Tefillin

The obligation of tefillin is mentioned four times in the Torah: twice when recalling The Exodus from Egypt: and twice in the Shema passages: == Etymology ==

ine man wearing arm wrappings and a headband similar to tefillin (, Tomb of Horemheb in Saqqara) In the Hebrew Bible, tefillin are referred to as (), the plural of (ṭoṭepheth), meaning "headband" or "frontlet". Jeffrey H. Tigay argued that the word originally meant "headband", as ornamental bands encircling the head were common among Levantine populations in the Hebrew Biblical period. The scholarly consensus is that is derived from a reduplicated root ṭ-p-ṭ-p () meaning "to encircle" (related to Arabic ṭāfa, "go around" or "encircle") with the feminine suffix -t. Rabbi Akiva, in Sanhedrin 4b, argued the word (ṭoṭepheth) to be a combination of two foreign words: meant "two" in the Coptic language and meant "two" in the "Afriki" language, hence, and means "two and two", corresponding to the four compartments of the head tefillah. This would appear to be an early attempt at etymology. Menahem ben Saruq explains that the word is derived from the Hebrew and , both expressions meaning "speech"—"for when one sees the tefillin it causes him to remember and speak about the Exodus from Egypt". The first texts to use the word (tefillin) are the Targumim and Peshitta, and it is also used in subsequent Talmudic literature. The word "phylactery" occurs once (in ACC PL) in the Greek New Testament, whence it has passed into the languages of Europe. But neither Aquila nor Symmachus uses "phylacteries" in their translations. ==Purpose==

The tefillin are to serve as a reminder of God's intervention at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. Maimonides details of the sanctity of tefillin and writes that "as long as the tefillin are on the head and on the arm of a man, he is modest and God-fearing and will not be attracted by hilarity or idle talk; he will have no evil thoughts, but will devote all his thoughts to truth and righteousness". Joseph Caro (16th century) explains that tefillin are placed on the arm adjacent to the heart and on the head above the brain to demonstrate that these two major organs are willing to perform the service of God. Many have the custom to have high-quality tefillin and beautiful tefillin bags as a hiddur mitzvah. This idea comes from the verse "This is my God and I will glorify Him" (). The Jewish Sages explain: "Is it possible for a human being to add glory to his Creator? What this really means is: I shall glorify Him in the way I perform mitzvot. I shall prepare before Him a beautiful lulav, beautiful sukkah, beautiful fringes (Tsitsit), and beautiful phylacteries (Tefilin)." Some non-Orthodox scholars think that tefillin may play an apotropaic function. For instance, Yehudah B. Cohn argues that the tefillin should be perceived as an invented tradition aimed at counteracting the popularity of the Greek amulets with an "original" Jewish one. Joshua Trachtenberg considered every ornament worn on the body (whatever its declared function) as initially serving the purpose of an amulet. In addition, the early Rabbinic sources furnish more or less explicit examples of the apotropaic qualities of tefillin. For instance, Numbers Rabbah 12:3 presents tefillin as capable of defeating "a thousand demons" emerging on "the left side", rabbis Yohanan and Nahman used their sets to repel the demons inhabiting privies, whereas Elisha the Winged, who was scrupulous in performing this mitzvah, was miraculously saved from the Roman persecution. Also, tefillin are believed to possess life-lengthening qualities, and they are often listed in one breath among various items which are considered amuletic in nature. Though tefillin are sometimes mentioned together with amulets in the Talmud due to certain similarities of form, they are never identified as such, but specifically differentiated from them. == Manufacture and contents ==

