Bind (the words that I command you today) as a sign on your
arm, and they shall be ornaments between your eyes...Deuteronomy 6:8
A Tallis, for the Gentiles in the audience,
and even for a multitude of Jews, is a shawl (which holds no real religious
significant other than it holds the tzizit (fringes) on its corners, which the
Torah commands Jews to wear as a reminder of the mitzvot (blessing or good
deed). A Tallis is worn at morning
services, both on weekdays and on Shabbat, and also on the night of Yom Kippur
(The Day of Atonement and the most religious day in the Jewish religion). After
reciting the blessing, you throw the Tallis over your shoulders like a cape and
bring your hands together in front of your face briefly.... And away you go.
The Tefillin, is worn at morning services
on weekdays only. The use of the
tefillin is difficult to explain with words and should be taught by someone
experienced, which I certainly am not. It is the process of binding the words
to our hands and between our eyes. We do this by "laying tefillin"
that is by binding to our arms and foreheads leather pouches containing scrolls
of Torah passages. It is a long tedious process to lay the tefillin with
several different prayers being said before and after each step. I always thought it took longer to put
the tefillin on than it did to actually dovan (pray). The Tallis and tefillin should be put on before you begin
prayer, and Tallis should be put on before tefillin.
My father dovanned (prayed) every
morning. This after working the
night shift at the post office, getting to bed around 2 a.m., waking at 6 a.m.,
praying until 7 a.m. and then going back to bed. He did this every day for his entire life....and mine. Never missed a beat, through hail,
rain, sleet or snow... Oh wait, that was the Post office slogan, well it worked
for both.
It didn't matter; he was true to himself
and never wavered. He, and I guess I, were Orthodox Jews and made no qualms
about it. Everyone else pretended
to be Orthodox. My father lived it
and loved it. We would walk miles
to Synagogue on the Sabbath and Holidays, not turn lights on during the
Sabbath, certainly kept Kosher, switched dishes during Passover, and celebrated
EVERY holiday from Sukat to Purim, to Rosh Hoshana and Yom Kippur to Simkah
Torah to Passover, to all Jewish children's favorite holiday; Chanukah. There
were so many holidays; they often surprised me. I just couldn’t keep them straight and always had to be
reminded what part of Jewish history they each represented.
"My Tallis and
Tefillin"...These are the items he wanted me to have if "anything
should happen" to him. I knew
the importance of those words and the absolute weight they carried. But really, what could be so bad that
would make my father feel he had to have this talk with me. I was only ten and more importantly, he
was only thirty-seven years old.
He didn't get out of bed but pointed to
the nightstand.
"They're in the night stand, he
muttered" as he hugged me and we laid there side by side in the stillness
of our breath...
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