The end of this week's parashah discusses the mitzvah of tefillin. Shulchan Aruch (25:5) states, "When you wear tefillin, you should think that Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded us to wear on our arm and head these four parshiyos (כי והיה ,קדש שמוע אם והיה ,שמע ,יביאך) that tell Hashem's oneness and yetzias Mitzrayim. The purpose is so we will remember the miracles that Hashem performed for us, Hashem's oneness, and that Hashem has the strength to rule over the upper and lower worlds, and to act with them as He desires."
6. A person was very concerned that the tefillin should be precisely in the right place. He used to ask four or five people whether his tefillin were directly between the eyes. One person told him, "The tefillin is in the right place; now put your head to the tefillin." This meant that he should think about the lessons the tefillin teach. The purpose of tefillin is to recognize Hashem's oneness in the world and to remember the miracles He performed when He took us out of Mitzrayim. It isn't enough that the tefillin are on the head. They must be in the head. Their message must penetrate our minds.
The Chofetz Chaim zt'l tells a mashal of a wealthy person who owned a beautiful mansion, and his most precious item was an exotic bird. He spent a lot of time listening to this bird sing. Once, he had to travel and hired someone to take care of his mansion while away. Notably, he warned him to take care of his precious bird. He wrote instructions on how to care for the bird and ordered him to read the list daily. When the wealthy person returned from his trip, he found the house turned over. Obviously, the man he hired hadn't taken care of the home. And then he noticed his lifeless bird, having died from hunger. He shouted at his worker, "Why didn't you do as I told you? Why didn't you feed my bird?" The worker responded, "Why are you angry with me? I did exactly as you told me. Every day, when I awoke in the morning, after saying Modeh Ani, I read the list you gave me, carefully pronouncing each word." The wealthy man replied to the foolish worker that the point wasn't reading the list but rather performing the instructions listed there. The nimshal is that we read pasukim in the tefillah to remember yetzias Mitzrayim, but the purpose isn't to read the words; it is to impart the message into the mind.
And it isn't enough to use the mind. One must place the ideas in the heart, as well. The holy sefarim (Shaar HaPesukim, להיות ה"ד וישב, and other sefarim) teach that פרעה spells הערף, the neck. The neck is the area between the brain and the heart. פרעה, the yetzer hara, stands there and doesn’t allow the ideas we know in our mind to reach our heart. מצרים can be translated as narrow, צר being the root of the word. So, מצרים יציאת means that the emunah and awareness of the mind should pass through this narrow section of the neck and reach the heart, and then all of our deeds will be performed with emunah in Hashem.
Once, doctors asked the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz zt'l, "What do you do for a living?" The Divrei Chaim replied that he builds bridges. The doctor was shocked and asked for an explanation. The Divrei Chaim explained, "I build bridges that connect the brain with the heart." Yesod HaAvodah zt'l (letter 25) writes, "Reb Leib Madukar zt'l, a student of the Magid of Mezritz zt'l, writes, 'Know, my son, that the distance between the emunah of the brain and the emunah of the heart is similar to the distance between heaven and earth.'"
There was a person in Communist Russia, who refused to make a bris milah for his son. But the mother wanted her son to have a bris milah, so one day, when her husband was traveling, she sent a telegram to the Ribnitzer Rebbe zt'l (who was moser nefesh in Russia to perform bris milah), asking him to come and make a bris milah for her son. The Ribnitzer Rebbe took Reb Mendel Futerfas zt'l and they traveled to perform the bris milah. After the bris milah, they were unable to stop the bleeding. The child's life was in danger. But they couldn't call a doctor because the father would find out about the bris milah. Furthermore, the doctor might inform the authorities that they performed a bris milah. The Ribnitzer went into a closed room for a few moments, and when he came out, the bleeding had stopped. No medical procedure was needed. They returned home. Reb Mendel Futerfas asked the rebbe, "What did you do in that room that caused the bleeding to stop?" The Rebbe replied, "I prayed to Hashem. I said, 'Father in heaven. I did a great mitzvah. Please, don't embarrass me,' and Hashem accepted my tefillos." Reb Mendel replied humbly, "When I saw the bleeding, I lost my mind. I know many lessons from Chabad, but when I panicked, I couldn't think about any of them, and I didn't have peace of mind. But the Rebbe, with his emunah peshutah and tefillos, saved the child's life." This occurred because the emunah of the Ribnitzer Rebbe's mind reached his heart. And when emunah reaches the heart, everything one does and all his thoughts are imbued with emunah.
There is a mashal (brought in Pninei Yosef, p.6) about a simple, unlearned farmer, whose mind was exclusively occupied with his cows, chickens, and other farm animals. He didn't even know how to read or write. As it was the custom of that time, the farmer hired a melamed to teach his son some Torah, so he would grow up to be a good Jew. Whenever the farmer received a letter from a relative or a business associate, he would ask the melamed to read the letter to him. Once, the farmer's father died, r'l. When the letter with this sad news arrived, he gave it to the melamed to read it to him. The melamed read it coldly, without emotion, and the farmer fainted.
