Challah for Parashat Va'et'hanan
Hand & head t'fillin.
Every week, Julie Seltzer, artist and Torah scribe, bakes a challah depicting an aspect of the week's Torah portion.
Bind them as a sign on your hand and a symbol between your eyes. (Deuteronomy 6:8)
וּקְשַׁרְתָּם לְאוֹת, עַל-יָדֶךָ; וְהָיוּ לְטטָפת, בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ
This line was interpreted literally by the rabbis. The teffilin boxes have little scrolls with words of the torah inside, and are placed on the arm and on the head (between the eyes). In this teffilin challah, you can see one method of wrapping: seven times around the arm, with the letter Shin formed at the end. On the teffilin for the head, you see the Hebrew words "shel rosh," meaning "for the head."
Julie Seltzer is a scribe, baker, and artist. She began creating challah art at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut, where she lived until recently. Julie now resides in the Bay Area, where she is writing a torah scroll at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
