A Call to Arms: The Six Day War to Today
Left: Jewish students putting on Tefillin in front of an anti-Israel university encampment |
Right: Major General Ariel Sharon, Head of IDF's Southern Command during the Six Day War, puts on tefillin at the Western Wall
In the tense weeks before the Six-Day War in June 1967, Israel seemed to stand on the edge of destruction. On May 22, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran, cutting off Israel’s southern shipping route—an act internationally recognized as a declaration of war. Within days, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan signed military pacts, amassing nearly half a million soldiers, thousands of tanks, and hundreds of warplanes along Israel’s borders. The Soviet Union supplied them with advanced weaponry. France, Israel’s main arms supplier, abruptly imposed an arms embargo. The United States announced it would remain neutral.
Inside Israel, the mood was grim. Public parks were dug into mass graves in preparation for the feared casualties. Many braced for what they saw as a possible second Holocaust, G-d forbid. Thousands fled the country.
But in Brooklyn, a lone voice rose above the fear—calm, resolute, and unshakably confident: the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. Through public talks and urgent telegrams to Israel, he urged Jews not to panic, quoting from Psalms: “The Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” His message was not merely reassurance—it was a call to action.
The Rebbe’s Call: A Mitzvah for Protection
On Shabbat, June 3—just two days before the war—the Rebbe launched what would become an iconic Chabad initiative: the Tefillin Campaign. Citing the Talmud (Berachot 6a), he reminded that when Jews wear the head tefillin, “all the nations of the earth will see that the Name of G-d is called upon you, and they will fear you.” The Talmud (Menachot 35b) also teaches that tefillin bring long life and divine protection.
This, the Rebbe emphasized, was not poetry or metaphor—it was spiritual reality with physical effects. Tefillin draws divine protection, inspires awe even in adversaries, and strengthens the Jewish spirit.
His instructions were urgent: every Jewish man—soldier or civilian—should put on tefillin, and volunteers should go out to help others do the same. That night, telegrams went to Israel. By the next day, 100,000 leaflets explaining the mitzvah were printed and distributed to army bases. Chabad activists fanned out to military posts, bus stations, and markets, offering soldiers the chance to wrap tefillin before battle.
Six Days, Countless Miracles
On June 5, Israel launched a preemptive strike, destroying the Egyptian Air Force within hours. In just six days, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria were routed. Israel tripled its territory and reunified Jerusalem. Predictions of catastrophe evaporated—replaced by a stunned acknowledgment of open miracles.
When the Western Wall reopened, Chabad immediately set up a tefillin stand. On the first day alone, 200,000 people visited the Wall, and countless men—including generals Moshe Dayan, Ezer Weizman, and Ariel Sharon—wrapped tefillin. Within a year, over a million Jews had performed the mitzvah there. What began as a wartime measure became a global movement, with tefillin offered on street corners, in airports, at festivals, and in corporate offices—uniting Jews in a visible act of faith.
Rekindled in Our Time
The tefillin campaign’s urgency returned after the October 7, 2023 attacks. Jews of every background began encouraging one another to put on tefillin.
One powerful initiative—Tefillin for Every Hostage—was launched by Julie Kupershtein, mother of hostage Bar Kupershtein. It pairs volunteers committed to don tefillin daily in the merit of a specific hostage with donors who supply the tefillin. “Bar Tefillin” stations sprang up across Israel, each dedicated to a hostage. Many freed captives requested tefillin immediately upon release—Alexandre “Sasha” Troufanov even put them on for the first time in his life, reciting the Shema Yisrael.
The Inner Meaning of Tefillin
The Mitzvah of Tefillin is taught in this week’s Torah portion, Vaetchanan: “You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for a reminder between your eyes” (Deut. 6:8).
In Hebrew, mitzvah means “commandment,” but it also shares a root with tzavta—“connection.” Every mitzvah bonds us with our soul, with others and with G-d. Tefillin may be the clearest example: we literally bind ourselves to G-d.
One box rests on the arm, opposite the heart—the seat of emotion—its strap winding around the arm and hand. The other rests above the forehead—the seat of the mind. Together, they express our dedication of thoughts, feelings, and actions to G-d.
Kabbalah teaches that each person has two souls:
The animal soul, driven by self-preservation and physical needs.
The G-dly soul, selfless and devoted to goodness, mitzvot, and uplifting the world.
These two are often in tension. Human nature itself has three layers—thought, emotion, and action—that can fall out of sync. We may know what’s right but not feel it, or feel inspired but fail to act.
Tefillin brings alignment:
The head tefillin binds thought to divine truth.
The straps connect head to heart, turning knowledge into feeling.
The arm tefillin channels that feeling into concrete deeds.
This harmony is spiritual strength and ensures that we live a life of meaning and purpose, based on clear morals and pure passions.
Tefillin and Redemption
Tefillin is unique among mitzvot given before the Exodus. It is a sign of liberation—not only from Pharaoh, but from our inner Egypt: the narrowness of ego, habit, and fear. Binding ourselves to G-d daily is an act of freedom—stepping out of constriction into the wide horizons of the soul’s potential.
In the era of Moshiach, this inner freedom will be reflected in a transformed world.
The Rebbe taught that every act of tefillin hastens that day. What began on the eve of the Six-Day War and reignited in our own time is more than a safeguard for Jewish survival—it is a declaration of Jewish destiny.
