D&D General Drow & Orcs Removed from the Monster Manual

[Remathilis]

Harm? No. Was it offensive that they removed it because it was non-Jews dictating to us Jews what we should be offensive? Yes.

You have a source that is was non-Jews who requested the change?

 

[Maxperson]

Funny, when I google "phylactery" a whole lot of definitions and imagery come up directly associated with Judaism.

Maybe it it is a grotesque misunderstanding and missattribution, but it's out there. The perception that the association is there whether you like it or not, and companies are trying to avoid creating offense.

Phylactery | Definition, Significance, & Facts | Britannica

Phylactery, in Jewish religious practice, one of two small black leather cube-shaped cases containing Torah texts written on parchment, which, in accordance with Deuteronomy 6:8, are to be worn by male Jews 13 years of age and older as reminders of God and of the obligation to keep the Law...

www.britannica.com

Definition of PHYLACTERY

either of two small square leather boxes containing slips inscribed with scriptural passages and traditionally worn on the left arm and on the head by observant Jewish men and especially adherents of Orthodox Judaism during morning weekday prayers; amulet… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Jewish Phylacteries- Tefillin

Learn about Jewish phylacteries- Tefillin. Find out what it’s made of, what’s inside and when to wear it. Bar mitzvah tefillin, and tefillin by morning prayers.

www.orthodox-jews.com

What are phylacteries? - Answer The Bible

Phylacteries, also known as tefillin in Hebrew, are small leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah that are worn by

www.answerthebible.com

EDIT: unless you're some kind of enlightened, wise Rabbi or Scholar in Jewish culture, history and religion. If you have those credentials and can tell all of these organizations that they're all full of it, in which case I apologize to you.

We do not call the Tefillin phylacteries. We just don't. Some gentile in the past associated them with phylacteries because of the Greek term and it has become an easy way to help others understand what the Tefillin is. It gets used in articles that are scholarly in nature, but nobody(or virtually nobody, because I hate absolutes) uses it in every day life. It's just Tefillin.

 

[Maxperson]

Here. For all of you arguing the other side of this. Raise your hand if you are Jewish. Let's see how many who are here arguing with me that phylactery should be offensive to Jews, are Jewish.

 

[Bae'zel]

We do not call the Tefillin phylacteries. We just don't. Some gentile in the past associated them with phylacteries because of the Greek term and it has become an easy way to help others understand what the Tefillin is. It gets used in articles that are scholarly in nature, but nobody(or virtually nobody, because I hate absolutes) uses it in every day life. It's just Tefillin.

Google it. Tell me what you see. From gentile and Jewish sources. Whether you use the term or not, the Anglophone world associates the term, whether you like it or not.

 

[Voadam]

I had heard of ancient Egyptian phylacteries (protective amulets) before I ever knew about tefillin.

Wikipedia in its definition of amulets first sentence says "An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor."

In its discussion of Egyptian amulets it says: "The most common material for such amulets was a kind of ceramic known as Egyptian faience or tjehenet, but amulets were also made of stone, metal, bone, wood and gold. Phylacteries containing texts were another common form of amulet."

I was not aware of the use of phylactery to mean reliquaries or speech scrolls until this discussion came up though.

WotC's move from 3e-5e in taking out the core book protective benevolent tefellin-like magic phylactery magic items PCs could obtain (phylactery of faithfulness, phylactery of undead turning in 3.5) and switching descriptions of lich phylacteries to be closer to tefellin I assume was just the lack of alignment stuff in 4e and 5e and not getting to all the old niche oddball magic items when coming up with core 4e and 5e item lists and someone reading the tefellin definition of phylactery and applying it descriptively to the remaining phylactery in D&D, the lich's.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That is one book I never managed to find

I was fortunate enough to get one years ago. Neat collector's item.

 

[Maxperson]

Google it. Tell me what you see. From gentile and Jewish sources. Whether you use the term or not, the Anglophone world associates the term, whether you like it or not.

Yes, we use it as an easy way to help others understand the Tefillin. We do not, and I will repeat it for like the fourth time already, we do not use the term in every day life. It's not used in Temple or anywhere else. It is just Tefillin.

 

[Remathilis]

So then what? Boycott any game that made the change until they change it back? That includes D&D (Spirit jar), Pathfinder (soul cage) and Level Up (soul vessel). Tales of the Valiant still uses phylactery, so I guess go support the Kobolds.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Google it. Tell me what you see. From gentile and Jewish sources. Whether you use the term or not, the Anglophone world associates the term, whether you like it or not.

He is making a two pronged argument. One that this isn’t even the Jewish term. Two Jewish people by and large are not concerned about it being used with the Lich. I am not Jewish but my family is on my father’s side, and I know a lot of Jewish people. While I am sure you can find someone who objects, I think both @Maxperson and @Alzrius point very much reflects what I see: that this just isn’t something that most Jewish people are concerned about (you will always find exceptions, but this is literally a complaint I have never heard in real life)

 

[ezo]

I always imagined a Lich's phylactery was something like this:

But unlike the cartoon, a Lich wouldn't be wearing/carrying it around...

And before that...