I was 16 years old and I was in the city of Venice, Italy on a family vacation. After having lunch with a wealthy Kuwaiti family whom I had met during my travels, I thought to myself: “I doubt anything more interesting is going to happen today.” It was with that frame of mind that I decided to walk back to the hotel where my family was staying.
As I made my way out of San Marco’s square and walked alongside the famous Doge’s palace, I noticed two men in the garb of Chassidic Jews walking past me. Despite their black hats, dark suits, and long beards and my jean-shorts and oversized t-shirt sporting an image of Bob Marley’s face sculpted out of marijuana leaves, I felt a kind a sense of Jewish connection with them. As they strode past me I gave them a subtle nod.
Suddenly the two men stopped abruptly and I found myself surrounded. “Are you Jewish?” one of them asked me excitedly in a thick accent I could not place.
I was taken aback. Why were these two men dressed in clothes from another time period hovering around me and asking if I was a member of the tribe?
“Yes…” I replied nervously.
“And is your mother Jewish?” the other Chassid asked.
“Yes…” I replied.
“Would you like to put on tefillin today?” One of them reached into a bag he was carrying and took out two small black leather boxes attached to black leather straps.
“What is that?” I asked, curiously.
The two men looked at each other incredulously before proceeding to briefly explain this classic Jewish ritual.
Tefillin is comprised of two black leather boxes. Each box is attached to a black leather strap. The boxes contain verses from the Torah that command the Jewish people to bind the Torah to their minds and to their hearts. One box is strapped to one’s arm and the other to one’s head. Tefillin is traditionally worn by Jewish men during morning prayer services.
“Were you given a Bar Mitzvah?” one of the Chassidim probed.
“Yes, I had a bar Mitzvah,” I replied.
“Really?” one of them asked me in surprise. “You had a Bar Mitzvah and you don’t know what is tefillin?”
I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. My Bar Mitzvah was on a Saturday night. I learned later that tefillin is not worn at night.
“Ok,” he said. After making sure one more time that my mother was Jewish, he asked me again if I would like to put on the ‘tefillin’. He explained that he and his friend would help me to put them on. “It will not take long,” he cajoled.
Crazy thoughts swirled around in my head. Why were these two bearded individuals so interested in my Jewishness and why did they want to wrap leather boxes around me? Maybe these two men were thieves that wanted to tie me up with the leather straps so that they could then easily go through my pockets and snatch my wallet or whatever else I had on me. After all, Venice was notorious for pickpockets. Or perhaps they were terrorists…It was a post-9/11 world so this was a notion to be taken seriously.
“A terrorist would never be caught dead dressed like that,” I naively convinced myself. I glanced around. There had to be hundreds of tourists and other people of various walks of life milling about. Not mention the swarms of pigeons. I hesitantly agreed to humor these two gentleman. I reasoned that since I was in a public place and there were many people in the vicinity, I could call out and receive assistance if I found myself in danger.
They slowly wrapped me up with the Jewish ritual prayer objects. It felt sort of awkward and uncomfortable in the hot Mediterranean sun to be having such foreign-looking objects bound tightly to my arm and head. One of the Chassidim told me that now we were going to recite a short Hebrew prayer known as the ‘Shema.’ The Shema is both a collection of verses from the Torah as well as a prayer uttered by Jews in the synagogue twice daily and recited again privately before retiring for the evening. This prayer is also inscribed on the parchment that resides in the boxes of tefillin. Shema literally means ‘hear’ and the prayer is best described as the credo or the ‘mission statement’ of the Jewish faith. Luckily, I already knew the first line by heart – something I remembered from my Hebrew school days: “Shema, Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem echad,” which translates in English as “Hear, oh Israel. The L-rd is our G-d. The L-rd is One.” I recited the paragraph that follows the first line responsively with one of the individuals who had helped me wrap the tefillin.
“Mazel tov,” the two chassidim exclaimed as they placed the tefillin back in their cases. “You just did a mitzvah! Where do you live?”
“New York, ” I replied, feeling a strange sense of accomplishment mixed with confusion about what had just taken place.
“Oh, New York,” one of the black-hatters said enthusiastically. He reached into his sport jacket pocket and handed me a card. The card displayed a photo of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of blessed memory. Below the photo was printed the address: 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY. On the back of the card was the traditional Jewish prayer for travelers, in English.
I took the card, unsure of what to do with it, and placed it in my wallet. I bid the men farewell and I went on my way.
