Shabbat4

1(Fol. 49a) R. Janai said: "Tephilin require as clean a body as that of Elisha, the man of wings." What does that mean? Abaye said: "It means that he must be careful to wear it on a clean body." And Raba said that it means "He should not sleep while he wears the Tephilin." And why was he called the man of wings? For the government of Edom had once decreed against Israel, that whoever would wear Tephilin on his head should have his brain crushed. Elisha put on his Tephilin and went out on the street. An inquisitor saw him and R. Elisha fled before him, being pursued by the inquisitor. When he was caught, R. Elisha removed the Tephilin from his head and kept them in his hand. "What have you in your hand?" the inquisitor asked. "Wings of a dove," replied Elisha. The inquisitor stretched out his hand to investigate, and he found them to be wings of a dove; therefore he, Elisha, was called Elisha, the man of the dove wings." Why did he say wings of a dove [and not of any other bird]? Because Israel is likened to a dove; for it says (Ps. 68, 14.) The wings of the dove covered with silver and her pinions shining with flaming gold, i.e., just as the dove defends herself with her wings [not with her beak], so does Israel defended itself with its Torah.