Notes and Reflections on Chabad Chasidus -- Dedicated to the members of Congregation Anshe Libowitz of Brownsville, Brooklyn
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Michtav MeEliyahu 2:75
Michtav
MeEliyahu 2:75
In
contrast, hashgacha clallis is for those who don’t serve G-d at all or serve
Him in a mechanical fashion without any inner awareness. Therefore, their deeds
do not reveal G-d’s honor in a desire manner. These types of people function
simply to provide assistance to the true tzadick in his service of G-d.
Therefore, what these people get in this world does not correspond directly
with their deeds. That is because their personal accomplishment have no
inherent value. They have merit only to the degree that they assist the tzadick.
p. 246
Michtav M'Eliyahu 4:355
Michtav M'Eliyahu 4:355
Shmuel HaNagid in intro to Talmud: "The purpose of Agadah is inspiration and therefore when it doesn't inspire us because of our limited ability to understand we have no obligation to study that which doesn't inspire." Daas Torah, p. 224
Chasam Sofer (YD 2:356)
Chasam Sofer (YD 2:356)
Hillel says San. 99a that redemption can happen without moshiach. Since the majority rejected this, we are not allowed to go by it. Daas Torah, p. 234
from the Rashab
There is, however, a possibility for negative consequences even within Torah study. Since the Torah is enclothed in worldly affairs and operates with the framework of human logic, it is possible that a person will look at it as no more than a system of wisdom, forgetting about G-d, the Giver of the Torah. When the Torah is studied with such an approach, it can become “a potion of death,” encouraging a person’s self-concern. Instead of serving as a tool to bring about the refinement of the world and the person studying, the study of the Torah can inflate the person’s ego and cause him to become more materially oriented.
For this reason, it is necessary for one’s Torah study to include P’nimiyus HaTorah, the inner, mystic dimensions of the Torah, which focuses attention directly on the Torah’s G-dly and spiritual core.
tefillin campaign
technically hand washing only for tefillah
typical fry person's hands in western world are clean anyway
rambam - a goy can do any mitzvah aseh including tefillin
from web:
A non-Jew certainly may wear tefillin (in other words, there is no law against them doing so), but they will not be fulfilling a mitzvah. From that perspective, they might be viewed in the same way that one views a Jewish woman who lays tefillin: the Shulchan Arukh (Orach Chaim 38:3) exempts her but allows her to wear them if she wishes. Note, however, that the Rema does not permit women to wear tefillin (although he does not comment on a non-Jewish man doing so), and you can see the explanation of the Magen Avraham for this in situ.
The Shulchan Arukh prohibits non-Jews from writing the scrolls that go into tefillin (Orach Chaim 39:1), but it also mentions that if a non-Jew is in possession of tefillin one makes the assumption that they are kosher. Nowhere, however, does it refer to non-Jews who choose to wear them.
That said, the Rambam does speak about non-Jews choosing to perform mitzvot in which they've not been commanded (Hilkhot Melachim 10:10), and even suggests that they receive some measure of reward for doing so. If you look at what the Radbaz has to say on this point, you'll see that he mentions tefillin in particular:
ומכל מקום במצוה שצריכין קדושה וטהרה כגון תפילין ס"ת ומזוזה אני חוכך להחמיר שלא יניחו אותם לעשותן
In any case, when it comes to mitzvot that require sanctity and purity, such as [wearing] tefillin or [writing] a sefer Torah or a mezuzah, I deliberated and am stringent¹: we should not allow them [non-Jews] to do so.
In other words, while the law appears to be in favour of them doing so, if they should wish to do so, and while it may even be possible to construe the Rambam's words as suggesting that they even receive some degree of merit (despite not performing a mitzvah), there is also scope for a less lenient position, as per the Radbaz, and as per a possible extrapolation from the writings of the Rema and the Magen Avraham.
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¹ The expression that I have translated above as "I deliberated and am stringent" appears in the Mishna, Nedarim 1:1. It literally translates to "I hesitate to be stringent", but its meaning is as I have rendered it above (cf: Jastrow, חכך II; Kehati, Ned 1:1).