Parashat Bo details one of the most defining narratives of the Jewish people: their Exodus from Egypt. It describes the last three and most dramatic makkot (plagues), the laws regarding the Pesach offering, the laws regarding the holiday of Pesach, and the laws detailing God’s decree to redeem all first born children and animals within the nation. After all of these commandments instituted to remember the miracles that Hashem performed for his people the last line of the parasha says, “And it shall be for you a sign on your arm and a reminder between your eyes—so that Hashem’s Torah may be in your mouth—for with a strong hand Hashem removed you from Egypt.”[1]
Rashbam, a French Tosafist (c.1085-1158), says that this pasuk merely connotes a remembrance: the people should constantly remember that they were taken out of Egypt and to follow the Torah. As such, they are commanded to place a physical reminder on their bodies[2]. Rashbam does not argue that this verse is the source of a commandment like his grandfather, Rashi. Rashi (France,1040-1105)writes that this is the source for the mitzvah of tefillin (phylacteries) - ceremonial objects containing certain biblical verses worn each day by Jewish men during prayer[3]. If Rashi’s interpretation is correct, then that begs the question: what does Yetziat Mitzraim, the Exodus from Egypt, have to do with tefillin? Why does the Torah place this commandment (if one does view it as a commandment) directly following such a dramatic narrative? If the two are linked, why would the Jewish people have to remember Yetziat Mitzraim every day?
Many parshanim (commentators) discuss this question. Sefer HaChinuch (anonymous, 13th century Spain) working off of the Ramban (Spain and Israel, 1194-1270) says that Yetziat Mitzraim was the moment that the Jewish people achieved true emunah (belief in God). They saw His Oneness in the open miracles that were performed, truly showing them that all other gods were empty despite the practices of the other nations of the world. Hashem, as a jealous God, commanded them to remember this revelation everyday of their lives; They are to physically wear their memory of the event on their arms and heads as a sign of the commandments they must perform to always follow in His ways.
A broader answer to this question is discussed by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (Germany,1808 – 1888). He contends that Yetziat Mitzraim was the defining moment in Jewish history when God made the Jewish people His. He led them out of a land where they were enslaved and formed them into a nation of their own. With a strong hand He performed incredible miracles for them and they owed everything to him. The tefillin, worn every day, are a reminder of who they are and to whom their lives are dedicated. This knowledge informs their actions and thoughts, “to symbolize both our remembering and realizing the implications of the redemption and also giving up our hands to the result of the redemption, our belonging to God.”
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