To a layperson, or perhaps anyone who has never used them, tefillin may seem mysterious. What do you do with them? What’s inside the little boxes? Will it hurt? But when a person actually makes a set of tefillin him – or herself, learning the complex Jewish law that dictates how they are made, laboring over every tedious (yet crucial) detail along the way, something wondrous happens: tefillin become a treasured mitzvah – and these tefillin become very precious to their creators and users.
This fall, the Beth El Lifelong Learning Committee is sponsoring a unique tefillin-making workshop with Rabbi Noah Greenberg, a Berkeley-born artist and educator who lives in Safed, Israel. Rabbi Greenberg is the creator and founder of the Kesher Tefillin project which was launched at Camp Ramah Darom in 2007. Following the success of the initial program, Rabbi Greenberg has run numerous tefillin-making workshops every year for both youth and adult groups at camps, synagogues, and day schools. To date, almost 3500 people have participated in the program – that’s 3500 pairs of tefillin!
The Kesher Tefillin Project will take place on November 30-December 3, and December 6 from 7:00-9:30 pm.
To register for the Kesher Tefillin Project, click here!
(Please note that Kesher Tefillin Project will only occur if there is enough community participation. Registration needs to occur by October 23, at which time it will be determine if there is a sufficient number of participants.)
