I Lay Tefillin for the First Time Today

Thanks to Rabbi RR, I got my first lesson on wearing tefillin today. This longtime ritual means actually following the instructions in the Shema prayer to wear the words as a "reminder between your eyes" and as a "sign upon your hand." So, you essentially tie a box with the prayer in it onto your bicep and on the top of your forehead above the hairline (if you have one) using leather straps.

You must tie them in a certain way and get the symbols correct. The numbers 3 and 7 are important. Also meaningful is that this ritual uses the head, the heart (the one on the bicep points to it) and the hand. This means that thought, feeling and action are all combined--that's a powerful trio.

The head must rule. The Rabbi told me how the word for king (melech) and fool (lemech) use the same letters, M, L and CH. So, using the first letters of the Hebrew names for head, heart and liver (action), which correspond to these three letters, it's a matter of having the parts PARTS IN THE RIGHT ORDER that defines the difference between a king and a fool. It probably works better with the real Hebrew. 8-)

Once you've got everything set up properly, the procedure is to say the Shema (Daily declaration of faith) prayer and then carefully put everything back in it's containers and bags for tomorrow. You take off the tefillin in reverse order that you put it on, so it's hand, head, arm.

Laying tefillin is a very literal activity, but as someone who grew up Reformed--and had lots of gaps in his education--this is a nice first step to experiencing something of what my more orthodox ancestors did. I'm especially honored to use Rabbi RR's fathers tefillin.

Updates as they happen.

Exploring Jewish Roots - 2012

With the Jewish Roots Project, I will spend 2012 pursuing a wide and comprehensive view of Jewish life and how it affects me. This subject has come up periodically throughout my life, and I want to devote focus and energy to finding out not only what Judaism is and has been, but how I want to relate to my inherited culture for the rest of my life.

This will involve many processes.

1. Interviewing rabbis, Jewish writers and artists, and anyone else who may have a perspective from which I can learn something.
2. Reading a wide range of materials from novels to histories to religious books as well as periodicals, websites, and whatever else seems relevant.
3. Practicing at least some aspects of the religion, including attending various synagogues, celebrating holidays, exploring Kosher food and wrapping tefillin.
4. Blogging about the experience, while keeping my research findings and project diary private.
5. Growing a nice Jewish beard (my usual length is number 2 on the clipper, but that will be changing).
6. Adding to and changing the project over time as I learn more and get more ideas, but always aiming for daily involvement in some way.
7. Making an assessment on January 1, 2013 as to the next step(s).

Thank you for joining me in this process. Please comment if you have anything you think I should investigate. Shalom and toda raba (thank you).