I got banned from the Yahoo VeggiJews list today. Why? The list is populated and controled by extreme vegans. One of them wanted non-leather tefillin. In an exchange, I pointed out that, by definition tefillin must be made of leather. Then another vegan wrote to say she had been told that the verse commanding us to wear tefillin could be translated as "bound with streams of light." I suggested she pick up a Hebrew dictionary and try to make that translation work. I also noted that it was better to not wear tefillin than to pervert the meaning of the mitzvah. Another list member wrote in with this:
People do indeed define down Judaism and often use the
"buffet method" for their mitzvot.Someone very honestly said on this list some time ago
that he indeed understood that non-leather tefillin
were not the mitzva in its purest form, but he felt
something is better than nothing.That is the essence of Judaism and the message of Yom
Kippur. On Yom Kippur, my Rabbi talked of how it is
nearly impossibly for anyone, even a great tzadik
(righteous person) to fulfill all the commandments;
therefore, we should think in terms of bettering
ourselves rather than achieving perfection.The Hebrew word "Chet" which we often define as "sin"
is actually a "missing of the mark." Due to some
peoples convictions, they are willing to "miss the
mark" on tefillin being made completely from leather
in order that they should at least pick up the mitzva
of binding of the arms with the proper words. The
only caveat is that you should not fool yourself into
thinking you are getting the full mitzva.To the question at hand, a quick web search turned up
a Jewlicious blog entry by an anti-Zionist who
mentioned seeing a non-leather tefillin at a
"progressive" minyan. That was all I could find.I do know that you can get klaf (the parchment) that
is vegan fairly easily (and cheaply) at any Judaica
store. As for the boxes themselves, that may prove
tricky. I would ask your local Judaica craftsperson
to try to make something up for you. Let them know up
front that you are quite aware that the tefillin won't
be "kosher" but you prefer "half a mitzva" to none,
and you are not willing to wear leather.
This was too much even for me in my present state of non-observance to bear. I answered him:
Vegan klaf? Not possible. Again, by definition, it must be made from animal hide. Why not write the words on a Post-it Note and attach that to your arm and head?
What you are arguing for is ridiculous. Just don't put on tefillin.
Look at it this way, let's say the messiah comes, all Jews go back to Jerusalem and the Temple is rebuilt. But, unlike the minority view that holds we won't do animal sacrifice, God tells us to kill animals and burn them on his altar. No exceptions. Then what? Is being a vegan more important than listening to God?
The way you answer that question determines how you relate to Judaism. Think about it.
Of course, telling him to write the words on Post-it notes and affix them to his head and arm was impolite. But rather than edit that section of the message, the moderator banned me from commenting. Of course, it wasn't the Post-it note remark that really caused the ban. It was this:
[L]et's say the messiah comes, all Jews go back to Jerusalem and the Temple is rebuilt. But, unlike the minority view that holds we won't do animal sacrifice, God tells us to kill animals and burn them on his altar. No exceptions. Then what? Is being a vegan more important than listening to God?
The way you answer that question determines how you relate to Judaism. Think about it.
This is what many radical vegans and vegetarians can't handle. What if mashiach comes and God, the Creator of the universe, really says fire up the grill?
Most of these people will immediately answer that they'd rather not be redeemed, that they would leave the world as it is rather than roast a lamb. And they will reject any God that asks them to roast one, even if that God created the world, us and the lamb in question.
So why, then, put on plastic tefillin with paper parchments and microfiber straps? What's the point? Tefillin are supposed to bind you to God and remind you to follow his orders. At least in this case, you're not willing to do that anyway. Why pretend?