Tefillin are funny. Yeah, but really — so why should I do it? I love it when the Conservative movement tries to be cool and relevant and just proves how out of touch they are. (Having said that I’m a strong supporter of the initiative and promoting tefillin in Conservative – and all – congregations).
I just saw the title and almost spit out the bagel I was munching on.
I’m sorry, but wearing tefillin will never be cool or hip. No amount of “wrapping” will ever change that. Tefillin is are not cool. Tallitot are not cool. Matzah is not cool. Fasting on Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av is not cool.
But they don’t need to be cool. They’re mitzvot, and therefore are ways for us humans to interact with Hashem in the context of Jewish tradition.
Trying to argue that they’re cool minimizes the importance of the mitzvot that the acts are supposed to fulfill.
Dear G-d. This makes me want to cry out to you, and not in a good way. Also, he is wearing them too far down on his forehead. But at least there’s a women also. And I agree greatly that the point of wearing Tfillin has nothing to do with whether they’re cool, and “selling” them like that cheapens the Mitzvah. That said, I do think Tfillin are cool 🙂
Cheesy? Yes.
degrading to hip-hop? absolutely!
Disrespectful to the mitzvah? not so sure.
actually I liked the amount of content contained in the rap regarding laying tefillin. I would want to ask the creator, but it seems that this would be a great jumping off point to teach jews about this particular mitzvah and to go back to the rap as a text of sorts comparing what the rhyme said to what the tradition teaches.
The reality is that this is where a lot of the Jewish community is at. We can debate whether this is lamentable or not but at the end of the day educators of all stripes need to think about where their students are at as a place to start. If this was the whole initiative then I would say that it is not enough. But if this was meant as a catalyst for deeper study about tefillin I don;t see the harm.
Reading everyone’s comments persuaded me to suffer through the whole thing. Sorry, I have to say it is degrading to the mitzvah. The reason is that it is a fundamentally disingenuous presentation that kids will see through, and that is so dorky that it attaches dorkiness to the Mitzvah and to Judaism.
What’s wrong with a little honest self-presentation? Why pretend to be something you’re not? Kids know when they’re being duped, and this makes it patently obvious.
Yesterday I went to the Conservative Shul that I am most likely to go to for weekday shacharit and stumbled into their world wide wrap program. The service was better than it often is, since we took more time with the davening than we often do, and it was followed by a light breakfast and people talking honestly about their experiences with Tefillin.
And I think it impressed the kids.
This video – not so much.
Oh, no – did we really do this?! Such behavior is inexcusable.
It’s offensive that people try to rap and have such slim understanding of hip-hop.
Why do people think they need to be “hip”? It’s transparent.
As well as being painfully awful (and they did not use poor Tefillin Barbie with my consent), this video neatly illustrates an attitude towards mitzvot which may be summed up thus: “Yeah…mitzvot…they’re kind of weird and embarrassing. We do them because…well, we think it’s all pretty dumb, to be honest, but we do it because we want the kids to have Jewish babies…or something…”
Pretending something is KEWL to get people hyped up about it demonstrates just how little one actually values it for itself. That’s how people sell junk. You make a big hoo-ha like it’s shiny and exciting, and if you’re lucky people will believe you and buy your rubbishy plastic bling. Diamonds, on the other hand, need no such nonsense. Diamonds speak for themselves.
Broadly speaking:
Baal teshuva communities? Treat mitzvot like diamonds. This? Treats mitzvot like bling. That is how this video cheapens the mitzvah of tefillin.
HS: I agree totally with that last sentence.
“I gots my tefillin. Bling bling yo.” Meanwhile, you’re being shot at by some dude thinking your davening is some kind of gang sign.
Hatam Soferet writes: Pretending something is KEWL to get people hyped up about it demonstrates just how little one actually values it for itself. That’s how people sell junk. You make a big hoo-ha like it’s shiny and exciting, and if you’re lucky people will believe you and buy your rubbishy plastic bling. Diamonds, on the other hand, need no such nonsense. Diamonds speak for themselves.
