By Sam Thal
During our Shabbat in Tzfat, we had the privilege of working with Rabbi Noah Greenberg and finishing the process of making our Tefillin. I really enjoyed learning about and making my own pair of Tefillin. My exposure to Tefillin in the past has been limited at best. I knew what they looked like and the basic idea of what was inside them, but that's about it. It never felt like a part of Judaism that was for me. I never had an opportunity to put them on. As a Reform Jew, Tefillin weren't really present in my Jewish life, and when I saw them, it was in communities where only men wore them. The experiential immersion into making Tefillin was a completely new educational experience for me.
My favorite thing that I learned in this process is why women are not obligated to wear Tefillin. Men are obligated to pray with Tefillin every day at specific times. The reason women are not obligated to do the same is that women were often busy taking care of the children and couldn't possibly be expected to fulfill the mitzvah of Tefillin in addition to all their other work. With the shift away from traditional gender roles, this doesn't necessarily still apply, but it's nice to know that it wasn't about superiority. In fact, I would say this lack of obligation honors and values the role of a mother in a family. This is an example of how important it is to learn about a culture before judging its practices. We often assume things about the other that are misinformed or untrue. I have learned to ask instead of assume. This concept can be widely applied to situations of conflict or disagreement. Learning about Tefillin has made me more open to learning about how other people experience their cultures. It also reminded me that I will always have more to learn.
I will always remember the moment at the end of our weekend in Tzfat when I wrapped my own Tefillin, that I made with my own hands, for the first time. I felt like I was included into a community I had only seen from the outside. I felt connected to generations of Jews who came before me in a tangible, physical way. I felt powerful symbolism resting on my head and wrapped around my arm and hand. I felt an understanding of what I was doing and why each part of it was important. I remember looking around the room at everyone else and feeling a sense of accomplishment for what we had created together. I will take my feelings and the things I’ve learned from this experience with me where ever I go from here.
