Putting on tefilin each morning during Shacharit prayer is based on four verses from the Torah: Exodus 13:9 and 13:16, and Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18. All four have the same message: «Write these words of mine upon your heart and upon your soul, and they shall be for a sign upon your hand and a reminder upon your forehead (or between your eyes), that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth.» Some groups during the Second Temple period, such as the priests, explained this commandment figuratively, saying that we are to think of the words of the Torah as if they were before our eyes. But the rabbis of that time took it literally and said that the words of the Torah should be written and placed physically between the eyes and on the arm.

At least two dozen fragments of tefillin scrolls were found in the Cumran Caves, along with their boxes and leather straps. They are estimated to date from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE, a crucial period in the development of rabbinic Judaism. There is no evidence of the use of tefillin in earlier periods, such as in biblical times. Conical tefillin, some overlaid with gold, were found in the Cairo Genizah. These included the Decalogue among the scroll texts, in addition to the traditional four passages: Exodus 13:1-10 and 13:11-16, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21.

The use of tefillin, or phylacteries (from the Greek phylakterion, meaning amulet), began to become popular among the Hebrews as a practice to counteract the use of amulets by idolatrous peoples. They used it all day long, not just in prayer as it is today.

The manufacturing process of the leather tefillin boxes is quite complex, especially the head box, which has four compartments, unlike the hand box, which only has one. The process involves special tanning of the leather, die-cutting with hydraulic presses to form the compartments, embossing the letter Shin on the outer surfaces, painting the exterior black, and affixing the scrolls. Four scrolls are placed on separate rolls for the head box, and the four scrolls on the hand box are placed on a single roll. After the boxes are closed, straps are attached with knots simulating the letter Yod on the hand box and the letter Dalet on the head box. The manufacturing process for a pair can take up to a year.

However, the true meaning of the verses that gave rise to tefillin was not to create another ritual in prayer. Placing God’s commandments between your eyes means constantly thinking about them, and tying them to your arm means putting them into action. Tefillin are more than an adornment in prayer; they are a call to thought and action.

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: Jewish Encyclopedia and other sources.