Tefillin, Machlokes and Striking the Perfect Balance

 

Have you taken a close look at your Tefillin lately, especially the Tefillin Shel Rosh? Remarkably, within these small leather boxes contain all of the secrets of Hashem and His universe. Hashem himself wears Tefillin and Moshe desperately wanted to achieve the highest level prophecy imaginable by seeing Hashem’s Tefillin, His true essence, but he was denied. Our Tefillin are mirror reflections of Hashem’s Tefillin, so it makes sense that there is a lot of higher level wisdom packed into these little boxes. 

One of the details I’m referring to is the fact that the Tefillin Shel Rosh are divided into four separate components. I was in a shiur by a regarded Posek in Safrus and Tefillin and he was urging everyone to make sure that these four boxes aren’t actually touching each other and there is enough space in between the sections that light could pass through. I had heard about this idea before but wasn’t so familiar, so I decided to dive in a little bit deeper into the Halacha. 

It turns out that with the head Tefillin specifically, there are two competing ideas. On one hand, the Tefillin should be absolutely square. Therefore, many Tefillin makers will put glue between the four sections to make sure they stay together and maintain their square shape. This was more necessary when Tefillin were made of thinner leather and absent the glue, could easily get bent out of shape. But today, because we have hydraulic presses to work with thicker leather, many Poskim maintain that the Tefillin can stay square without gluing the sections together and it is better not to glue them to maintain the four separate boxes required by Halacha. 

The Vilna Goan was known to be very strict to make sure there was no glue between the sections and that it maintained four distinct parts. So much so, if he saw someone with the Tefillin Shel Rosh that looked like one box, he would ask why they were wearing their arm Tefillin on their head! Ironically though, Rav Chaim of Volozin, known to be the Goan’s greatest Talmid and spokesman, held that the glue was totally fine and perhaps even ideal to maintain the square nature of the Tefillin.

An interesting debate, but it goes even deeper. Where do we know that the Tefillin Shel Rosh needs four boxes to begin with? This topic is discussed at the beginning of Menachos 34b in a discussion between Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Yishmael derives it from the extra Vav in the word for Tefillin, Totafos, and the fact that the Torah repeats this word three times. Rabbi Akiva on the other hand sees a reference within the word Totafos as actually is a combination of two words from foreign languages, each one meaning two in its respective tongue, and two and two makes four. 

One of the beautiful things about Penimius Hatorah is the ability to see Machloches in Gemara or Halacha in a new light, a light of integration and depth. In the world of Penimius, each side of the debate is reflecting a side of the Hashem’s truth and they can bring out incredible insight and understanding in our personal Avodas Hashem. 

Let’s take this idea and apply it to this debate behind Tefillin Shel Rosh. We can begin our deeper understanding by relating the four sections of the head tefillin to the four levels of existence that Hashem created our world, namely, Asiyah, Yetzirah, Beriah, and Atzilus. These are deep concepts that much has been written about, but to put into simple terms these are the levels of physical experience, emotional connection, intellectual understanding and total unity. Kabbalsitic writings are filled with understanding these levels, how they compare the the levels of human cognition, the four levels of Torah study, levels of prayer, angels, and much more. But what’s even more fascinating is that there is a level higher than all four, the level of Adam Hakadmon, the level of Adam Harishon before the sin. At this level, not only is there total spiritual clarity, but the four other levels of division and separation actually become an illusion. 

Let’s bring this down to the concept of Tefillin. When we strap the Tefillin Shel Rosh upon our heads, we are connecting the four worlds together as they really do come from the same Source. The Poskim that emphasize that the Tefillin need to be four separate sections are tapping into that reality that there really are four levels, each one with a different level of understanding and perception. To blur the lines can be spiritually confusing and a clear linear order is necessary. On the other hand, the Poskim that emphasize the priority for Tefillin to be square are connecting to that level of Adam Hakadmon, that place of spiritual perfection that recognizes that any division regarding Hashem is misplaced and the highest level of consciousness is where all division gives way to ultimate unity. 

