One of the fundamental concepts of Judaism is unity. This involves not only faith in one G-d and one Torah, but also unity in the inner life of every individual.
There are approaches which suggest we must make concessions to the body and not consider the soul. And others that maintain that we must continually oppress and burden the body so that the soul can always be at one with and connected to the body. In contrast, Chassidus emphasises that the soul must direct a person's life. The soul's purpose, however, is not to oppress the body, but rather to see that the body will conduct itself in a healthy manner according to the guidelines of the Torah.
To focus on the concept of oneness, in particular with regard to an individual's spiritual life, there are three approaches with regard to the proper direction for human conduct:
- Our conduct must be dictated by the cold logic of the mind;
- We should follow our passionate hearts and emotions; and
- what we think and what we feel is not that important; what is most important is actual deed—that we conduct ourselves in an appropriate manner.
The Torah states, and rules, that a person must be complete. He should strive for perfection. And a complete person must coordinate his head, his heart, and his hands (which symbolise all the limbs of the body) in unity and in harmony, having them conduct themselves according to G-d's guidelines.
This great effort is so important that our Sages tell us that it is one of the rationales for the mitzvah of tefillin. When a Jew puts on tefillin, he should remember that his hands (indicated by the arm tefillin), his heart (which the arm tefillin faces), and his head (indicated by the head tefillin) must be attuned to each other so that he can live a Jewish life and a Torah life.
From a deeper perspective, the fulfillment of the mitzvah of tefillin, the actual deed, strengthens a Jew and augments the powers of his soul, enabling him to establish harmony between the hand, the heart, and the head in a Torah way.
We do not understand how the deed of putting on tefillin has an effect on the powers of his soul, just like a child does not appreciate the connection between the physical food that he eats and his soul which grants life to his body.
