דבר תורה: פרשת בשלח

Among אשכנזים,‎ תפלין is the only מצוה that one starts to perform on becoming a בר מצוה. Why are we commanded to wear תפלין? There are, of course, several reasons; one that is written in the תורה — in the final פסוק of last week's פרשה — is כי בחֹזֶק יד הוציאנו ה׳ ממצרים, to remember that ה׳ took us out of מצרים by force. How do תפלין help us remember that?

In this week's פרשה we have that the Jews left מצרים‎ חמֻשים, one explanation of which is "as a fifth"; i.e., only one-fifth of Jews left — the others had previously died. Why did ה׳ kill them off? Because they didn't want to leave מצרים. They were so steeped in their slavery, so depressed by it, that they would not be able to bring themselves to leave מצרים as freedmen.

Even those who remained — the one-fifth who lived — had this slave mentality, and were reluctant to leave. חדל ממנו ונעבדה את מצרים!‏ But their depression was not quite so severe, and ה׳ managed — כביכול — to drag them out. This is the explanation of ויהי בשלח פרעה‎ — פרעה, as ה׳'s agent, had to send us out of מצרים; the פסוק doesn't say ויהי בצאת ישראל ממצרים, when the Jews left מצרים.

This explains, too, ה׳'s concern. The פסוק says that He did not lead the Jews by a certain route lest they encounter battle and return to מצרים. Return to מצרים?? Well, yes — they had the slave mentality, and would be willing to go back to enslavement.

It was only at the ים סוף, after seeing the miracles of the Sea, that the Jews finally recognized that they were free now — הללו עבדי ה׳, ולא עבדי פרעה — free to be servants of ה׳. It was then that they finally recognized that ה׳ is their God — זה א־לי ואנוהו. It was then that they lost their slave mentality, and rose from the ashes like a Phoenix to become a fully-realized nation. ויאמינו בה׳ ובמשה עבדו, אז ישיר — then they became God's people, and sang to Him from joy.

In order that we keep this realization in mind, in order that we continue to realize that we are servants of ה׳, in order to remember the ashes of slavery and our rising from those ashes, we put on תפלין.‎ תפלין are called a פאר, an adornment, that takes the place of the אפר, the ashes of despair. וִיקָר, זו תפלין:‎ תפלין symbolize the honor, the pride we have in being servants of ה׳.

Through the ages, we continue to put on תפלין‎ — והיה לאות על ידכה ולטוטפֹת בין עיניך כי בחֹזֶק יד הוציאנו ה׳ ממצרים — as a remembrance that ה׳ had to take us out of מצרים בחֹזֶק יד, by force.

If ever we get caught up in the ashes of despair, feeling that we cannot serve ה׳ properly, we should look at the תפלין and remember their message — that we can rise from those ashes.

This may be the explanation behind סבא ראובן's use of תפלין during the War. He did not let despair overcome his עבודת הבורא; and now, DD, you, too, are wearing תפלין, and you, too, will no doubt follow his example of being a proper servant of ה׳.