I agree with you about this video, but I think you’re underselling the marketing genius of the diamond cartel. Diamonds didn’t always speak for themselves. Over the last 70 years, DeBeers has successfully convinced people that diamonds are indispensable, created “rules” like spending three months’ salary on an engagement ring, and implanted the idea that this is “traditional” and the way things have always been.
So actually, come to think of it, they have more in common with “ba’al teshuva” communities than you may have intended. Now I see where Artscroll learned about marketing.
Just, thanksfully, we don’t all do WWRap this way. Most of us just “wrapped” but didn’t “rap.”
We had a very nice exercise with a bunch of seventh graders and the men’s club in which we looked at half-made tefillin scraps, talked about what was in tefillin, talked about the relationship to the Shema and what is in God’s tefillin, and learned how to put them on.
Some of the kids were bored (but some of the kids are always bored) but some said it was cool (NOT Kewl) and they enjoyed it, although their arm hurt afterward (I mentioned that you don’t need to cut your circulation off for next time). And at least they have seen tefillin and tried them once.
It would be better if they put them on because they’re a mitzvah and commanded, but most parents are unwilling to spend that much on a mitzvah (how sad is that!) specially one that they themselves don’t do.
KRG: I think that’s the crux of the problem. Not the fact that the parents don’t do the mitzvot themselves, but the fact that they’re not raising their kids in such a way that mitzvot are important.
I got through about 10 seconds, and then the pain got to be too much.
It’s as bad as NCSY…in the 80s.
Minus the secret black-hat agenda, of course? *snark*
wow… I’m speechless. If I didn’t lay tefillin already, I don’t know that this would make me want to…
Wow. This is … um. No.
Tefillin are funny. Yeah, but really — so why should I do it? I love it when the Conservative movement tries to be cool and relevant and just proves how out of touch they are. (Having said that I’m a strong supporter of the initiative and promoting tefillin in Conservative – and all – congregations).
To paraphrase a friend on this, I’m just sorry they didn’t refer to them as “tefizzle.”
I just saw the title and almost spit out the bagel I was munching on.
I’m sorry, but wearing tefillin will never be cool or hip. No amount of “wrapping” will ever change that. Tefillin is are not cool. Tallitot are not cool. Matzah is not cool. Fasting on Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av is not cool.
But they don’t need to be cool. They’re mitzvot, and therefore are ways for us humans to interact with Hashem in the context of Jewish tradition.
Trying to argue that they’re cool minimizes the importance of the mitzvot that the acts are supposed to fulfill.
hahaha! i also love the end where it says “weddings… slideshows… and more!”
classic
Dear G-d. This makes me want to cry out to you, and not in a good way. Also, he is wearing them too far down on his forehead. But at least there’s a women also. And I agree greatly that the point of wearing Tfillin has nothing to do with whether they’re cool, and “selling” them like that cheapens the Mitzvah. That said, I do think Tfillin are cool 🙂
Danya, “tefizzle” FTW!
My dad said this video was degrading to Tefillin.
I told him he had it all wrong.
This video is FAR MORE degrading to hip-hop.
Cheesy? Yes.
degrading to hip-hop? absolutely!
Disrespectful to the mitzvah? not so sure.
actually I liked the amount of content contained in the rap regarding laying tefillin. I would want to ask the creator, but it seems that this would be a great jumping off point to teach jews about this particular mitzvah and to go back to the rap as a text of sorts comparing what the rhyme said to what the tradition teaches.
The reality is that this is where a lot of the Jewish community is at. We can debate whether this is lamentable or not but at the end of the day educators of all stripes need to think about where their students are at as a place to start. If this was the whole initiative then I would say that it is not enough. But if this was meant as a catalyst for deeper study about tefillin I don;t see the harm.
Reading everyone’s comments persuaded me to suffer through the whole thing. Sorry, I have to say it is degrading to the mitzvah. The reason is that it is a fundamentally disingenuous presentation that kids will see through, and that is so dorky that it attaches dorkiness to the Mitzvah and to Judaism.
