace After Meals.
All of a sudden a pair of eyes transfixed on the siddur. "Hey, my
friend!" exclaimed the man. Steve heard a Brooklyn accent cowering
underneath the Southern drawl, "is that a seedoor?" Steve nodded, "sure.
Do you want to look at it?"
"Look?" shouted the stranger. "I want to use it! Do you know how many
years it has been since I saw a seedoor? Give it to me please!" The
man grabbed it, kissed it, then he stood up in his seat and began to
shake and shout with fervor! "Borucho es Adon" The entire first class
section just turned around and stared in shock. For the next ten minutes
the man stood and shook wildly as he recited the maariv prayer - word for
word - without care and concern for anyone who was watching. For those
ten minutes he left Louisiana way below, as he ascended to the heavens
with the world of his childhood.
With a mixture of great pride and a bit of embarrassment, Steve watched.
When the man finished praying, Steve presented the small siddur that
evoked Jewish memories over the Delta as a memento to the former yeshiva
boy.
Perhaps the Torah intentionally called tefillin a remembrance. And
perhaps, with even more intention, did it give it a foreign name. The
Torah tells us that no matter where a Jew may be, whether the jungles of
the Congo or the Coptic Islands, the Jewish symbols will be there to
remind him to come home. The Torah's observance is not relegated to any
specific geographical location. It can be observed, albeit not in toto,
every place in the world. And no matter where a Jew finds himself there
are symbols to remind him of his Judaism. For there is a special spark
in every Jewish soul that is waiting to be kindled. Even out of Africa.
If you enjoy the weekly Drasha, now you can receive the best of Drasha in book form!
Purchase
Parsha Parables
- from the Project Genesis bookstore - Genesis Judaica - at a very special price!