head tefillin, Jerusalem, Israel The manufacturing processes of tefillin are intricate and governed by hundreds of detailed rules. Boxes In earlier Talmudic times, tefillin were either cylindrical or cubical, but later the cylindrical form became obsolete. Nowadays the boxes should be fashioned from a single piece of animal hide and form a base with an upper compartment to contain the parchment scrolls. They are made in varying levels of quality. The most basic form, called peshutim ("simple"), are made using several pieces of parchment to form the inner walls of the head tefillin. The higher quality tefillin, namely dakkot ("thin"), made by stretching a thin piece of leather, and the more durable gassot ("thick") are both fashioned from the single piece of hide. The main box which holds the tefillin scrolls, known as ketzitzah (קציצה), is cubical. Below it is a wider base known as the titura (תיתורא). At the back of the titura is a passageway (''ma'avarta'', מעברתא) through which the tefillin strap is threaded, to tie the tefillin in place. On both sides of the head-tefillin, the Hebrew letter shin () is moulded; the shin on the wearer's left side has four branches instead of three. Nowadays it is customary to paint the tefillin black, but archaeological findings show that it is not certain that it was always this way. Straps Black leather straps (''retsu'ot'') pass through the rear of the base and are used to secure the tefillin onto the body. A stringent opinion requires them to be black on the inner side too, but more commonly the inner side is left the color of leather. The Talmud specifies that tefillin straps must be long enough to reach one's middle finger, and records the practice of Rav Aha bar Jacob to tie and then "matleit" (plait? wind three times?) them. However, the passage leaves unclear where the measuring is done from, whether the reference is to hand- or head-tefillin, and what exactly the meaning of "matleit" is. Combining and interpreting the Talmud's statements, Maimonides, Tur, and Shulchan Aruch ruled that the strap of hand-tefillin must reach from where the tefillin is placed on the arm, as far as the middle finger, where it must be wound three times around the middle finger. Rema wrote that it is not necessary to wind around the finger (rather, the straps must be long enough that one could wind around the finger); however, this leniency does not appear in his comments to the Shulchan Aruch. In addition to the windings around the finger, the Shulchan Aruch states that the custom is to wind six or seven times around the forearm. Parchment scrolls The four biblical passages which refer to the tefillin, mentioned above, are written on scrolls and placed inside the leather boxes. This is because the verses describe the hand-tefillin in the singular ("sign"), while in three of four verses, the head-tefillin is described in the plural ("totafot"). The passages are written by a scribe with special ink on parchment scrolls (klaf). The texts have to be written with halachically acceptable (acceptable according to Jewish law) ink on halachically acceptable parchment. There are precise rules for writing the texts and any error invalidates it. For example, the letters of the text must be written in order - if a mistake is found later, it cannot be corrected as the replacement letter would have been written out of sequence. There are 3188 letters on the parchments, and it can take a sofer (scribe) as long as 15 hours to write a complete set. Ordering of scrolls (Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam tefillin) Talmudic commentators debated the order in which scrolls should be written in the hand tefillin and inserted into the four compartments of the head-tefillin. There are two additional opinions of the Shimusha Rabba and the Raavad, who hold that like Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam respectively, but they hold that the scrolls are placed in the head tefillin in mirror image of those opinions. It is often claimed that of the tefillin dating from the 1st century CE discovered at Qumran in the Judean Desert, some were made according to the order understood by Rashi and others in the order of Rabbeinu Tam; Nowadays, the prevailing custom is to arrange the scrolls according to Rashi's view, but some pious Jews are also accustomed to briefly lay the tefillin of Rabbeinu Tam as well, The Vilna Gaon, who wore the tefillin of Rashi, rejected the stringency of also laying Rabbeinu Tam, pointing out that there were 64 possible arrangements of the tefillin scrolls, and it would not be practical to put on 64 different sets of tefillin to account for all possibilities. The Shulchan Aruch rules that only "one who is known and famous for his piety" should put on Rabbeinu Tam tefillin, while the Mishnah Brurah explains that if any other person puts on Rabbeinu Tam tefillin, it is a sign of arrogance. The placement of the protrusion of a tuft of calf hairs (''se'ar eigel'') identifies as to which opinion the tefillin were written. ==Obligation and gender==

