T for tefillin – meeting as part of the project ‘Hitchhiker's Guide to Judaism’

On 5th December 2025, our next and penultimate meeting this year as part of the “Hitchhiker's Guide to Judaism” project took place at the Municipal Library in Mszana Dolna. This time, it was devoted to Jewish prayer and related objects, especially tefillin/phylacteries and prayer books.

Not always understanding the meaning of the activities and artefacts associated with the worship of another religion, we are sometimes surprised to see, for example, a follower of Judaism ‘nodding’ during prayer, with boxes attached to their forehead and arm. However, this is a tradition rooted in both the Bible and Jewish mysticism. The Torah says that God's commandments should always be before our eyes, attached to our arms, while the Book of Psalms calls for prayer with all parts of the body, not just with our minds or mouths. The Hasidic, mystical justification for this nodding, or shulking, is interesting – a prayer posture that is supposed to resemble a burning candle, a beating heart or a soul striving towards God.

Participants of the event also learned about the most important prayers in Judaism: Shema Israel, Amidah (the 18 Benedictions), Kaddish, and Avinu Malkenu – also in relation to the origins of Christian prayers, especially the Lord's Prayer. The host, theologian Urszula Antosz-Rekucka, presented the times of prayer, with their names and origins, as well as references to the Christian Liturgy of the Hours.
Those gathered were able to see what Jewish prayer books for daily and festive use, the Siddur and the Machzor, look like.
A photo report from a Bar Mitzvah ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem was shown – during this ceremony, a Jewish boy receives his first phylacteries/tefillin.
During the meeting, we presented a valuable item – tefillin that Saul Chapnick, a descendant of the Geller family from Mszana, received from his father for his Bar Mitzvah. His tefillin and family prayer book will certainly be among the most important exhibits in the Memorial Chamber of Mszana Jews, which is currently being created.
In addition to the traditional Friday challah, we shared small gifts from our Foundation on the occasion of the upcoming St. Nicholas Day. The conversations, questions and comments continued for a long time.

The series ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to Judaism’ attempts to bring closer this sometimes foreign world, which was once the everyday reality of our ancestors.
In conclusion, we learned about the beautiful thought of Jules Isaac, a Jewish co-creator of a revolutionary change in Catholic teaching, the conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate, which 60th anniversary we recently celebrated. Noting that Judaism and Christianity have much in common, but that there are also insurmountable differences, he appealed for these gaps not to be filled with insults and accusations, but with mutual respect. This is what we are striving to do.

Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture from the Culture Promotion Fund.
The meeting and the entire project are also under the Honorary Patronage of the Mayor of the City.