Sort of.
But I'll get to that.
In this week's Torah portion there are several obscure words. in verse 7:13 it speaks of the "ashterot of your flock". Is ashterot based on the number ten (eser)? Does it infer a wealthiness of the owners (ashir)? Is it associated with the Canaanite Goddess of that name? Many just translate it as "lambs", even though there are existing words for it.
Another in verse 7:15 speaks of the "medavei of Egypt". It in in the plural form, but even the singular form is unclear. The Aramaic Targum replaces it with a word to mean "pestilences". But is it really referring to the plagues? One could make a case for it in that instance, but when comparing the only other two uses in the Tanach (2 Sam. 10:4 and 1 Chron. 9:4), that case falls apart.
So we have a lot of words where interpretation is based on tradition, and not textual criticism.
As I explained in this post about the word tzitzit, accepting the meaning of words that are not explained in the Torah can have some lasting consequences, such as arguing what it is, how to wear it, the rules about wearing it, forbidding women from wearing them, and everyone feeling as though this is a commandment from God, while imposing their interpretations upon the rest of the public.
This brings me to a similar word in this week's portion: totafot.
"And you shall wear them as a totafot between your eyes, and as a sign (ot) upon your arm." (Verse 11:18).
According to the rational reader of the text, such as the Rashbam, this is simply an expression to keep the commandments of God (he argues that it meant the "10 commandments", and there is evidence that many segments of Judaism held the same opinion) always before you, and always be thinking about them, not for a literal wearing of something that is not defined.
But no, the ancient sages declared that "totafot" means "tefillin", those leather phylacteries that Jewish men wear on their head and arm.
Except one is not told to wear a totafot on the arm, but a "sign", which is the word "ot". So how does one justify calling both tefillin?
They just do.
Rashi, the 12th century French Apologist and commentator wrote that the word is "African in origin" but doesn't tells us (1) why God would use an African word and (2) what is the evidence that this word is African?
The myth that there is an "Oral Torah" that came from Moses (things that he talked about but never wrote down) and that the only way to understand the "written Torah" is through the "oral Torah" is how Jewish men got to wear boxes. If you read the Talmud, almost never does any sage admit "we don't know what this means". They argue about meaning, they vote on it, and the majority wins.
Tefillin is no different.
There are assorted opinions as to when Jews started wearing these. Was it to counter the Greek culture that wore amulets? Was it a remnant from Egyptian culture? Were they seen as charms?
In the Cairo geneiza, it was discovered that Jews didn't always wear square tefillin, but round or conical tefillin was the norm:
And as to what commandments were to be put into the tefillin and in what order, what Jews wear today was affirmed in the 12th century CE, by Rashi who had no issue with his daughters wearing them, and set the standard that most Jews used.
That is, until Rashi's grandson, Rabbeinu Tam, decided that the contents needed a bit of an adjustment.
And so, today you have Jews who will own TWO sets of tefillin: one approved by Rashi, and one by Rabbeinu Tam, and they will do the first half of their prayers wearing one set, and the second half wearing the other set.
Of course, then you have the zealots who don't want to have half of their prayers invalid because they were wearing the wrong set, and so you have Jewish men who will wear BOTH SETS at the same time!
You will have most men wear them only during morning prayers (prayer: tefillilah) but some zealots will wear them all day long.
And then you have the misogyny issue with wearing tefillin.
In Orthodox Judaism, there is a statement that if something is "time based", then women are exempt, and in modern days, "exempt" has become synonymous with "forbidden". And so, you have women who also want to pray wearing these leather boxes as God supposedly commanded, according to those who determined that totafot meant something else.
And so you have an internal battle over such nonsense.
One last thing, which has to do with the modern design and symbolism of these phylacteries which has another layer of superstition over them.
Of the tefillin contains the letter "ש" on the outside. The tefillin itself is in the modern shape of the letter dalet (ד), and it is worn on the had, or yad which was represented by the letter yud (י). There is a teaching that this spells Shaddai, or a name of God which designates protection and fertility. This is also written on the outside of most mezzuzah scrolls (also a Rabbinical invention and mentioned in this weeks Torah portion). And the belief is that wearing such things, are a form of protection.
But only if they are valid. So this means that religious Jews will bring their tefillin and mezzuzot to a scribe who will check them, because some believe that a crack in a single letter will have supernatural consequences. Imagine if a letter broke and the word changed and the meaning indicated that your son would die, that would be horrific! There are people who will take their tefullin and mezzuzot to also be checked when disasters are taking place in their lives. After all, all tragedies are supernaturally based!
Summary
There are a lot of words in the Torah that we don't know the meaning of and rather than admit "we don't know" the typical reaction is to just make things up, which is dishonest.
We don't know what totafot really meant, but based on the context, it could be several things, but leather boxes isn't one of them.
Religion uses such positions of power to control the lives of its adherents. And to put women into second-calls positions, it forbids them from participating in a ritual that men have determined is for them alone.
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