The shin with four columns is found on the Tefillin that is worn on the head. One side of the head tefillin has a shin with three lines and the other has one with four lines. In his personal notes, the Rebbe offers two reasons for this. First, the four-lined shin is the shin of the Luchos, the Tablets of the Ten Commandments. The four lines represent the awesomeness and holiness of the engraving of G-d's word into physical stone. To visualize this, imagine the three lines of the shin etched into stone. If you focus on the stone that remains around the shin, there will be four columns. These are the four lines of this form of the shin. They are the wake, the reflected light of the Luchos.

The second of the Rebbe's reasons is that the four-pronged shin represents the four mothers: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.

One can make a connection between these two interpreta­tions. Like the Luchos, the teachings of our mothers are truly inscribed upon our hearts and minds. A mother teaches out of love and compassion. Her lessons commence even before birth and make an everlasting impression upon her children. Contrast this with the instruction of one's father. This begins slightly later in life, and often in an atmosphere of austerity and sever­ity.

The mother's education is more fundamental, more indelible and is therefore represented by the Luchos, which are engraved. The father's education is likened to the letters of the Torah, ink on parchment, which can be erased. Even though the father's instructions are important, the mother has a more impression­able and permanent effect on the child. Our mothers and the awesomeness of their teachings are therefore, like the Luchos, represented by the four-pronged shin.