Tefillin History
Tefillin are small leather boxes containing Biblical texts that Jews bind to their foreheads and hands with leather straps during morning prayer. Although, their purpose, to remind the wearer to follow Jewish laws, has not changed, the opinions of rabbis and commentators about whether it is required to wear them and when have changed over time.
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Biblical Sources
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Four passages in the first five books of the Bible refer to words that should be on the hand and between the eyes. The four sections are: Exodus 13:1-10; Exodus 13:11-16; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Deuteronomy 11:12-21. Though the idea of the passages is to keep the words constantly in mind, according to 11th century French Bible and Talmud commentator Samuel ben Meir, they began to be taken more literally and as a result, