It matters, because otherwise what sense would there be in God demanding observance of a commandment when there wasn’t the knowledge/tools to carry it out (and in practice it likely developed hundreds of years later)? The laws of tefillin as we know them today are, as I understand it, regarded by everyone as a law given to Moses at Sinai. For example, the Talmud says: “And Rav Hanan’el said that Rav said: the base of the tefillin is a law given to Moses at Sinai. Abaye said: the passageway of the tefillin is a law given to Moses at Sinai. And Abaye said: the shin on the tefillin is a law given to Moses at Sinai… Rabbi Isaac said: black straps are a law given to Moses at Sinai… It was taught: tefillin must be square, a law given to Moses at Sinai,” etc.

Also, how can one speak about tradition and claim (not you, but I believe almost any other rabbi would) that the tefillin we wear today are identical to those Moses wore? Tefillin are one of the common examples / “proofs” that the Oral Torah is a law given to Moses at Sinai.

If what you mean is to ask me what someone else thinks, you’ve come to the wrong address. I don’t deal in defending other people’s positions.

Okay, I won’t ask you to defend others, but what about the first part of my question? What sense would there be in God demanding observance of a commandment when there wasn’t the knowledge/tools to carry it out? Of course, you can disagree with the assumption that the wilderness generation didn’t have the knowledge to make tefillin.

As I wrote, I’m not sure about the facts you mentioned. My trust in the various bogus sciences is pretty limited. But as I wrote, I also have no problem even if in their time tefillin were made differently, so I don’t see any importance in clarifying the facts.

With God’s help, 28 Kislev 5783

According to the Wikipedia entry “Parchment,” the technique of processing עור for writing was known in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. According to Herodotus, the Ionians used skins for writing. And according to the entry “Ionia,” they were already active in the second millennium BCE.

Widespread use of skin for writing did not exist. Partly because in general there was little need for writing—how many of the “common people” knew how to read and write?—and partly because there were many cheaper and simpler materials, such as clay tablets in Mesopotamia and papyrus in Egypt. Only under the influence of Hellenistic culture did education, and consequently reading and writing, become common and popular, and when Egypt imposed an embargo on papyrus exports, people had to find a substitute and move to mass production of parchment.

Before that, the situation in the world was like today. Almost nobody used parchment for writing, except the Jews, who do so for religious reasons.

Best regards, Cleopatronius Pergamonsky, may he live and be well

Let’s skip the bogus sciences, as you called them. What about common sense? As is well known, “The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children.” Where did they find scribes for sacred texts, leatherworkers, etc., to make tefillin for 600K men? Even with all the knowledge we have today, it takes about a year to produce tefillin.

Each one put them on for twenty seconds, so they could squeeze in 2,000 people per set of tefillin per day, and they only needed 300 pairs. Or each person put them on once a month.

If they could, they did; and if they couldn’t, then they were under duress and exempt.
And maybe the Sages interpreted and innovated this later on (the whole commandment, or parts and details of it).
Or tefillin prepared before the giving of the Torah didn’t need processing for the sake of the commandment, so they could use totafot, tefillin compartments, that had existed in Egypt.
Or maybe at that time they received a temporary prophetic directive from the prophet Moses that they were specifically commanded not to wear tefillin.
Or tefillin came down to them from heaven like the manna, and it wasn’t written for later generations because there was no need.

Imagining the Israelites standing in line to put on tefillin… blessed is the believer. People in this country don’t even have the patience to wait in line for falafel.

With Heaven’s help, 4 Tevet 5783

Why would they have needed to stand in line? From the hide of a single animal you can produce dozens of pairs of tefillin. Was there any shortage of animals for them?

Best regards, Yafaor

Apparently at some stage they were short on animals too (otherwise they wouldn’t have grumbled, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger”), but that’s not the point. Where did the knowledge and the skilled professionals come from to make tefillin for 600K people? Hint: it’s not likely they had them, and therefore it’s also not likely that they wore tefillin. If you think about it, there isn’t a single place in the entire Hebrew Bible where tefillin are mentioned even by hint. The name “tefillin” is first documented in the period of the Mishnah, and even its origin and meaning are not unequivocal. It is commonly accepted that the word tefillin is a plural form of the word tefillah, prayer. But in an Aramaic text from the Jewish colony that existed at Elephantine in Egypt, the expression “a silver tefillah” already appears, and it seems to mean an amulet. And in Ugarit too there is a text dated no later than the 14th century BCE, where it says, “On his head, tefillin hanging between his eyes, son of Anah,” which has been interpreted as: on his head, tefillin hanging between his eyes. Therefore researchers conjecture that the word tefillin originally served as a term for an amulet.

