The most prominent letter displayed on the Tefillin is the letter "Shin" - one bearing three "heads" on the right side of the Bayis and a four-headed companion on its left side. Why specifically the letter "Shin"?
The gematriah of "Shin" is 300. If you make a calculation, of the 365 days that make up a solar year, only 300 of them are "Tefillin days," for there are 65 days a year that Tefillin is not laid. They are:
52 - Shabbos; 2 - Rosh Hashanah; 1 - Yom Kippur; 2 - Sukkos; 2 - Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah; 4 - Pesach (first and last days of Yom Tov); 2 - Shavuos.
52+2+1+2+2+4+2=65.
ארחות חיים (רא"ה מלוניל) הל' תפילין סי' כ"ז
See here
Orchos Chayim actually says that Shin is used as it is one of the letters of the name Sha-dai. His explanation of the three hundred days is only meant to answer why we choose the shin over the daled and and yud.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, from a practical point of view, if you can only use one letter to to represent a word, the simplest method is to use the first letter. That would be a simpler explanation...
How does this work for the Jews in Israel who celebrate one day of yomtov? Was thin shin an exilic introduction? Or is this just an exilic explanation?
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, would this mean that tefilin should be worn on Chol Hamoed? Many don't...
Dan, that is a good הערה. To address your second point, there are obviously many reasons, some of which the Orchos Chayim mentions himself; this is apparently a homoletical reason.
ReplyDeleteDavid, these are all good questions. Apparently, this would only work for the dwellers of the Diaspora. Interesting enough, I saw a book on Google books (can't remember where) that brings this as a proof for the shita that holds that we do wear tefillin on Chol Hamoed (of course, he didn't source it).
If you can come up with a better calculation, אדרבא!