August 12th AM--Tefillin Beit El

This morning was an absolutely incredible experience for us all, especially Zachary. We left the house, joined by Savta and Roy, at 7 AM and headed out to Beit El in the middle of nowhere and nowhere. We started out by meeting Akiva, the man who would put the parshiot into Zachary's Tefillin. We couldn't imagine that it would take more than a minute, but Akiva lovingly sat with Zachary as if no one else was in the room and explained the mitzvah of Tefillin, the four parshiot, the parts of the Tefillin and long legacy of our history from the three avot, the four emahot up through yetziat mitzrayim where the Jewish people were shown nissim v'niflaot (miracles and wonders). Even after all they had seen, after Moshe went up to Mt. Sinai to receive the Torah, the men doubted and created the Golden Calf. Just as at every wedding we break the glass to remember the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, so too do we remember the sin of the Golden Calf every time we put on our Tefillin. How do we do this? Akiva explained that every single part of the Tefillin is made from parts of the cow, from the boxes, to the straps, to the claf that the parshiot are written on. But...each parasha is wrapped in hair of the tail of a calf. Why is this? It doesn't seem to carry very much Kavod for such a holy item. Well, that is to remind us of the sin of the Golden Calf, so that our faith is never shattered again. The last parasha of the shel yad is wrapped in a blond cow tail hair that is left sticking out of the box, visible next to the black paint. This serves as a constant reminder. We also examined the parshiot and noticed that the letter ayin and the letter daled of he shema are larger than the rest of the letters. We learned that it is written this way since Har Sinai in every sefer torah and every mezuzah, both Sephardic and Ashkenazic because they form the word "aid" -- "witness". Each Jew is a witness to the power of Hashem and can always be chozer b'teshuvah, even in the last moments of his of her life, just by reciting the words of the shema. Akiva gave examples of a Russian Soldier shot in battle and victims of the Holocaust. The Tefillin have always been a part of the tenets of our faith.Zachary was mesmerized throughout (and I didn't mention that it was all in Hebrew, which he understood). Then we watched Akiva wrap each parasha and carefully place them in their proper spots, constantly checking that they were in the right direction. Then Yehuda and Roy pushed each of the parshiot all the way inside saying the words "Leshem Kedushat Tefillin--designating that what they were doing was to fulfill the mitzvah of the holiness of the Tefillin." It was very moving. Then Akiva explained how they would be clamped together, sewn with a string that was actually the muscle of the cow and then painted and finished. He gave Zachary a bracha and and then we headed upstairs for another presentation. We noticed throughout the factory that each machine had the words "Leshem Kedushat Tefillin" on it so that you are always reminded that you are doing holy work.Upstairs we watched a movie and an audio visual presentation about the long process of making the boxes. It was fascinating the work involved. We were told that Zachary's took 1 3/4-2 years to make and that there is a 40% pasul rate! Unbeleivable. Each step of the way he passed around different pieces for us to examine and touch (this part was in English). He said that he especially liked to have the women touch and examine the parts since we never have the opportunity. He also explained how the sofer writes the parshiot and the kind of ink used. He also spoke about the knot of the Tefillin, in Hebrew, the "kesher". Now the word "kesher" means both knot and connection. The connection, or knot, in the Tefillin forms the connection with Hashem. How beautiful and mystical. He also explained the gematria behind the Tefillin. The two shins add up to 600. One shin has 3 branches (for our three forefathers) and the other has 4 branches (for our four matriarchs), which adds up to 7. Then two shins together form the word "sheish" which is the number 6. Combined, they make up the 613 mitzvoth of the Torah.Next we proceeded downstairs to see the actual piece of the cow's neck soaking in some sort of brine. It was huge and hard to believe that it would become someone's Tefillin one day. Then we saw the stations where the parshiot are written and checked and rechecked and where they are painted. Zachary also got to pick out a cool new Tefillin holder for when we get his Tefillin in about 2-3 months. Of course, he picked out army!The whole experience took about 3 hours and was truly incredible and meaningful (even Leora thoroughly enjoyed it). Yehuda said that he has been putting on Tefillin every single day since his bar mitzvah and had no idea about anything he learned, Savta was amazed as well.What a truly special experience. Zachary is so excited and we know that this will make Zachary even more eager and excited to fulfill this mitzvah.