With God’s help, 5 Tevet 5783

For the making of the Tabernacle, the Israelites had to perform crafts far more delicate and knowledge-intensive than processing hides. Someone who served as a slave in the home or workshop of an Egyptian artisan saw his master at work, and if he was quick to grasp things, he picked it up. So what is the difficulty about knowing how to process hides and write on them in calligraphic script?

The technical knowledge that existed for making amulets (like the Ugaritic “tefillah”) certainly also existed in Egypt, the land of magic. And that same technique, which was used for purposes of idolatry and sorcery, was harnessed by the Torah for lofty purposes, to strengthen faith by bearing the name of God. Egyptians of the royal houses placed a ddft in the form of a snake between their eyes, and the Torah commanded the Israelites to wear between their eyes the form of a house within which dwells their faith in divine unity, which is their adornment and pride. And in the language of the Sages, the word totafet was borrowed for a women’s ornament hanging between the eyes.

And so too with the Tabernacle—the Torah harnessed the splendor and grandeur found in royal palaces and idolatrous temples for the lofty purpose of glorifying holiness for the true God. And likewise, the blue-purple dye worn by kings and nobles—the Torah commanded every Jew to wear it on his garments so that he would always remember that he is a prince, and that his nobility obligates him.

Best regards, Yafaor

The complainers from the mixed multitude lost their animals in Egypt, and the Israelites who were dragged along after them feared that if they slaughtered too many of their animals for eating meat out of craving, the animals would be used up in a short time. A one-time slaughter for the sake of preparing tefillin is not comparable to daily slaughter for the sake of eating.

That’s exactly the point. About the making of the Tabernacle it says: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom and with understanding and with knowledge and with every craft, to devise designs, to work in gold and in silver and in bronze, and in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.” In other words, building the Tabernacle was miraculous, and the Lord filled its architect with “the spirit of God, with wisdom and with understanding and with knowledge and with every craft.” Otherwise, he could not have erected the Tabernacle. But regarding tefillin, by contrast, there is no mention of any miracle or divine spirit resting upon such-and-such craftsmen.

As for the technical knowledge for making amulets that may have passed from the Egyptians to the Israelites, that’s irrelevant for several reasons. As I noted in my earlier comments, even with all the knowledge and advanced tools we have today, it takes about a year to create a pair of tefillin. Even if some knowledge was passed on, it would have been only to a very small number of people who received it, and clearly they would not have been able to make tefillin for 600,000 men. To begin with, the literacy level among the Israelites who left Egypt was probably low, especially literacy in Hebrew. Of those who knew how to write, how many do you think could have been scribes for sacred texts, which is an entirely different level of writing? Second, if you look a bit into the processes of gall-nut treatment and the making of the tefillin compartments, you’ll see that these are extremely specific requirements for tefillin that they were unlikely to have learned in Egypt.

As for the complainers, there is no support in Scripture for what you said. Just interpretation / legends.

Regarding what I noted, that the shape of the tefillin is like a house within which the Torah of God dwells—it is worth noticing that in the Tabernacle, what was visible to the onlooker from outside was only the covering of goatskins, so that someone looking at the Tabernacle from the outside essentially saw a “black box.” Perhaps the tefillin symbolize the Tabernacle of God dwelling within us.

Best regards, Gadiel Shepsel Dolitzki the Digger

As for the complainers being from the mixed multitude—there is an explicit verse: “And the rabble that was among them fell a-lusting; and the children of Israel also returned and wept,” and from this we learn that the complaints came from the “mixed multitude.”

Regarding the complainers, you’re confused. Unlike the verse I cited, yours was said after the manna had already descended and not before it (“and now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes”).

In general, some of the complaints are false complaints that do not reflect a real lack. About the manna, whose taste was like wafers in honey, they hurl accusations that their soul is dried away, that there is nothing at all, and that their soul loathes this miserable bread. The complaint about the meat too is a false complaint, from people who had gotten used to food falling from heaven and therefore thought they could demand that meat also fall for them without their having to reduce their herds in order to eat. The greater the abundance, the more inflated the level of demands becomes.

And Moses expresses this feeling when he says: “Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to suffice them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered for them?” And so too his suggestion to appoint elders. Would the elders bring them meat? Of course not. Rather, Moses hopes that leadership close to the people and accepted by them will calm tempers and perhaps ease the mental pressure that is causing the false complaints.

Best regards, Dagash the Digger

I won’t say that many commandments look like the interpretation of our holy Sages, but one must remember that if there are wise men in any totalitarian country like Morocco, and they propose ways to remember the king and honor him, then if someone were to belittle them, the king himself would punish him. And if so, the whole purpose of our holy Sages was to crown the blessed Name, may His Name be blessed forever, as King. Therefore anyone who doesn’t do that brings God into it… and it’s not advisable to mess with Him….