The Toldos Aaron Rebbe Shlita recently spoke about the fulfillment of the mitzvah of tefilin. The rebbe added that many invest a great deal of effort and money into making a bar mitzvah, making certain the seudas mitzvah meets the desired standard, making certain everyone is dressed in the finest clothing, making certain one has an appropriate shtreimal, spending significant sums to dress the entire family for the simcha. “They make certain that everyone is wearing new clothing but what about the tefilin?”
“There is no compromise regarding the expense of making the bar mitzvah to guarantee the best possible event, with one exception, the tefilin. He does not seek the most mehudar tefilin and he does not make certain the sofer is a true Yiras Shomayim. He does not seek batim and retzuos that are mehudar from the beginning of the process, but with tefilin, he accepts mediocre.”
“If regarding external things such as the seuda and clothing we are insistent on the best, there is no reason we should not do the same with the penimius, the mitzvos like tefilin” concluded the rebbe.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
A good lesson for all streams of Torah. Like what’s going to be more important tonight–the type of wine, or my kava a during kiddush?
The Rav is completely on target. I will take the case a step further. One who spends an exuberant sum on a beautiful pair of tefillin or sefarim and rarely uses/wears it.
dear Jewishflorida, That would be “exorbitant.” Of course, were one to spend an exorbitant amount on Tefillin, the soffer would likely be exuberant.
Mrs. D,
I think we have to dwelve into that, to make sure everyone pronounciates the word correctly 🙂