573. They Shall Fear You

“And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon you and they shall fear you” (Minchot 35b). The great Rabbi Elazar says, “These are the head Tefillin [phylacteries].”

In the Tosfot there, he interprets in the treatise, that he wrote on them the majority of the Name, Shin and Dalet, and it seems that the Dalet and Yod in the straps are not complete letters and are not regarded as part of the name Shadai.

The Tosfot says the reason is that the head Tefillin is more visible than that of the hand, for “shall see” pertains to it, but the hand Tefillin should be covered, for it is said about them, “a token on your hand, for you as a token and not for others as a token.” The Shin of the Tefillin is a law given to Moses at Sinai. It is written in the [book] Shimusha Raba, in Tefillin there are three heads in the Shin of the right [side], and four heads on the left.

We should ask:

1) Why is the head [Tefillin] exposed and that of the hand should be concealed?

2) Why are there three heads on the right, and four heads on the left?

3) We do not see that uneducated people fear the head Tefillin.

It is written in Berachot (p 6): “Rabbi Helbo said, ‘Rav Huna said, ‘Anyone who has fear of heaven, his words are heard, as was said, ‘In the end, after all is heard, fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man.’’’”

Accordingly, we should ask, 1) Why until now, when we had so many righteous who had fear of heaven, why did they not reform the whole of Israel? 2) What is the meaning of the words, “In the end,” so that one who fears heaven, his words are heard?

We should say in the work that the verse refers to the individual himself.