It was not until about three years later that I would come in contact with the mitzvah of tefillin again. For a long time I didn’t quite understand what had happened to me that afternoon in Venice. Nevertheless, I saved the card and whipped it out as a conversation piece when telling interested parties about my ‘random’ Jewish experience. Sometime later I began to recite the first line of the Shema prayer before going to sleep for reasons that I cannot really explain to this day.
I later discovered that my experience of being asked to wrap tefillin by a couple of strangers was not so unique. The Chassidic group, Chabad-Lubavitch, is known for stopping Jews in public and asking them if they would like to participate in certain mitzvot (commandments) such as laying tefillin, giving charity, and lighting Shabbat candles. This practice of asking Jews to put on tefillin or perform other Jewish rituals was strongly encouraged by the movement’s leader of over 40 years, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, also known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
During my college years I began to grow increasingly interested in my Jewish heritage and I attended classes and Shabbat dinners sponsored by various Jewish organizations. Initially, I did not think there was any connection between my newfound love for Judaism and my experience in Venice several years prior. However, Chassidic thought teaches that everything that happens to us in our daily lives is connected and happens for a good reason. Nothing is ‘random’. Today, I am an observant Jew. During my journey of becoming observant, I kept the card with the picture of the Rebbe in my wallet.
On occasion I will now ask a fellow Jew if he would like to put on tefillin. I never pressure, but if the other person is willing, I help him fulfill this important mitzvah. The Lubavitcher Rebbe asked his chassidim to engage in this method of Jewish outreach partly on the basis of the Talmudic principle that doing one mitzvah brings about the observance of another mitzvah. Sometimes we never know how one small act will impact another person or the world around us. Therefore, we should never think we are powerless to affect positive change. I wonder if those two rabbinical students in Venice know whatever became of that kid from New York.
@ bernard ross:
Children without Shadows, Children without tears
dove Said:
You always write unking and even vicious statements and then try to WORM out of them. Yamit82 quoted you verbatum!!!!
I received this in an email and thought perhaps pundits would be interested:
@ yamit82:
dove Said:
Don’t think it was out of context:
“she really believes that! Her Klondike or whatever kind her mother was”
The rest of your reply is undeserving of a response.
Exactly how was Ruth converted? You didn’t respond? I wonder why?
@ yamit82:
You TOTALLY took out of context my reference to HB’ mother! You are just looking for an excuse to slam dunk me. Not interested in your ‘old boys club’ style.
yamit82 Said:
Your Mother should be honored for raising a good son and man in both Judahissm and for Israel. Now I’am getting mushy,excuse me. I have feeling you were a challenge for her, but she loved you dearly.
@ yamit82:
Thank you Yamit82. I have alway appriciated your kindness. And you risque attitude!!! Little Darlin.
@ honeybee:
dove Said:
Exactly how was Ruth converted?
HB was treated most unkindly by her Jewish relatives and for her it was painful. The reason was I understand, her non Jewish mother. I consider them (her relatives stupid Jews) who have shown themselves to be most unworthy of the name Jew.
You have shown yourself to be most unkind and mean spirited in your comment above. Jewish or not she was HB’s mother and if anyone ever tried to put my mother down I would track them down and burn their house down, whether it was occupied or not.
@ bernard ross:
Some Explanations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-HjYbbIpDM
@ honeybee:
@ dove:
Your comments are like so much cow #@%* on my boots.
Re conversion: By becoming a Jew – final act the mikveh – you emerge NEWBORN as a JEW
You are Jewish 100% and may marry any other Jew born of a Jewish mother or another convert [hopefully opposite sex]and a full member of the Jewish nation
PG you will be a Jewish mother one day
Finally I am sure , based on our past history , that the Messiah will come from a ‘convert’ lineage
So start making Chicken soup!! ><
@ Shy Guy:
I know! From her previous posts she really believes that! Her Klondike or whatever kind her mother was must have really done a number on her!
@ Shy Guy:
@ honeybee:
HB….learn to forgive yourself! Ruth from the Hebrew Scriptures was one of the greatest Jews (a convert) of all times!
Dove, I’ve changed my mind.
HB was not makin’ a funneh.
Shy Guy Said:
No ,Sweatie, I was telling a painfull truth!!!! You have always been kind,thank you, but when come to jokes you’re a “kosher ham”.
dove Said:
I think HB was makin’ a funneh.
@ honeybee:
@ wpapke:
That is completely false HB. Since when does a person CHOOSE their biological mother?
