Jedis and Tefillin
The preferred weapon of a Jedi knight is the lightsaber, a blade of energy that cuts through almost all substances without resistance. Significantly, a lightsaber automatically cauterizes wounds (except in the bar scene in the original movie). It is not unusual for a Jedi to be injured by having his arm sliced clean off (and replaced with a synthetic arm).
What would a Jewish Jedi, assuming the Jedi beliefs can be reconciled with Judaism, do if his left arm is cut off? He cannot put on tefillin. But, if he is trained to do so, can he write tefillin?
The Gemara (Gittin 45b) explains that only someone who is bar keshirah, who puts on tefillin, can write them. Therefore, a woman and a gentile cannot write tefillin. The Magen Avraham (49:5) writes that someone whose tefillin arm has been cut off can still write tefillin. Even though he does not wear tefillin, he is still considered bar keshirah because he is obligated to wear them. The Mishnah Berurah (49:9) and Arukh Ha-Shulchan (49:1) rule accordingly.
The Avnei Nezer (Orach Chaim no. 439 – link), however, disputes this position. He points to the ruling that a deaf person cannot blow shofar (Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim 589:2). Since he is obligated to hear a shofar but due to physical limitations cannot, he also cannot blow it. Therefore, someone who is obligated to wear tefillin but due to lightsaber wounds cannot, similarly cannot write tefillin.
R. Tzvi Pesach Frank (Responsa Har Tzvi, Orach Chaim vol. 1 no. 37 – link) disagrees with the Avnei Nezer. He explains that the requirement of being bar keshirah to write tefillin is different from the general requirement of being obligated in a mitzvah in order to fulfill it on behalf of others. In order to fulfill a mitzvah on behalf of someone else, you have to actually be able to fulfill it yourself. You need to be able to do the mitzvah yourself in practice in order to do it for others. Bar keshirah is not about doing the mitzvah but preparing its required items. Therefore, it only requires someone to be able to do the mitzvah in theory.
An injured Jedi can fulfill the mitzvah of tefillin in theory, because he is obligated to do so. Therefore, he is bar keshirah and can write tefillin. A deaf man, though, cannot hear the shofar in practice and therefore cannot blow the shofar for others.
Thank you for the links to the tshuvot — I really appreciate it; it certainly enhances the learning that I do on your blog.
Jedi beliefs can not be reconciled with Judaism, especially not with the Unity of G-d expressed in the third parsha of Tefillin. We have no room for the Jedi concept of the dark side of the force.
Why can’t he put the tefillin on his other arm?
You’re forgetting an important, relevant issue. The Jedi is question was subsequently fitted with a prosthetic hand attached to his body, that functioned as a normal hand in every way. Would the new arm be considered part of the Jedi’s body, such that he would then be able and required to put on tefillin? Would there be any difference if we were speaking about a limb transplant (which seems somewhat less science fictiony)?
Dallas Jew,
The are Jews who beleive in the sitra achra, as disturbing as that might be to some of us. I think the reason why a Jedi cannot be counted to a minyan is that they are pantheists. God is not a being distinct from the world, but rather a totally immanent Force.
A much more pressing question is “can Wookies convert?”
The Jedis existed “a long time ago”, presumably before the Torah was written (2000 years before Briyat Ha’olam, according to a popular midrash). Therefore, the parshiot in a Jedi’s tfillin would have been written before they were codified in the Torah. The requirement of k’sidran (that the parshiot in tfillin be written in the order that they appear in the Torah) is based on the phrase “v’hayu had’varim” – bahavaytan y’hu (i.e., they are to be in the order in which they are found). Since they had not yet been put in order at the time that the Jedis existed, it would be impossible to fulfill this requirement. Thus, even if a Jedi with an amputated limb would be technically obligated to don tefillin, he would not be able to procure a kosher set.
On the other hand, it’s been well established that Palpatine’s head became wrinkled as a punishment for being a karkafta d’lo manach tfillin. Go figure.
and if the sliced off arm were saved and attached to a different jedi – which arm would he put teffilin on (and who would get the mitzvah?)
similarly if his head were chopped off and attached to another body?
KT
Nachum: “Why can’t he put the tefillin on his other arm?”
I would have thought so, also. But the halakhah seems pretty set that he is exempt from the mitzvah.
Moshe Shoshan: “The are Jews who beleive in the sitra achra, as disturbing as that might be to some of us.”
Yes. R. Menachem Kasher has a chapter on it in HaTekufah HaGedolah, arguing that this is not a valid criticism of anti-Zionists because there is a source in our tradition for the sitra achra.
“I think the reason why a Jedi cannot be counted to a minyan is that they are pantheists.”
Are they pantheists or panentheists?
And can a Jew create a Jewish version of Jedi philosophy, much like Jews are taking Far Eastern martial arts with modified views>
“there is a source in our tradition for the sitra achra.”
This is the reason Kabbalah should only be taught on an individual basis and only to very selected individuals.
But now that such terms are in the open, they must be explained.
The best explanation for this concept is that G-d has to give us an opportunity to sin by “hiding” Himself. A better term that should be used is Hester Panim (hiding of His face).
while he would be exempt on his arm doesn’t he still have a chiyuv to place it on his head (since it i believe it is a mitzva by itself – arm and head are counted i think as 2 separate mitzvahs) ? but decapitation would rule the chiyuv out. so if he is obligated to place tefilin on his head, why wouldn’t he be able to right the parshiot?
