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  Tefillin    
 

 “You are to tie them as a sign upon your hand and they are to be for bands between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8, translation by Everett Fox)
 

The mitzvoth of tefillin (commonly translated as “phylacteries”) is stated four times in the Torah. To fulfill this mitzvoth to “tie [these words] as a sign upon your hand and they are to be for bands between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8) is an incredible pleasure. Imagine, God has given us these words as a way to be closer to God. A rememberance. A ritual. A mitzvoth. Truly, a gift to share with God and all people of all sorts.

Tefillin have been likened to radio antennae, allowing the one adorning them to tune into the spiritual energies, the light of God (David Sheinkin, “Path of the Kabbalah”, Paragon House, New York, 1986, p. 146-150). While this simplistic analogy makes an attempt at describing a Kabbalistic concept, the true intentions of this mitzvoth are neither of the physical nor the spiritual realms alone. Truly, the mitzvoth of tefillin, as well as all Jewish concepts, is both physical and spiritual in nature – both human and divine. 

What are “these words?” The four passages from Torah stating the commandment to “bind these words” are written on parchment and placed in each of the two small leather boxes that make up tefillin.

 

In all four passages, we are told to bind these words on our “hands and headbands” (Fox translation), to remember our release from slavery in Egypt (Mitzraim) and to pass these words onto our children (whether actively or passively).

 

The tefillin consist of two small leather boxes (each containing a parchment on which the above passages are inscribed) with long leather straps to bind these boxes on the arm and head.

 

To physically perform the mitzvoth of tefillin takes a little practice. Here is the procedure for adorning tefillin (Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin, “To Be A Jew”, Basic Books, p. 148-150):

 

1. First, put on the tallit and say the appropriate blessing (found near the beginning of most prayer books).  

2. Slip the tefillah of the arm (shel yod) over the left elbow (or right elbow for a left-handed person) facing the leather box inward toward the heart.  

3. Recite the first blessing before proceeding:

  

Baruch ata adonai elohainu melech ha-olam asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hanee-ach tefillin.

 

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to put on tefillin.

  

4. Next, tighten the strap and wind the strap seven times around the forearm. Wrap the remaining loose end of the strap around your palm.  

5. Recite the second blessing before proceeding:

 

Baruch ata adonai elohainu melech ha-olam asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al mitzvat tefillin.

 

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us concerning the mitzvah of tefillin.

  

6. Next, affix the head tefillah (shel rosh) on your head, box above the forehead, centering the knot on the back of your head. Bring the leather straps forward over the shoulders to hang freely, black side showing.  

7. Recite the third blessing before proceeding:

 

Baruch shem kvod malchuto l’olam va-ed!

 

Blessed is God’s glorious majesty for ever and ever!

  

8. Next, complete the hand tefillah by unwinding the strap from your palm, leaving the seven winds around your forearm intact. Wind the strap three times around your middle finger (once around the center of your middle finger and twice more around the base of the finger).  

9. Carry the loose end around the ring finger and rewind the excess around your palm, at the same time saying:

 

Vayras’teech lee l’olam, v’ays’teech lee b’tzehdehch uv’meesh’pat uv’chehsehd uv’dachameem. V’ayras’teech lee behehmunah, v’yada-at adonai.

 

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you to me in riteousness and in justice, in kindness and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the Eternal (Hosea 2:21-22)

 

To remove the tefillin, reverse the procedure (Donin, p. 150):

 

1. Unwind the finger section of the strap.

2. Remove the head tefillah.

3. Unwind and remove the hand tefillah.

4. Remove the tallit.

 

Here are some rules (See Donin for more details):

 

·  Tefillin is put on after the tallit and removed before.

·  Tefillin are not worn on Shabbat, nor are they to be handled on Shabbat.  

·  Tefillin are not worn on festivals, although there are differences of opinion among Halakhic authorities as to whether they should be worn on intermediate days of festivals (Pesach and Succot).  

·  Traditionally, women and slaves are exempt from this mitzvah, being that it is a positive time-dependent mitzvah. Jews owning slaves is no longer an option. Women are generally not bound to the mitzvoth of fixed time for various reasons, some positive and some negative. Being exempt from a mitzvah does not mean it is prohibited. However, some view the tallit and tefillin as men’s clothing and so women are not allowed to wear them due to the prohibition against cross-dressing. Rashi’s daughters wore tefillin. (Judith S. Antonelli, In The Image Of God, Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale, NJ, p. 180-3)

 

So what is this mitzvoth all about? What does it mean to “tie [these words] as a sign upon your hand and they are to be for bands between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8)? Does this only occur when one adorns tefillin?

 

To have these words “as a sign upon your hand” is to carry them throughout your day, bringing them into all that you do physically with your hands. And “to be for bands between your eyes” is to have them in front of you throughout your day, bringing them to all your thoughts and intentions.

   

The remembrance of release from slavery should not only be through the physical ritual of tefillin. Treating others with dignity and helping to free those in all kinds of slavery is part of this commandment. The mitzvoth of tefillin, though it can and traditionally is performed by adorning tefillin on hand and head is in reality an injunction of an ethical system for all Jews to follow when dealing with any and all others.

 

This is the true sign of our covenant with God – not the physical rote, not the absolute spiritual connection, but the awareness of the spiritual nature in physical being, regardless of the physical nature of spiritual being. May you find this is true in all of the mitzvoth.

 

See also: Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, “The Talmud: the Steinsaltz Edition, A Reference Guide”, Random House, New York, p. 274.

 

   
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Last Modified: 03/16/2000