<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 9.00.8112.16448"></HEAD>
<BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=role_body
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: Arie Folger <<A title=mailto:afolger@aishdas.org
href="mailto:afolger@aishdas.org">afolger@aishdas.org</A>><BR><BR>Dear
Ovedim,<BR><BR>About ten days ago someone posted a link to an article in
Tablet<BR>magazine critical of aggadeta's theology. Posters on list focused
on<BR>the author's focus on demonology, however I want to address his
other<BR>points, about anthropomorphism in the aggadeta, particularly
regarding<BR>G"d's tefillin. I penned a response on my blog, which I am linking
to<BR>here: <A
title=http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/did-the-talmud-suggest-gd-has-a-head-learning-to-interpret-rabbinic-legend/
href="http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/did-the-talmud-suggest-gd-has-a-head-learning-to-interpret-rabbinic-legend/"
target=_blank>http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/did-the-talmud-suggest-gd-has-a-head-learning-to-interpret-rabbinic-legend/</A><BR><BR><BR>Reactions
welcome. Kol tuv,<BR><BR>--<BR>Arie Folger,<BR>Recent blog posts on <A
title=http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/ href="http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/"
target=_blank>http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A foolish man wrote, "How exactly can G-d wear tefillin? Can we
imagine G-d with an arm and a forehead?" -- a very foolish man who imagines
that he is the wise man and the rabbis of old are the fools.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>You answered him very well and explained what is meant by G-d's tefillin,
basing your answer on the gemara. But I want to add my own
remarks, based on a piyut that is said in many shuls every
Shabbos.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In "An'im zemiros" it says, "Dimu oscha velo kefi yeshcha, vayashavucha
lefi ma'asecha" which means, "They have compared You [or described You] but not
as You are, rather they described You [or allegorized You] according to Your
deeds." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The piyut goes on to say that Hashem has often been described in physical
terms, but these are all allegorical. "Vayechezu vecha zikna uvacharus" --
they have visualized You in both old age and in young manhood, as a white-haired
old man on the Yom Hadin and as a black-haired young man in war time, when
Hashem fights our enemies for us.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Then it says, "Pe'eiro alai ufe'eiri alav" -- His splendor is on me and my
splendor is on Him -- referring to His tefillin that we wear and our tefillin
that He wears. "Kesher tefillin her'ah le'anav" -- He showed the knot of
His tefillin to the humble one, i.e., to Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe was only
allowed to see the back of Hashem after He passed by but could not see His face
-- in reality, He could not see His back either, but saw something that looked
like a figure wrapped in a tallis, and saw the tefillin knot worn at the back of
the neck. What Moshe saw was not anything physical in reality, but the
effects of Hashem having passed by.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>That Hashem wears tefillin expresses an idea that Hashem is tied to us with
bonds of love, as we are tied to Him with love. What does a man say in the
morning when he puts on tefillin? He repeats Hashem's words to us, as
written in Sefer Hoshea, "Ve'eirasteech li le'olam, I will betroth you to Me
forever." That Hashem wears tefillin indicates that He loves us and is
bound to us in a relationship that can never be severed.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Many of the phrases and words in An'im Zemiros are quoted and borrowed from
Shir Hashirim, in which the relationship between the Ribono Shel Olam and Am
Yisrael is allegorized as a relationship between a husband and wife who love
each other and who see each other as beautiful beyond compare. The description
of the "beloved man" is all physical -- black hair, lips of honey, fingers of
ivory with precious stones inlaid, legs of marble and so on -- yet no one would
imagine that this is meant to be an actual description of a physical
presence! It is all allegory beginning to end, and that is exactly what
An'im Zemiros says.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In that very piyut it talks about Hashem's tefillin, which -- it could
not be stated more clearly -- is allegorical. "Dimu oscha velo kefi
yeshcha."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This is not news, that physical descriptions of Hashem are meant
allegorically. An'im Zemiros was written in the twelfth century, and Shir
Hashirim was written by Shlomo Hamelech.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There are people who imagine that they are oh so intellectual
and sophisticated to read poetry allegorically, while the chachamim of
old were childlike and unsophisticated and read poetry literally. Such
people are dishonoring our ancestors and merely flattering themselves.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I would like to add a word about poetry -- about shira. In poetry it
is possible to find a depth of emotion, of love and longing and yearning, that
one cannot express in plain prose. A person with a poetic heart and mind
will read about Hashem's tefillin and feel that poignancy and that depth of love
that Hashem has for His people and the yearning that we have for Him, especially
in Elul. "Ani ledodi vedodi li."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A person who just thinks pragmatically -- "So, exactly how /does/
Hashem put on His tefillin, and were our ancestors more or less
mentally sophisticated than we are?" -- is just so, so, so MISSING THE
POINT! Missing the whole beauty, depth and intensity of the bond
between the Ribono Shel Olam and Am Yisrael.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT><BR><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</STRONG></FONT><BR><BR><BR><BR><FONT
color=#0000ff>-------------------------------------------------------------------
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><FONT
lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial><BR></FONT> </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></DIV></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>