Tefillin?

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After reading in the news this story I decided that it is about time to write something about the teffilin.

Tefillin (תפילין), from Ancient Greek phylacterion, form of phylássein, φυλάσσειν meaning "to guard, protect"), are a set of small cubic leather boxes painted black, containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, with leather straps dyed black on one side, and worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers.

The hand-tefillin, or shel yad (for the hand), is placed on the upper arm, and the strap wrapped around the arm, hand and fingers; while the head-tefillin, or shel rosh (for the head), is placed above the forehead, with the strap going around the head and over the shoulders. The Torah commands that they should be worn to serve as a "sign" and "remembrance" that G-d brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.

The term to lay tefillin is derived from the Yiddish leigen, which is the translation for the Hebrew word lehaniach, the verb used in the Talmud to describe putting the tefillin on the head and arm. The term “wear” is also in common use when referring to tefillin.

The mentions:

Twice when recalling the Exodus from Egypt:

And it shall be for a sign for you upon your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand did the Lord bring you out of Egypt.

—Exodus 13:9

And it shall be for a sign upon your hand, and as totafot between your eyes; for with a mighty hand did the Lord bring us forth out of Egypt.

—Exodus 13:16

and twice in the Shema passages:

And you shall bind them as a sign upon your arm, and they shall be as totafot between your eyes.

—Deuteronomy 6:8

You shall put these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall tie them for a sign upon your arm, and they shall be as totafot between your eyes.

—Deuteronomy 11:18

The manufacture

Before beginning any stage of the process of the manufacture of tefillin, it is essential that the act has specific kavanah or intent to fulfill the mitzvah of tefillin. It is common for the pronouncement Leshem mitzvat tefillin—for the sake of the commandment of tefillin—to be made.

There are ten essential requirements tefillin must have in order for them to be valid:

-The scroll must be written with kosher ink.

- The scrolls must be made of parchment.

- The boxes and their stitches must be perfectly square.

- On the right and left sides of the head-tefillin the letter shin must be embossed.

- The scrolls must be wrapped in a strip of cloth.

- The scrolls should be bound with kosher animal hair.

- The stitching must be done with sinew of a kosher animal.

- A “passageway” must be made for the strap to pass through.

- The straps must be black and made from the skin of a kosher animal.

- The straps should be knotted in the form of the letter dalet.

- The arm-tefillin has one large compartment, which contains four biblical passages written upon a single strip of parchment in four parallel columns. The head-tefillin has four smaller and separate compartments, formed from one piece of leather, in each of which one scroll of parchment is placed.

-When writing the passages, the scribe should be meticulous to have in mind that he is doing so "for the sake of the sanctity of tefillin". Before writing any of the names of G-d he should say: "I am writing this for the sake of the sanctity of the Name". The writing of the passages which contain 3,188 letters usually takes between 10–15 hours. It is imperative that the scribe remains constantly focused. Unlike a Sefer Torah but similar to a mezuzah, tefillin passages must be written in order of how they appear in the Torah and should the words be written out of sequence, the parchment is invalid.

How to?

The arm-tefillin is placed on the biceps of the left arm, two finger breadths away from the elbow joint, with the box facing inward towards the heart. Left-handed people place the arm-tefillin on their right arm. After the blessing is said, the arm-tefillin is tightened, then wrapped around the arm seven times. The strap that is passed through the arm-tefillin should therefore be long enough to allow for the knot, also to wrap around the forearm 7 times, and also to tie around the hand according to family or local tradition. The knot formation and arm binding differ considerably between different family or community traditions. There is a custom to cover the arm-tefillin with the sleeve, in accordance with the verse "And they will be a sign to you...", i.e. to you and not to others.

Next, the head-tefillin is placed on top of the head, "between the eyes" but not lower than the hairline (or where one's hairline was in one's youth). 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, directly opposite the optic chiasm. The placement of the head tefillin is universally accepted to be against the literal directive of the verse in Deuteronomy 11:18 which speaks of placing it 'between the eyes'. The two straps of the head-tefillin are brought in front of the shoulders, with their blackened side facing outwards. The two ends, falling in front over either shoulder, should reach the navel on the left side and reach the genital area on the right side.

On removing the tefillin the three twistings on the middle finger are loosened first; then the head-tefillin is removed; and finally the arm-tefillin.

Originally tefillin were laid all day, but not during the night. Nowadays the prevailing custom is to lay them only during the weekday morning service. The problem with wearing them all day is the necessity to remove them when encountering an unclean place, e.g. a bathroom, and the requirement to constantly have in mind the knowledge that they are being worn.

A small minority still follow the practice of laying tefillin all day long. This custom is mainly found among followers of the Vilna Gaon and the Rambam, and among some Yemenite Jews. Students in some yeshivot, mostly national religious, have been seen with tefillin during the Minha afternoon service or even all day long. They argue that this practice is still required, and not an issue of custom. Other rabbis also lay tefillin out of services.

As tefillin are allowed to be laid at any time during the day, Lubavitch hasidim will often be found at all types of religious and secular gatherings and venues hoping to give another Jew the opportunity to lay tefillin. This phenomenon was the wish of Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson who launched the "Tefillin Campaign" just before the outbreak of the Six Day War in 1967.

Tefillin are not laid on Shabbat and the major festivals including Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkoth. The reason given that these holy days are themselves "signs" which render the use of tefillin, which are to serve as "signs" themselves, superfluous. On Tisha B'Av, tefillin are worn at the afternoon service instead, because tefillin are considered an ornament, or else symbolic of a connection to G-d, both of which are inappropriate for a day of mourning the distance between G-d and the Jewish people. Wearing tefillin is thus delayed until the afternoon, when the mourning is considered to have passed its peak. However, many Jews, especially among Ashkenazi and Sepharadi Jerusalemites, do lay tefillin for the morning service as well. There were some medieval authorities who ruled that tefillin must not be laid at all on Tisha B'Av, but it seems that no Jews today follow this opinion.

In Orthodox Judaism tefillin are laid by males over the age of thirteen. Tefillin are regarded as rite-of-passage for a Jewish boy, as youngsters below the age of thirteen are not considered mature enough to know how to use tefillin or understand their significance. About a month before his Bar Mitzvah a boy will receive his own pair of tefillin and be taught and trained about the laying of tefillin. The commandment of tefillin is given the utmost importance and disregard of this mitzvah is viewed as severe.

The Conservative movement encourages performance of the mitzvah of tefillin by both men and women, while Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism do not.

So, the next time, Kiwis, when do you see somebody wearing a tefillin don’t worry, everything is in the book!