As Heard from Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L

“And it shall be to you a sign upon your arm and a remembrance between your eyes, in order that Hashem’s Torah be in your mouth, for with a strong arm Hashem brought you out from Egypt.” (13:9)

The deliverance from Egypt was done in order to give Israel the Torah, and it is the cause which obligates Israel to accept the Torah. This obligation is frequently mentioned together with the Mitzvot. But the acceptance of the Torah is expressed her by learning and repeating: “that Hashem’s Torah be in your mouth.” This is indeed necessary and important in order to fulfill the Torah laws.

We must understand that the learning and the repeating of the Torah is an end in itself, and from elsewhere in the Torah we can see that it is the most important of all the Torah functions. “And these words that I command you today shall be upon your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your sons and you shall speak in them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you arise.” (Debarim 6:6-7 Parshat Shema).

Indeed it is written “In your mouth and in your heart to do it” (ibid. 30:14). But the doing is a condition: the learning must be with the resolve to do. But the learning in itself is the major function, and therefore the Tefilin on the arm and between the eyes are indeed to remind us that Hashem’s Torah should be in our mouths, and here no doing is mentioned.

Thus the redemption from Egypt is intended primarily for the purpose that Israel devote itself to Torah-study. This is clearly indicated: “Because of this that Hashem did for me when I went forth from Egypt. And it shall be to you as a sign upon your arm and as a reminder between your eyes in order that the Torah of Hashem be in your mouth.” The Exodus from Egypt was in order that the Torah should be in the mouths of Israel.

Quoted from “A Nation is Born” by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L

Shabbat Shalom

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