@ bernard ross:
You are bang on Bernard ross!
wpapke Said:
Does not not matter,convert or not, you will never be forgiven for having chosen a “non-Jewish ” woman to be your mother.
yamit82 Said:
According to this the exile is the RESULT of the sin rather than the exile being the cause of the sin.
yamit82 Said:
According to this the presence in the exile is not the cause of the sin, the sin is the cause of the exile. Being in the exile is not the sin but the punishment for the sin.
yamit82 Said:
according to this it is after the heart is humbled that G_D will give appeasement. You imply that quitting the punishment(exile) which G_D gave for the sins and unilaterally returning to israel by choice is the correct route. However, this appears to be putting the judgement into the hands of the sinner.
yamit82 Said:
You always appear to consider it a sin to choose to be in the diaspora Where G_D placed us as punishment. Isn’t it logical to assume that G_D should make the decision as to when Jews should return. After all, does the prisoner decide when he should be released. It appears to me that it is always G_D who is doing the ingathering of the jewish people, that it is by his choice and his action.
yamit82 Said:
It says “you will be gathered up” not you will go or decide to go. Who is doing the gathering? The holocaust and expulsions, the forced aliyas are all the work of G_D in the same manner as the expulsion from Israel and the diaspora was His punishment.
yamit82 Said:
Europes islamic plague appears to confirm this. I hope that G_D prevents the giving away of Israel.
@ wpapke:
You will have a Jewish mother once your conversion is complete, SARAH (Sarai; wife of Abraham.
Wonder whether WE shall be around to see the day – sure going to be a tough time!
dbdent Said:
“In all times, a Jew should live in the Land of Israel, even in a city where most of the residents are idol worshipers, rather then outside the land, even in a city where most of the residents are Jews.” Talmud, Ketubot 110b (also Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 5:12)
“Said the Almighty: A small group in the land of Israel is dearer to Me than a full Sanhedrin outside the Land.” Talmud Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin 86
“Jews who dwell outside the Land of Israel are idol worshippers in purity.” Talmud, Avoda Zara 8
“In the Diaspora, whoever increases its settlement (by establishing a home, business, etc) adds to the destruction of the worship of G-d. But in the Land of Israel this same work is considered a mitzvah since it settles the land.” The Chatam Sofer, on the Talmud Sukka 36a and Yoreh Deah p. 136
“A land which the L-rd thy G-d cares for; the eyes of the L-rd are upon it, from the beginning of the year unto the end of the year.”
Dvarim (Deuteronomy) 11:12
@ dbdent:
The point I was making was that your claim that there are no eagles in Israel is not true. I was not arguing about the definition and usage of the Hebrew word “nesher”.
Not checkmate exactly
http://www.balashon.com/2007/06/nesher-and-ayit.html
Its a matter of where you were brought up
The above article explains it clearly & succinctly
wpapke Said:
Whoa! Where did that misassumption come from? You mean because the Chabad guy in the article approached the author and asked him if he’s Jewish? Most Jews are not converts. Most righteous converts already put on Tefilin. Most non-observant converts will answer “no but I’m a ger (convert)”.
I have eagles for neighbors,they nest in rocks of the mesa above me. In the spring,when they court, they circle each other barely touching wings and calling. Very poetic, I feeling like voirer watching them.
So when I finish the conversion process I still be won’t be a Jew because my mother wasn’t Jewish?
dbdent Said:
Shemot 19:4, where the translation “on eagles’ wings” sounds much more natural than “on vultures’ wings”
An article by one of Israel’s premier linguists, Ze’ev Ben-Hayyim. (Ben-Hayyim was one of the founders of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, and its president). In his book, B’Milchamta Shel Lashon writes (in 1943) that every “Ivri” knows that nesher is eagle and ayit is vulture. But then came those who turned everything upside-down and began teaching the opposite. He says it is clear that when we refer to the Rambam as “HaNesher HaGadol” – we are talking about a symbol of royalty, just as the Romans had an eagle for their royal symbol. He also writes that the identification of ayit as eagle is mistaken. This was based on the Greek word for eagle, aetos, which looks a lot like ayit, but isn’t connected etymologically.
In Bereshit 15:11, where it says that the ayit descended on the carcasses. The Daat Mikra (on Yechezkel 17:3) agrees that this verse is likely referring to an eagle.
Mishlei 23:5 is likely referring to the Imperial Eagle, and Shemot 19:4 to the Golden Eagle.
When visiting Rachel’s tomb on a visit to Israel a couple of years ago, I was asked if I would like to put on tefillin. I said I wasn’t sure how to go about it. A nice man there helped me. It was quite an emotional experience. That was the day Rachel’s tomb was declared by the UN to be a mosque. After I left, a group of Arabs commenced throwing stones at the Border Police who were guarding the site.
dbdent Said:
What does “Ayit” in the Tanach refer to?
Checkmate.
