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== Manufacture and contents == [[File:4BranchShinTefillinJosephSherman.jpg|thumb|[[Ashkenazi]] head tefillin, Jerusalem, Israel]] [[File:Tefillin leather box.jpg|thumb|Leather moulded into shape for the head-tefillin]] [[File:Phylactery (teffilin) case Brooklyn Museum open.jpg|thumb|Silver and leather teffilin case made in Germany in 1885]] The manufacturing processes of tefillin are intricate and governed by hundreds of detailed rules.<ref name="Grinṿald2001pg.39">{{cite book|first=Zeʾev|last=Grinṿald|title=Shaarei halachah: a summary of laws for Jewish living|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Txt4EidAVFEC&pg=PA39|access-date=1 July 2011|date=1 July 2001|publisher=Feldheim Publishers|isbn=978-1-58330-434-1|page=39}}</ref> ===Boxes=== In earlier Talmudic times, tefillin were either cylindrical or cubical, but later the cylindrical form became obsolete.<ref name="Kiell1967">{{cite book|first=Norman|last=Kiell|title=The psychodynamics of American Jewish life: an anthology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eG1CAAAAIAAJ|access-date=4 July 2011|year=1967|publisher=Twayne Publishers|page=334}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Eider1985Page11">{{cite book|author=Shimon D. Eider|title=Student Edition of Halachos of Tefillin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FrbbdzcfTxkC&pg=PR6|access-date=30 June 2011|date=September 1985|publisher=Feldheim Publishers|isbn=978-1-58330-050-3|page=11}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Eider1985Page21-22">{{cite book|author=Shimon D. Eider|title=Student Edition of Halachos of Tefillin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FrbbdzcfTxkC&pg=PA21|access-date=30 June 2011|date=September 1985|publisher=Feldheim Publishers|isbn=978-1-58330-050-3|pages=21–22}}</ref> 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 (letter)|shin]]'' ({{Script/Hebrew|ש}}) 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ancient tefillin were not dyed black, study finds |url=https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/06/13/ancient-tefilin-were-not-dyed-black-study-finds/ |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=www.israelhayom.com}}</ref> ===Straps=== Black leather straps (''retsu'ot'') pass through the rear of the base and are used to secure the tefillin onto the body.<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia"/> The knot of the head-tefillin strap forms the letter ''[[dalet]]'' ({{Script/Hebrew|ד}}) or double ''dalet'' (known as the square-knot) while the strap that is passed through the arm-tefillin is formed into a knot in the shape of the letter ''[[Yodh|yud]]'' ({{Script/Hebrew|י}}). Together with the ''shin'' on the head-tefillin box, these three letters spell ''[[El Shaddai|Shaddai]]'' ({{Script/Hebrew|שדי}}), one of the names of God.<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia"/> The straps must be black on their outer side, but may be any color except red on their inner side.<ref>Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 32:3</ref> A stringent opinion requires them to be black on the inner side too,<ref>Shut Shevet Halevi 9:16</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.sefaria.org.il/Menachot.35b.5?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Menachot 35b]</ref> 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]], [[Arba'ah Turim|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.<ref>[[Mishneh Torah]] Hilchot Tefillin 13:12; Tur Hilchot Tefillin 27:8; [[Shulchan Aruch]] Orach Chaim 27:8</ref> [[Moshe Isserlis|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);<ref>''Darchei Moshe haKatzar'' Orach Chaim 27 letter 5</ref> 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.<ref>[[Shulchan Aruch]] Orach Chaim 27:8</ref> === Parchment scrolls === [[File:Jeruzalem. Oude man maakt doosjes voor gebedssnoeren (tefellin) achter een voll…, Bestanddeelnr 255-2339.jpg|thumb|Man makes boxes for tefillin, Jerusalem, 1964]] [[File:Jerusalem (997009326115605171.jpg|thumb|Man makes tefillin, Jerusalem, 1949. Photo by [[Boris Carmi]]]] The four biblical passages which refer to the tefillin, mentioned above, are written on scrolls and placed inside the leather boxes.<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia" /> The arm-tefillin has one large compartment, which contains all four biblical passages written upon a single strip of parchment; the head-tefillin has four separate compartments in each of which one scroll of parchment is placed.