The legal duty of laying tefillin rests solely upon Jewish males above the age of thirteen years, women are exempt from this obligation. the prevalent practice among religious Jews has strongly discouraged women from wearing tefillin. Maimonides counts the commandment of laying the arm-tefillin and head-tefillin as two separate positive mitzvot. The Talmud cites Rav Sheshet, who said that by neglecting the precept, one transgresses eight positive commandments. A report of widespread laxity in its observance is reported by Moses of Coucy in 13th-century Spain. It may have arisen from the fear of persecution, similar to what had occurred to the Jews living in the Land of Israel under Roman rule in the second century, It has been popularly claimed that Rashi's daughters (12th century) and the wife of Chaim ibn Attar (18th century) wore tefillin, but there is no historical evidence to back these claims. There was never a widely accepted practice of women wearing tefillin prior to 20th century progressive Judaism, though historical sources suggest it was done in some communities prior to the advent of progressive Judaism. In modern times, men have not been the only ones to elect to wear tefillin. Within the Orthodox movement, it remains a male-only religious obligation, but in egalitarian movements women might opt to observe this practice as a social statement. Women affiliated with the Conservative movement often wrap tefillin. Since 2013, SAR High School in Riverdale, New York, has allowed girls to wrap tefillin during morning prayer; it is probably the first Modern Orthodox high school in the U.S. to do so. The wearing of tefillin by members of Women of the Wall at the Western Wall caused consternation from the rabbi in charge of the site until a Jerusalem District Court judge ruled in 2013 that doing so was not a violation of "local custom". In 2018, a group of students from Hebrew College, a non-denominational rabbinical school in Boston, created a series of YouTube videos to help female and transgender Jews learn how to wrap tefillin. ==Use==

opinions Sometimes tefillin were worn all day, but not during the night. Nowadays the prevailing custom is to wear them only during the weekday morning service, although some individuals wear them at other times during the day as well. Observant Jews make a tremendous effort to don Tefillin at the appropriate time every morning, even in crowded airports. Tefillin are not donned on Shabbat and the major festivals because these holy days are themselves considered "signs" which render the need of the "sign" of tefillin superfluous. On the fast day of Tisha B'Av, Ashkenazim and some Sephardim do not wear tefillin during the morning (Shacharit) service and they are worn instead at the afternoon service (Mincha). Other Sephardim (following the Kabbalah) wear tefillin at Shacharit as usual. Chol HaMoed On Chol HaMoed (intermediate days) of Pesach and Sukkot, there is a great debate among the early halachic authorities as to whether tefillin should be worn or not. Those who forbid it consider the "sign" of intermediate days as having the same status as the festival itself, making the ritual of tefillin redundant. Others argue and hold that Chol HaMoed does not constitute a "sign" in which case tefillin must be laid. Laws and customs regarding putting on tefillin soldier Asael Lubotzky prays with tefillin. Standard Ashkenazi practice is to put on and remove the arm tefillin while standing in accordance to the Shulchan Aruch, while most Sephardim do so while sitting in accordance with the Ari. All, however, put on and remove the head tefillin while standing. Halacha forbids speaking or being distracted while putting on the tefillin. The Sephardic custom is that no blessing is said for the head-tefillin, the first blessing sufficing for both. The arm-tefillin is laid on the inner side of the bare left arm, right arm if one is left handed, two finger breadths above the elbow, so that when the arm is bent the tefillin faces towards the heart. The knot of the head-tefillin sits at the back of the head, upon the part of the occipital bone that protrudes just above the nape. The two straps of the head-tefillin are brought in front of the shoulders, with their blackened side facing outwards. German Jews also did not tie a finger earlier. But later they put on arm-Tefillah with a knot on biceps while standing, then put on head-Tefillah, and after that they wind seven wraps around forearm (counting by the seven Hebrew words of ), and three wraps around a finger. Some Western Sephardic families such as the Rodrigues-Pereira family have developed a personalized family wrapping method. == Biblical commandments ==

are included in the scroll in addition to the first two paragraphs of Shema Yisrael. == See also ==