I was visiting my folks this past weekend, and I joined them for the World Wide Wrap - an annual Super Bowl Sunday event by the Federation of Jewish Mens Clubs to encourage people to put on tephillin (an arm wrapping and a head wrapping; see Deut. 6:8).
An issue came up: Tephillin are made of leather. My brother does not wear leather, and so will not wear tephillin.
I found a few web sites that present opinions about non-leather tephillin, but none of the sites seem to be in mainstream Judaism.
Does anybody know of any major Jewish opinions on using natural fibers in tephillin, and particularly of any place to buy such tephillin?
IANAJ, but I have checked my Bibles and it doesn’t say that the tephillin have to be made of leather (I have one in English and one in Spanish). All it says is something that amounts to “remember my words and keep them always with you, bind them on your hands and on your head.”
While I realize that Judaism didn’t stop changing 2000 years ago, it looks to me like any obligation for these to be made of leather comes from “later developments”, not from the original text. At least if my Catholic Bible of Jerusalem has been translated correctly
My suggestion is, your brother should contact his rabbi and give him the specific examples. The rabbi will be the best person to decide whether a particular source appears kosher, after all it’s their job.
I definitely wouldn’t buy anything from Madonna’s suppliers :rolleyes:
Tradition says Tefillin must be leather, and more importantly, the words must be written on parchment, which also comes from animal hide. Mezuzot and Torah scrolls also must be made of hide parchment.
Veganism is simply not sanctioned by the Torah. The Torah is rather clear that animals are to be used by humans for certain divine-service-related purposes, and there’s no getting around that.
Nava you’d need to look at a copy of the Talmud. There you’ll find the oral tradition dating back to the time the Jews got the five books of Moses.
I hadn’t noticed the OP’s name until just now. Scuba bubbele, you know the answer to this one. The straps must be leather. The parchment must be hide. The thread holding the boxes shut must be twisted sinew.
