Tfillin and Marriage Symbols

[debka_notion]

Just noticed this morning that not only do we recite psukim (verses) about being bethrothed to G-d while wrapping tfillin straps around our fingers, we then go on to wrap the strap around the ring where people contemporarily wear wedding rings. I wonder if there was some influence, although I very much doubt it. But it was a striking sort of coincidence.

I wonder if that affects how married Jews feel about their rings and/or about their tfillin. (Input, anyone?)

Comments

[naomichana.livejournal.com]

Yes, there's definitely something odd about the metaphor no matter who's saying it. And reclaiming verses is nice. This one, though, just doesn't do it for me.

(I still remember noticing -- because I was layning it -- that the otherwise lovely congregational response before a Torah reading, "And all of you who have attached yourselves to the Lord your God are alive this day," actually follows from "the Lord your God annihilated every one of you who followed Baal Peor." Oh, dear.)

I've been thinking about this, actually, and I've decided the ideal solution is to find an appropriate pasuk or two from Shir haShirim -- 8:6 ("Bind me as a seal upon your heart") leaps to mind for fairly obvious reasons. Our tradition suggests that this moment is one in which we remember that the relationship between God and Israel is something like the one between a man and a woman, with mutual commitment. But I much prefer the lovers of the Song of Songs -- and especially its articulate female voice -- to any of the sad whores who slink through the prophetic books. And the good news is that I am thoroughly supported by several dozen rabbinic and medieval sources, all informing me that the SoS is fundamentally about the relationship between God and Israel (and that, moreover, that particular verse is all about the mitzvah of tefillin).

Oh, dear, I think I'm creating ritual. Don't tell anyone. ;)

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

You're enhancing existing ritual. I'm a big fan of that as long as it doesn't get too new-age-y. And adding/changing psukim seems pretty staid in that regard. It feels traditional, even when it's making a major behavioral or theological shift.

I could see adding that pasuk right before putting on the tfillah shel yad, honestly. It goes well with a practice I learned from a friend who counts out her 7 arm circlings with "poteakh et yadekha umasbia l'khol khai ratzon"...

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

(I still remember noticing -- because I was layning it -- that the otherwise lovely congregational response before a Torah reading, "And all of you who have attached yourselves to the Lord your God are alive this day," actually follows from "the Lord your God annihilated every one of you who followed Baal Peor." Oh, dear.)

That may be the one that bothers me on the level that the tfillin pasukim bother you. I can just never think of anything else, and even if you remove the immediate context, it still seems to imply unavoidably to me that someone somewhere didn't sufficiently attach themselves to God and is as a result dead. And the fraction of people I care deeply about who don't spend most or any mornings in shul is pretty substantial.

[naomichana.livejournal.com]

I guess I figure "attachment to God" is a lot broader category than "people in shul today," much less "people in shul today who managed to spit out that line in the two seconds the baal koreh left for them to do so." But possibly we should have a contest for Most Annoying Pasuk In The Siddur or something. ;

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's definitely a better way of looking at it. I think my level of discomfort arose in part because I achieved familarity with the verse while acting as gabbai, and felt like I was addressing the congregation!

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Hmm- I think I'll put up that contest and see what people suggest...