Therefore, shall you place these my words in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as totafot between your eyes. D’varim / Deuteronomy 11:18
Rashbam1, one of the great medieval commentators who primarily focuses on the Peshat, the plain meaning of the Torah text, intriguingly understands our passage metaphorically.
“As a sign upon your hand”: According to the fundamental meaning – it should be a permanent reminder for you, as though written on your hand. Similarly, “place me like a seal on your heart” (Song of Songs 8:6).
“Between your eyes”: Like a piece of jewelry or gold band that they usually place on the forehead as a decoration.
Taken together, Rashbam’s interpretation of this passage regarding Tefillin provides a model for understanding the entire corpus of mitzvot. Tefillin are a mnemonic device intended to evoke a cluster of historical memories and emotional valances. The context of the mitzvah of Tefillin connects it to the Exodus from Egypt, the covenantal moment at Sinai, the wilderness journey to the Promised Land, and ultimately, God’s redemption of Israel. These are also experiences which bind God and the Israelites together in an ongoing relationship, an idea perpetuated in the “betrothal” language used when putting on Tefillin. Once Tefillin are donned, Rashbam sees them as an adornment, an externalized expression of the relationship’s commitments and thus a decorative object of value.
Expanding on Rashbam’s metaphor I would suggest that the vast array of mitzvot function within this duality. Mitzvot remind us of the essential values of our people as an expression of divine service, that to truly articulate our love of God requires that we translate those values into actions, and having done so, they become adornments of character and decorations emblematic of sacred tasks fulfilled.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David M. Eligberg
1 Rabbi Samuel ben Meir, 1085-1158, Troyes, France. A grandson of Rashi, few details of Rashbam’s life are known beyond that he earned a living by tending livestock and growing grapes, following in his family tradition. Known for his personal piety, Rashbam was called upon to defend Jewish beliefs in public disputations arranged by church leaders designed to demonstrate the inferiority of Judaism.
Given his emphasis on the plain meaning of the text, Rashbam sometimes disagreed with his grandfather’s interpretations which preferred a midrashic understanding of the text. Rashbam’s methodology often resulted in controversial explanations.
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