Yamit -you may disagree [ as is your right] but you are in a great minority AND in disagreement with the Rabbonim of today and yesteryear
Even if there were eagles then, NESHER in the Tanach refers to vultures.
yamit82 Said:
Maybe i’ll toss the set in the fire with the chametz in a few months. 🙂
Shy Guy Said:
That SOB was my neighbor on the Kibbutz. I saw him cripple an Irish setter, when the dog wandered into his garden and he kicked the dog.
@ dbdent:
I disagree. There are eagles in Israel and the Golan today and there is no reason to believe they were not here in Biblical times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CIIkMDWKA0
Greater Spotted Eagle
Status: Uncommon winter visitor(localy fairly common)in north and western Israel, scare passage migrant
Recommended place to see : Zevulun Valley, Hula Valley
Golden Eagle Nesting in Israel
eagles in the land of Israel@ Shy Guy:
@ dbdent:
http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.co.il/2011/08/eagle-attacks-snake-snake-attacks-eagle.html
Israeli troops rescue rare eagles
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/Actions-Israel/EagleRescue.htm
Greater Spotted Eagle
Status: Uncommon winter visitor(localy fairly common)in north and western Israel, scare passage migrant
Recommended place to see : Zevulun Valley, Hula Valley
There were not any eagles in Palestine / israel/ canaan in Rashis time let alone the time of the prophets
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0020_0_20529.html
http://zootorah.com/essays/the-identity-of-the-nesher
dbdent Said:
I’m holding a copy of volume six, Birds, of the encyclopedic set, “Hachai Ve’hatzomeach Shel Eretz Yisrael”, Azarya Alon, editor. See pages 117 through 153 and tell us again that there are only buzzards and vultures here.
Just a PS. Nesher refers to the Vulture, not an Eagle. There were no eagles in this part of the world.Translation ie Rashi = old French – only knew eagles & not vultures
@ Shy Guy:
Surafend, about a mile from the coast, almost midway on the road between Tyre and Sidon. See 1 Kings 17:10
I really love these verses: “Though thou make thy nest as high as the eagle, and though thou set it among the stars, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.”
“For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations; as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy dealing shall return upon thine own head”.
yamit82 Said:
You forgot Ovadiah, chapter 1:
18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken. 19 And they of the South shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the Lowland the Philistines; and they shall possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. 20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, that are among the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and the captivity of Jerusalem, that is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South. 21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.
“Tzarfat”/”Zarephath” is of course the Hebrew name for France, while “Sepharad” is the Hebrew name for Spain, as well as an allusion to Sefaradim.
Yamit
I tend to agree but I am concerned about the ever increasing violence within Israeli society. There is also a hint of this in prophecy which tends to indicate a breakdown in civil behaviour before the redemption.
dbdent Said:
The prophet Isaiah teaches us that an in-gathering of the exiles will herald the day of Redemption, for “You will be gathered up one by one, O Children of Israel; It shall be on that day that a great shofar shall sound, and those lost in the land of Assyria and forsaken in the land of Egypt [and from all the other countries of exile and dispersion will come together-yamit82 ] and bow down to Hashem on the holy mountain of Jerusalem (Isaiah 27:12-13).
We are seeing Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled before our very eyes.
dbdent Said:
True but remember: G-d explicitly admonishes the Hebrew tribes prior to their original return to the Land of Israel that, as result of the future Sins which they will commit while residing therein, all due to their future lack of Yirat Elohim (fear of G-d), they would be punished by suffering mass expulsion therefrom and then by having to endure horrific persecutions in the lands of their Exile: “‘And you shall I scatter among the nations, and I shall unleash after you a sword. … And to the survivors among you I shall bring a weakness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a rustling leaf shall pursue them, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall without there being any pursuer. They shall stumble over one another as [in flight] from before the sword without there being any pursuer; and you shall not be able to stand before your enemies. You shall perish among the nations; and the land of your enemies shall devour you.'” (Lev. 26:33-38); and “HaShem shall scatter you among all the peoples, from the [one] end of the Earth to the [other] end of the Earth … And among these nations you shall find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest; but HaShem shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and despair of mind. And your life shall hang in doubt before you, and you will be frightened night and day, and you shall have no assurance of your survival. In the morning you shall say, ‘Who will give [back to me] the night’ and in the evening you shall say, ‘Who will give [back to me] the morning’, for the fear of your heart which you shall fear and the sight of your eyes which you shall see.” (Deut. 28:64-67); and, even more ominously: “… I will hide My Face from them, and they shall be as prey, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say on that Day: ‘Are not these Evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ And I surely will hide My Face on that Day …” (Deut. 31:17-18).