I do not understand the Magen Avraham and Avnei Nezer: How can someone be straightforwardly obligated to do things they can’t do? Ought implies can. So what does it mean when they say someone is obligated in such cases?
i’ll rely on the psakim at the time of the (supposed) golem of prague
“This is the reason Kabbalah should only be taught on an individual basis and only to very selected individuals.”
If only people would apply the same attitude to R’ Kook’s writings, which are also based on kabbalah, then many of the excesses of the dati leumi community could be avoided.
Ruvie,by your logic, the Jedi might then have a problem writing out the shel yad parchment, which is written on one scroll and distinct from the 4 of the rosh, as he no longer has a chiyuv for it.
I don’t believe your sources! Show me the holocron of R. Tzvi Pesach Frank immediately!
bpelta.blogspot.com
Does k’shira / kesiva works davka with tefillin shel yad, i.e. can a Jedi who lost his head still write both tefillin (according to all opinions – since it says “ve’hayu” and not “keshartem”)?
BTW organic artificial arm – would Reb Moshe hold patur and Tzitz Eliezer chayav (re:tefillin)?
A correction: Women who take on the obligation to wear tefillin are certainly able to write tefillin…
Shimshon-
says who?
K’sidran is not mentioned anywhere in the Talmud. It is, however, brought at the end of the Mehilta on Parashath Bo. The Rambam does not mention it at all in Mishneh Torah, which is something I’ve never heard an adequate explanation for. Some posit. he doesn’t hold by it, but on the other hand he doesn’t mention haq tochoth (forming the letter by removing the ink) either and that does have explicit sources in the Talmud. There is no baraitha that says ksidran is based on the pasuq “w’hayu hadevarim”; it’s brought by certain poskim as a siman b’alma as far as I am aware. This idea, “kawayathan yeho”, is rather mentioned (it I remember correctly) by hazal in the context of not reading the Megila out of order.
The Jedi pantheists? Chas veshalom! THE force be with you. Not the forces or a Spinozan force within all things but an all encompassing transcendental force. IMHO this is totally compatible with Jewish theology without the anthropomorphisms of heavenly father etc. BTW I always wondered what happened to the Jews? It would be disappointing to think that Mashiach had not appeared by the time of SW.
The Mashiach had not come yet, along time ago, in a galaxy far far away…
I suppose that the issue of the existence of an obligation, or lack thereof, for donning the hand tefilin by a one-armed man is based on the rabbinic hekaish of “ukeshartom leot al yadcha..ukesavtom..”. This would teach, among others, that the hand used in writing is the one to be used to tie the tefila shel yad on the other hand [As I see it, the limud from the "he" of yadcha is a confirming asmachta]. Someone with only one hand may, therefore, have a problem with both donning the shel yad and in writing the parshiot (the converse limud from the hekaish).
Framing the issue in the context of a one-armed Star Wars Jedi knight is relevant only for its entertainment value. The issue of the mitzvah obligations of a believer in the Force is bogus. Lucas hasn’t developed a theology in his Star Wars episodes to allow us to judge the heterodoxy of such a belief. Moreover, a Jedi knight is trained from early childhood (remember, that’s why there was much opposition to the admission of Anakin Skywalker as a trainee at age 8 or so). Someone carefully indoctrinated from early childhood in a heterodox belief system is a “tinok shenishba”. As such, he is still obligated in mitzvot as he becomes aware of them. Even if he knowingly clings to heterodox beliefs, he should still perform mitzvot such as donning tefilin. As the sages understand the verse, “oti azavu v’et mitzvotai lo shamaru”, ‘would that they kept my mitzvot even if they abandoned Me’. Writing the parshiot, however, is not something that is valid if done by a non-believer.
“Shimshon on July 27, 2010 at 10:10 am
A correction: Women who take on the obligation to wear tefillin are certainly able to write tefillin…
”
only if their daughters also take upon themselves the obligation of tfillin.
and do you imply daily wearing tfilin, not just at jofa photo ops?
what i am alluding to is the fact that their (feminists, jofa members, etc) daughters do not want to put on tfillin, tzitzit, aliyot, etc.
Actually, I don’t know if Star Wars has theology. There’s nothing saying that The Force isn’t a created entity. In the original movies, when it was “It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together,” in Ben Kenobi’s words, it might have been a pantheist god. But in the later movies, when it became something generated by midichlorians, it became entirely mechanistic, and divorced from theological discussions.
Kesidran with Tefilin could have a strong theological message.
We had to experience as a nation the Strong Hand of G-d at the Exodus before fully accepting the Unity of G-d in Shema. Just the abstract concept of G-d’s Unity is not enough, it had to be made real through the actual Exodus with G-d’s outstretched Hand.
The Jedi Knights had no such experience. Other nations that did not experience the Exodus (or the Giving of the Torah) do not have the same obligation of accepting the Unity of G-d that we have.
to dallas:
which brings up the question of which parshiyot were in the tfillin during the forty years. (kadesh, vehaya ki yeviacha — date to begining of 40 yrs; shma, vehaya im shamoah date to end of forty years — what was in the batim for 39 – 1/2 years?)
(lets bring this down to earth)
also, who wrote this article? — you usually have signed posts. (i know — i am somewhat anonymous here)
[...] addresses the age-old question of whether a Jedi who has his arm cut off can write [...]
I believe the shaila can either apply to a Jedi who was Megayer or a Jew who found himself strong in the Force. I don’t believe the theology and the abilities have to conflict. That’s nisht a hin nisht a heir though.
As Reuven Spolter said, I wonder if the fact that the replacement is fully functioning (and made of flesh I might add) would make him chayov again. I believe there’s a real nafka mina between that and today’s prosthetics which are purely plastic (or whatever the material is).