Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Remind me again--which religion am I supposed to be practicing?

I believe it was Judaism, but I'm not sure.  Because the Judaism I practice should not have supernatural elements.
A story circulating on the Yeshiva World News website (HT: DovBear)seriously makes me wonder.  Tefillin has possul word in it, and man keeps losing his sons?  Come again?
Now, if I were a practicing Wiccan, this story would make sense as a talisman gone awry.  However, I'm not.  In fact Judaism specifically forbids performing magic spells.  By extension, we should not put faith in a ritual item (such as tefillin) to act as some sort of talisman.  The tefillin are a physical reminder to think about and do G-d's work, as is laid out in the Shema.  That's why they are bound on the head and arm.  The head is the seat of thought, and the arm is symbolic of action.  By attributing every misfortune in our lives to a chipped letter in the tefillin, we are taking this mitzvah and perverting it beyond recognition.

1 comment:

  1. http://finkorswim.com/2012/08/13/homicidal-tefillin/

    I think you will like this, a rational take on the whole craziness.

    ReplyDelete

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