As can be seen from the explicit language of Scripture, all of the prophesied “evils and troubles” that have befallen us throughout the millennia, including the Shoah, are umbilically connected to our presence in the Exile. The Torah explains that, owing to the harshness of the Punishment of Exile, “… perhaps then their unfeeling heart will be humbled and then they will gain appeasement for their sin. [Then] I will remember My Covenant with Jacob and also My Covenant with Isaac, and also My Covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the Land.” (Lev. 26:41-42). However, our Sages have said that: (In Succah 52b) “G-d regrets having created four things: Exile, Babylonians, Ishmaelites and the Evil Impulse”. G-d regrets having created the Exile because, although it was a just punishment for our repeated disobedience to Him, it did not fulfill its purpose of causing us to repent of our sins quickly so that we could be repatriated to the Land of Israel quickly. On the contrary, we have instead treated our long Exile as a pleasant reward with little desire to end it. We have even convinced ourselves that it matters little to G-d whether we observe His Mitzvot in the Exile or in Israel, this despite our Sages’ statement that G-d admonishes us: “Although I exile you from the Land, continue performing the Mitzvot so that when you return [to Israel] they will not seem new to you” (Sifri, Ekev 43) and Rashi’s later concurrence that: “Even once you are exiled, continue performing the Mitzvot. Put on Tefillin and affix a Mezuzah so that they do not seem new to you when you return [to Israel]” (Rashi on Deut. 11:18), meaning that we continue performing the Mitzvot in the Exile only to keep our memories sharp and for no other reason, which clearly indicates the lower status to which G-d accords the Exilic performance of the Mitzvot. And unfortunately, as might be expected after 2000 years of submergence into one alien culture after another, our minds have progressively, if imperceptibly, become dulled to those many important Torah concepts which, through lack of their continuous erudition, have slipped away towards oblivion, to the point where, nowadays, these Torah concepts actually seem foreign and, therefore, un-Jewish, to us. Our Talmudic Sages alluded to this problem when they said: “In the future, the Torah will be forgotten by the Jewish people” (Shabbat 138b).
Yamit – remember that whilst living in Israel may outweigh all the other commandments it does not mean that one can forgo the other mitzvot, which many Jews do not ‘observe’ because they misunderstand the meaning of this statement
For your information this year over 8000 French Jews are making aliya ! And the French govt is worried – it is losing some creme de la creme!
I had the same experience one day walking along one of the streets of Jerusalem where my wife and I lived in 1973-1974. But the bearer of the tfilim wasn’t necessarily associated with Chabad Lubavitch. In any case, I put them on, recited the prayer, gave him back his tfilim, and went on my way.
Yidvocat: My thoughts exactly. Other than the Kachnikim I personally knew and dealt with here in the USA while the great Rav Meir Kahame was alive, the only Jews I took the time to have anything to do with here were Lubavitchers.
Yamit: You being a Tora scholar, I can’t argue for or against what you wrote here. But some 43% of the world’s Jews are now in Eretz-Yisrael, and the percentage grows more favorable every decade. So who’s to complain about that? I’m sorry that in my case, I resident in Eretz-Yisrael less than only two years. If my wife and I have been younger, and had given it more forethought, we might have done as you did.
But I have to tell you that if I had been a resident of the city of Yamit whose moniker you now bear, and somebody had come along and tried pulling me out of my own home as I assume they did to you, I would have made a serious effort to break his bones and maybe even kill him, Jew or non-Jew. So none of you who were raised to be the kind of meek and timid Jews whom you find just about everywhere Jews live, would have wanted me as a fellow citizen. But if there were more Jews like that in Israel, it would be impossible for the government of Israel to uproot any Jewish settlements whatsoever. And I sincerely hope that’s the kind of Jew who will do just that, will be the normative model of Jewish manhood in the future of our Jewish nation.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
“The mitzvah of living in the Land of Israel is equal in weight to all the other commandments of the Torah.” (Sifre, Reah, 12:29)
Dwelling in Israel is an encompassing commandment. (The precept of living in Israel is equal in weight to all of the precepts of the Torah. Sifre, Reah, 12:29)
Because of this, the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh wrote, ‘For living in Israel is a mitzvah encompassing all of the Torah. “( Ohr HaChaim, on Deuteronomy, 30:20.)
Hashem honors our freewill choices!!! If you spurn the Land, Hashem will not force you to live in it. But He will not allow you to remain outside of it either.
“The Binding of a Jew…My First Encounter with Tefillin”: Read here the The full law chapter and context of the commandment of Tefillin: Deut 11
G-D BLESS CHABAD LUBAVITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!