Perhaps with this in mind, we can understand the debate between the Gra and his Talmid, Rav Chaim of Volozin. The Gra was a genius of a Talmid Chacham and a defender of Lithuanian Jewry. He viewed that our true connection to Hashem comes through studying his Torah in an intellectually rigorous way. He sharply rejected Chassidus, which seemed to take a different approach with an emphasis on emotional connection, heartful prayer, individual expression and finding personal paths in Torah. The Gra saw the world through a linear progression and the worlds of Asiyah, Yetzirah, Beriah and Atzilus was a ladder that needed to be carefully climbed, not trying to jump to the top. 

On the other hand, Rav Chaim took a different approach. While he strongly remained a loyal follower of the Gra, he took a softer stance against Chassidus, refusing to sign the religious bans of his time taking a reportingly even inviting Chassidic young men to learn in his famed Voloziner Yeshiva. The course of history has taken to Rav Chaim’s more integrative approach where today, the Lithuanian and Chassidic world have grown close, respect each other and united in many regards. 

Rav Chaim allowed for the Tefillin Shel Rosh to be glued together. Yes, in the spiritual world, there is division and levels, but if we access that part of us connected to Adam Hakadmon, we are granted a deeper unity that goes beyond any division. Klal Yisrael can have debates, as we continue to do today, but the debates are seen as a healthy organic growth of Eilu V’Eilu Divrei Elokim Chaim. 

What does this have to do with Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva and their machlokes in the source for the four compartments of the head Tefillin. I would like to argue that Rabbi Yishmael represents the world of the revealed Torah while Rabbi Akiva is the world of the hidden Torah. Rabbi Yishmael famously brings us the 13 principles of learning where sages applied their intellect to derive Halacha throughout the ages. When we say Kiddush Levana, at the end we bring a statement from Rabbi Yishmael that extolls the great virtue of the Jewish people greeting their Father in Heaven by seeing the reflection of the moon. We can’t access Hashem directly, He is an all consuming fire, we can only get close by connecting to the reflection of that light through His Torah, represented by the moon. 

Rabbi Akiva on the other hand is different. Rabbi Akiva entered the Pardes, the mystical orchard and was the only sage to come out alive and unharmed. He was able to access Hashem’s light directly and channel that to his students. Rabbi Akiva’s Talmid was Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the famous author of the Zohar and conduit of Kabbalah. Rabbi Akiva was noted for sitting and expounding the meaning of the crowns on the letter Yuds in the Sefer Torah in which even Moshe Rabbeinu couldn’t understand. 

This is why Rabbi Yishmael learned the source for the four boxes of the Tefillin Shel Rosh from the Torah itself, the spelling and repetition; logical and consistent interpretation. Rabbi Akiva took a different approach. He saw the entire world as Hashem Echad. Even though there were foreign languages to foreign nations, Rabbi Akiva saw their spark rooted in Lashon Hakodesh and was able to access that light and bring it back into Torah and Halacha. 

Not right or wrong, just different approaches, each one shining the light of Hashem’s prism in unique ways. And the correct path with all of this is balance, which is not an easy thing to achieve. Should one focus their learning on Gemara and Halacha or Kabbalah and Chassidus? Should one’s prayer be uniform and consistent or passionate and unbridled? Should innovation and Chiddush be rejected and distanced or embraced and celebrated? There is only one answer to these questions. Balance. Each one of us has to be honest with our Shoresh Neshama and find the right balance that speaks to our true selves. 

And yes, as humans we tend to move out of balance, where our priorities can become clouded and confused. But next time you put on your Tefillin Shel Rosh, keep this in mind. Spend a few minutes analyzing these boxes, and all of the other details. Feel that careful equilibrium as those four compartments of the Tefillin carefully sit one next to the other, separated just so slightly to retain the balance of order, stability and structure, while at the same time whispering the unity in the longing of perfection, Geula and Hashem Echad. L’Chaim