What’s wrong with a little honest self-presentation? Why pretend to be something you’re not? Kids know when they’re being duped, and this makes it patently obvious.
Yesterday I went to the Conservative Shul that I am most likely to go to for weekday shacharit and stumbled into their world wide wrap program. The service was better than it often is, since we took more time with the davening than we often do, and it was followed by a light breakfast and people talking honestly about their experiences with Tefillin.
And I think it impressed the kids.
This video – not so much.
Oh, no – did we really do this?! Such behavior is inexcusable.
It’s offensive that people try to rap and have such slim understanding of hip-hop.
Why do people think they need to be “hip”? It’s transparent.
As well as being painfully awful (and they did not use poor Tefillin Barbie with my consent), this video neatly illustrates an attitude towards mitzvot which may be summed up thus: “Yeah…mitzvot…they’re kind of weird and embarrassing. We do them because…well, we think it’s all pretty dumb, to be honest, but we do it because we want the kids to have Jewish babies…or something…”
Pretending something is KEWL to get people hyped up about it demonstrates just how little one actually values it for itself. That’s how people sell junk. You make a big hoo-ha like it’s shiny and exciting, and if you’re lucky people will believe you and buy your rubbishy plastic bling. Diamonds, on the other hand, need no such nonsense. Diamonds speak for themselves.
Broadly speaking:
Baal teshuva communities? Treat mitzvot like diamonds. This? Treats mitzvot like bling. That is how this video cheapens the mitzvah of tefillin.
HS: I agree totally with that last sentence.
“I gots my tefillin. Bling bling yo.” Meanwhile, you’re being shot at by some dude thinking your davening is some kind of gang sign.
Hatam Soferet writes:
Pretending something is KEWL to get people hyped up about it demonstrates just how little one actually values it for itself. That’s how people sell junk. You make a big hoo-ha like it’s shiny and exciting, and if you’re lucky people will believe you and buy your rubbishy plastic bling. Diamonds, on the other hand, need no such nonsense. Diamonds speak for themselves.
I agree with you about this video, but I think you’re underselling the marketing genius of the diamond cartel. Diamonds didn’t always speak for themselves. Over the last 70 years, DeBeers has successfully convinced people that diamonds are indispensable, created “rules” like spending three months’ salary on an engagement ring, and implanted the idea that this is “traditional” and the way things have always been.
So actually, come to think of it, they have more in common with “ba’al teshuva” communities than you may have intended. Now I see where Artscroll learned about marketing.
Just, thanksfully, we don’t all do WWRap this way. Most of us just “wrapped” but didn’t “rap.”
We had a very nice exercise with a bunch of seventh graders and the men’s club in which we looked at half-made tefillin scraps, talked about what was in tefillin, talked about the relationship to the Shema and what is in God’s tefillin, and learned how to put them on.
Some of the kids were bored (but some of the kids are always bored) but some said it was cool (NOT Kewl) and they enjoyed it, although their arm hurt afterward (I mentioned that you don’t need to cut your circulation off for next time). And at least they have seen tefillin and tried them once.
It would be better if they put them on because they’re a mitzvah and commanded, but most parents are unwilling to spend that much on a mitzvah (how sad is that!) specially one that they themselves don’t do.
KRG: I think that’s the crux of the problem. Not the fact that the parents don’t do the mitzvot themselves, but the fact that they’re not raising their kids in such a way that mitzvot are important.
I would point out that the lyrics to the song were written in 1991…
Anyone from Conservative movement officialdom out there want to comment?
BZ – I didn’t want to labour the point…the analogy does extend rather a long way 🙂
Oh….wow
& after sitting thru “Zohan,” I had PROMISED my poor ears that I’d never again subject them to the horrors of Hebrew Rap!!!
turns out there’s a serious video on Tefillin from the FJMC on youtube that’s not nearly as embarassing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxZCFco94IU