“When I understand the purpose, my mind is engaged in the performance of the mitzvah as well. If I don’t understand the purpose, then my mind is not participating; I am doing it only out of obedience, out of love.

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When it comes to tefillin,… put the tefillin on your head… and then another tefillin on your arm facing your heart. The mind and the emotions – your brain, and your heart – are brought together in harmony by the effect of the tefillin.

The tefillin on the head introduce G-dliness to the mind and the tefillin on the arm facing the heart… stimulate G-dliness in the heart. Now the mind and the heart are in harmony.

But if the idea is to engage the heart, why do we put it on the arm? Why don’t we wrap it around the chest? …By putting it on the arm you are engaging another part of your system – your action… also bringing harmony between your emotions and your actions. You feel what you know, and you do what you feel.

So now we have a triple harmony – the mind, the heart and the actions are all in sync. I understand G-dlines, I have a feeling for G-dliness, and I act on it. That is the tefillin.”