This magnificent piece of prose is possible not because I can type on my computer with my left-hand but rather because I have a voice dictation program which allows me to type, so to speak, in a hands-free fashion. But there are many other things that I simply cannot do with my left hand. I am therefore humbled by having to rely on others to do such mundane acts as buttoning my shirt and coat, tying my shoelaces and other daily tasks, the description of which I will leave to your imagination. The fact that I cannot by myself wrap my tefillin around my arm alone and am required to have a number of kind and generous souls to help me in this holy task is most sobering to me. I have always prided myself on being an independent person and I have deluded myself to believe that I am self-sufficient in every way. The Lord has shown me that that was a thought of hubris and unwarranted belief in one's self.

 

In a book on physics that I once read, the learned professor stated that eighty-five percent of molecules suspended in space at random will flow to the right. What he found most interesting about this phenomenon is that it approximated the ratio of right-handed to left-handed people in the world. There is no doubt of the fact that God's world favors the right-handed. Just ask any left-handed person how he or she feels when seated in the middle of a dining table surrounded by all right-handed guests. In certain sports there is a premium paid to left-handed athletes. This seems to be true in baseball and perhaps also in tennis. But for most of the activities of the human race the right-handed person is preferred and the world and its gadgets are constructed to accommodate this majority. Since I am temporarily left-handed I am at a complete disadvantage because my left hand is not my dominant hand and thus I am in reality a right-handed left-handed person. None of the gadgets in my house are built for such a creature and therefore my helplessness has sorely bruised my otherwise healthy ego.

 

I have gained a new insight as to why we right-handed people lay our tefillin on our left hand – our weaker hand. Why the Torah wanted us to place tefillin on the weaker hand instead of the stronger hand is most perplexing. After all tefillin is meant to remind us of the holiness of our service to God, of our loyalty to Torah and of the eternal concept of reward and punishment that exists in God's universe. As such, should it not be that our dominant hand – our strong hand, the one that we can accomplish so much with – should have the tefillin wrapped around it? But that is as I have ruefully learned the necessity for the employment of one's weaker hand in the service of God and in life is in itself a very necessary lesson. By using our weaker hand as the base for our tefillin we therefore signify to ourselves and to our Creator that even our stronger hand is in reality weak and fragile. The Torah constantly strives to remind us of our true condition – of how fragile we are and how dependent we are on God's goodness and constant support. Our weaker hand also reminds us of the necessity of family, society, community and the presence and help of good and compassionate people. I do not recommend injuring one's elbow in order to learn these lessons. Nevertheless there is something to be learned from all experiences in life and therefore the words of the rabbis that “all that Heaven decrees is for the good” applies even to the happenings of clumsy rabbis.

 

Shabbat shalom

 

Berel Wein