<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia" /><ref>BT Menachot 34b</ref> 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 [[sofer|scribe]] with special ink on parchment scrolls (''[[klaf]]'').<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia" /> These are: "Sanctify to me ..." (Exodus 13:1–10); "When YHWH brings you ..." (Exodus 13:11–16); "Hear, O Israel ..." (Deuteronomy 6:4–9); and "If you observe My Commandments ..." (Deuteronomy 11:13-21).<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia" /> The Hebrew [[Ktav Ashuri|Ashuri]] script must be used and there are three main styles of lettering used: ''Beis Yosef'' – generally used by [[Ashkenazim]]; ''Arizal'' – generally used by [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidim]]; ''Velish'' – used by [[Sefardim]].<ref name="Eider1985Page13-14">{{cite book|author=Shimon D. Eider|title=Student Edition of Halachos of Tefillin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FrbbdzcfTxkC&pg=PA14|access-date=1 July 2011|date=September 1985|publisher=Feldheim Publishers|isbn=978-1-58330-050-3|pages=13–14}}</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.stam.net/what_is_stam.aspx What is Tefillin?], ''www.stam.net''. Retrieved 1 July 2011</ref> ====Ordering of scrolls (Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam tefillin)==== {{See also|:he:סדר הפרשיות בתפילין}} 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.<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia" /> [[Rashi]] held that the passages are placed according to the chronological order as they appear in the Torah (''Kadesh Li'', ''Ve-haya Ki Yeviehcha'', ''Shema'', ''Ve-haya Im Shemoa''), while according to [[Rabbeinu Tam]], the last two passages are switched around.<ref name="Jacobs1984">{{cite book|first=Louis|last=Jacobs|title=The book of Jewish belief|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFpZgMzsEWYC&pg=PA128|access-date=1 July 2011|date=November 1984|publisher=Behrman House, Inc|isbn=978-0-87441-379-3|page=128}}</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.torahmusings.com/2011/08/tefillin-shimusha-rabba-and-raavad/ Tefillin: Shimusha Rabba and Ra’avad]</ref> 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;<ref name="Jacobs1984" /> however, they in fact do not follow either opinion.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cohn |first1=Yehudah |title=The Real Origins of the Rashi, Rabbenu Tam Tefillin Dispute |url=http://thegemara.com/the-real-origins-of-the-rashi-rabbenu-tam-tefillin-dispute/ |website=TheGemara.com |date=11 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214075627/http://thegemara.com/the-real-origins-of-the-rashi-rabbenu-tam-tefillin-dispute/ |archive-date=2016-02-14 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cohn |first1=Yehudah |title=Rabbenu Tam's tefillin : an Ancient Tradition or the Product of Medieval Exegesis? |journal=Jewish Studies Quarterly |date=2007 |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=319–327 |doi=10.1628/094457007783244619 |jstor=40753443 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40753443 |issn=0944-5706}}</ref> 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,<ref name="Jacobs1984" /> a custom of the [[Isaac Luria|Ari]] adopted by the [[Hasidim]], many [[Sephardic]] communities, and individuals within the Ashkenazic community.<ref name="Rabinowicz1996">{{cite book|first=Tzvi|last=Rabinowicz|title=The encyclopedia of Hasidism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OprXAAAAMAAJ|access-date=1 July 2011|year=1996|publisher=Jason Aronson|isbn=978-1-56821-123-7|page=482}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Project2007">[[Aharon Lichtenstein]], '"Mah Enosh": Reflections on the Relation between Judaism and Humanism', ''The Torah U-Madda Journal'', Vol. 14 (2006-07), p.46</ref> The [[Shulchan Aruch]] rules that only "one who is known and famous for his piety" should put on Rabbeinu Tam tefillin,<ref>Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 34:3</ref> while the [[Mishnah Brurah]] explains that if any other person puts on Rabbeinu Tam tefillin, it is a sign of arrogance.<ref>Mishnah Brurah, Orach Chaim 34:16</ref> The placement of the protrusion of a tuft of calf hairs (''se'ar eigel'') identifies as to which opinion the tefillin were written.<ref name="Eider1985Page21">{{cite book|author=Shimon D. Eider|title=Student Edition of Halachos of Tefillin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FrbbdzcfTxkC&pg=PA21|access-date=1 July 2011|date=September 1985|publisher=Feldheim Publishers|isbn=978-1-58330-050-3|page=21}}</ref>
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