Rejewvenate!

Years ago, the National Football League used to run commercials featuring obscure football situations and a challenge to the audience: “You make the call!” After a few more commercials ran, the second part of the “You make the call” ad would come on and explain the correct call in the given situation.

In that same spirit, I offer you this. A while back I posted on Hashkafah.com and referenced the possibility that improved prosthetic limbs might one day be real enough that Halacha decides that it is appropriate to put teffilin on a prosthetic arm.

Turns out that the issue may not be that far off in the future – a woman has already received a bionic arm that is hooked into her nervous system!

According to what I read, she can control the arm naturally, and she has some limited feeling in the arm, though there’s a lot of room for improvement there. So  does a Jewish male with this kind of prosthesis have a chiyuv to put teffilin on that arm? What if it’s his only arm? If there is no chiyuv, is it permitted at all? You make the call!