Editing Tefillin (section)

==Purpose==
The tefillin are to serve as a reminder of God's intervention at the time of the [[Exodus from Egypt]].<ref name="Bloch1980">{{cite book|author=Abraham P. Bloch|title=The Biblical and historical background of Jewish customs and ceremonies|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalhistoric00bloc|url-access=registration|access-date=1 July 2011|year=1980|publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc.|isbn=978-0-87068-658-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/biblicalhistoric00bloc/page/78 78]–80}}</ref> [[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".<ref name="Rambam"/> The ''[[Sefer ha-Chinuch]]'' (14th&nbsp;century) adds that the purpose of tefillin is to help subjugate a person's worldly desires and encourage spiritual development.<ref name="Bailey2000">{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=Bailey|title=Kashrut, tefillin, tzitzit: studies in the purpose and meaning of symbolic mitzvot inspired by the commentaries of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ye2KAAAAMAAJ|access-date=30 June 2011|date=15 June 2000|publisher=Jason Aronson|isbn=978-0-7657-6106-4|page=31}}</ref> [[Joseph Caro]] (16th&nbsp;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.<ref name="Naiman1995">{{cite book|author=Mosheh Ḥanina Naiman|title=Tefillin: an illustrated guide to their makeup and use|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0R04LgKkhfYC&pg=PA118|access-date=30 June 2011|date=June 1995|publisher=Feldheim Publishers|isbn=978-0-87306-711-9|page=118}}</ref>

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" ({{bibleverse|Exodus|15:2|HE}}). 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)."<ref>{{cite web|title=Holiday Art Beautiful ritual objects enhance holiday celebration.|url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/About_Holidays/Types_of_Holidays/Meaning_of_Holidays/Art.shtml|website=myjewishlearning.com|date=20 January 2024 |quote=Beauty enhances the mitzvot by appealing to the senses. Beautiful sounds and agreeable fragrances, tastes, textures, colors, and artistry contribute to human enjoyment of religious acts, and beauty itself takes on a religious dimension. The principle of enhancing a mitzvah through aesthetics is called Hiddur Mitzvah. The concept of Hiddur Mitzvahis derived from Rabbi Ishmael's comment on the verse, "This is my God and I will glorify Him" (Exodus 15:2):}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Greene|first1=Gary|title=Shabbat Truma Rosh Hodesh|url=http://www.marathonjcc.org/rabbi-message.php?date=2014-01-31|website=MARATHON Jewish Community Center|access-date=23 July 2014|quote=I think the beauty was important then because it reminded the people of the worth of God in their worship. During the dry and dusty days of desert wanderings, they needed a reminder of God’s majesty.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Silverberg|first1=Rav David|title=PARASHAT BESHALACH|url=http://www.vbm-torah.org/archive/salt-shemot/16-9beshalach.htm|website=The Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash|publisher=Yeshivat Har Etzion|quote=Rav Shlomo Ha-kohen of Vilna, in his work of responsa Binyan Shlomo (siman 6), writes that he was once asked why the Gemara never mentions a requirement to purchase beautiful tefillin. Seemingly, tefillin is no less a religious article than a tallit, Sefer Torah or lulav, and thus the obligation of hiddur mitzva should apply equally to tefillin.|access-date=2014-07-23|archive-date=2012-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304184545/http://www.vbm-torah.org/archive/salt-shemot/16-9beshalach.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Some non-Orthodox scholars think that tefillin may play an [[Apotropaic magic|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 [[amulet]]s with an "original" Jewish one.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tangled Up in Text: Tefillin and the Ancient World|last=Cohn|first=Yehuda B.|publisher=Brown Judaic Studies|year=2008|location=Providence|pages=88–99, 148}}</ref> [[Joshua Trachtenberg]] considered every ornament worn on the body (whatever its declared function) as initially serving the purpose of an amulet.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://sacred-texts.com/jud/jms/jms12.htm|title=Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion|last=Trachtenberg|first=Joshua|publisher=Behrman's Jewish Book House|year=1939|location=New York|pages=132}}</ref>

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 [[demon]]s" emerging on "the left side", rabbis [[Johanan bar Nappaha|Yohanan]] and [[Rav Nachman|Nahman]] used their sets to repel the demons inhabiting [[outhouse|privies]],<ref>BT Berakhot 23a-b</ref> whereas Elisha the Winged, who was scrupulous in performing this [[mitzvah]], was miraculously saved from the Roman persecution.<ref>BT Shabbat 49a</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kosior|first=Wojciech|date=2015|title=The Name of Yahveh is Called Upon You. Deuteronomy 28:10 and the Apotropaic Qualities of Tefillin in the Early Rabbinic Literature |url=https://www.academia.edu/12193429|journal=Studia Religiologica|volume=48|issue=2|doi=10.4467/20844077SR.15.011.3557}}</ref> Also, tefillin are believed to possess life-lengthening qualities,<ref>Suggested in BT Menahot 36b, 44a-b and in BT Shabbat 13a-b</ref> and they are often listed in one breath among various items which are considered amuletic in nature.<ref>As is the case in M Kelim 23:1, M Eruvin 10:1 and BT Eruvin 96b-97a</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/6319/txu-oclc-420225040.pdf?sequence=2|title=Mahadurah u-Perush 'al Derekh ha-Mehqar le-Pereq "Ha-Motze' Tefillin" mitokh ha-Talmud ha-Bavli ('Eruvin, Pereq 'Eshiri), [PhD thesis, Hebrew]|last=Stollman|first=Aviad A.|year=2006|location=Ramat Gan|pages=51–54}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Naomi G. |last2=כהן |first2=נעמי |date=1985 |title=התפילין בכתבי פילון / Philo's Tefillin |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23527803?seq=1 |journal=Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעי היהדות |volume=ט |pages=199–206 |issn=0333-9068}}</ref>