In honor of World Wide Wrap - a program through the Conservative movement's
Federation of Jewish Men's Club that synagogues across the world will be hosting (as well as our congregation, Shaarei Kodesh -
www.shaareikodesh.org), I'm posting a sermon I gave in 2019 on Yom Kippur about tefillin titled,
Tefillin: Failure and the Marks We Make.
Here's an excerpt:
Whenever I discuss tefillin with bnai mitzvah families, I will often receive this question: “Can my son or daughter where his deceased grandfather’s or great-grandfather’s tefillin instead of buying him or her a new pair?” I understand what they are really asking for. They want their loved one to make an impact, to leave a mark, on their child like their loved one made on them.
The truth is, and I am honest with these families, there’s a 95% chance that these old pair of tefillin are no longer kosher. You can get them checked, but if they aren’t kosher, the sofer will not put them back together again for you. I tell them, “I am sure that your grandparent, who is no longer with us, would want your son or daughter to have their own set of tefillin.”
I cannot wear my Grandfather’s actual tefillin from that story, they were taken away from him, and they are forever lost. But my grandfather is here and he taught his son the value of following God’s commandments, God’s mitzvoth, and our tradition, and my father and mother taught me. I have had a couple of pairs of tefillin in my life, but each pair of tefillin I own are my grandfather’s, and his grandfather’s, and also YOUR grandfather’s.
The bayit, the boxes of the tefillin, are made of skin, just like we are; the words inside of the tefillin are written on skin as well. Tefillin boxes breakdown, the letter on the parchment crack and smudge, eventually, they have to be buried, but if we put them on every day, if we speak the words inside, if we perform the actions, the mitzvoth, the sacred acts that tie us to God, our tefillin will live forever. These words will be spoken to a new generation who will cherish them, and remember them. This is how we stay alive - the body dies, but the soul is eternal.
Here's a recent post I wrote about Tefillin, thinking back to this story:
https://www.rabbidavidbaum.com/post/baum-s-branches-symbols-of-survival-and-hope-parashat-bo