This week's parashah speaks about the mitzvah of tefillin as it states (11:18) אתם וקשרתם עיניכם בין לטוטפת והיו ידכם על לאות , "You shall bind for a sign upon your arm and let them be an ornament between your eyes." Tefillin serves several purposes. Among them, tefillin helps us purify our thoughts and desires that they should be solely for Hashem. As we say in the l’shem yichud before we put on tefillin, תאוות בזה לשעבד הלב נגד שהיא ...היד על להניח וציוונו שהנשמה המח נגד הראש ועל ש"יתב לעבודתו לבנו ומחשבות לעבודתו משועבדים יהיו כולם וכוחותי חושי שאר עם שבמוחי שמו יתברך , "Hashem commanded us to put on tefillin on the arm... which is opposite the heart, to dedicate our temptations and thoughts for Hashem's service.
And we place the tefillin on the head, opposite the brain, so the neshamah in my mind, with all my senses and strengths, should all be dedicated to Hashem's service." So, with tefillin, we leave evil temptations and attain the devotion to serve Hashem.
It is necessary to leave the evil temptations because it is impossible to fully accept the yoke of heaven when one is under the influence of bad temptations and the yetzer hara. The Zohar (vol.3 p.108.) tells us that when one is under the realm of the Sitra Achara, he isn't able to accept the yoke of heaven. Therefore, when we put on tefillin Hashem frees us from bad temptations, from the control of the yetzer hara and Sitra Achara, and then we are able to accept the yoke of heaven.
Another purpose of tefillin is to remember yetzias Mitzrayim. At yetzias Mitzrayim, these two stages occurred. With the many miracles, Hashem freed us from the Sitra Achara, and we accepted the yoke of heaven. The Sfas Emes (5650 Bo) explains that a great miracle occurs when we put on tefillin, a miracle similar to the miracles of yetzias Mitzrayim. He writes, "In all generations, so that we should be able today to leave the kingdom of the Sitra Achara and of the yetzer hara, Hashem made a reminder of the miracles, and He gave us the mitzvah of tefillin. This arouses again what occurred at yetzias Mitzrayim." This means that miracles, similar to yetzias Mitzrayim, occur each day when we put on tefillin. We are freed from the pull of the bad temptations, of the yetzer hara and Sita Achara, and we are able to accept with a pure mind and with a whole heart the yoke of heaven.
The Sfas Emes teaches: We wear four parshiyos: יביאך כי והיה ,קדש ,שמע אם והיה ,שמע. The first two, (שמע אם והיה ,שמע which discuss Hashem's greatness) help us accept the yoke of heaven. כי והיה ,קדש יביאך (which discusses yetzias Mitzrayim) gives us strength to free ourselves from the yoke of the yetzer hara.
Chazal (Sanhedrin 4:) teach that טוטפות is a mixture of two foreign languages. בכתפי טט שתים באפריקי פת ,שתים , this means that טט means two in the language כתפי, and פת means two in אפריקי. The Sfas Emes explains that כתפי also means shoulders and alludes to accepting on our shoulders the yoke of Hashem's kingdom. אפריקי also means לפרוק, to unload. This represents freeing ourselves from the load and yoke of the Sitra Achara. This is what occurs when we put on tefillin. We accept the yoke of Heaven and free ourselves from the yoke of the Sitra Achara.
Just as we put on tefillin in this world, Hakadosh Baruch Hu puts on tefillin in heaven. Chazal (Brachos 6.) tell us the parshiyos that are in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's tefillin: (Divrei HaYamim 1, 17:21) בארץ אחד גוי ישראל כעמך מי, and (Devarim 4:7-8) אליו קרובים אלקים לו אשר גדול גוי מי. These parshiyos tell the praises of Bnei Yisrael that they are the children and beloved to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. These correspond to our accepting the yoke of heaven. The following two parshiyos of Hashem's tefillin are (Devarim 4:34) לקחת אלקים הנסה או and (Devarim 33:29) 'בה נושע עם, which discusses Hashem's saving us. These two pasukim correspond to Hashem saving us from the Sitra Achara.
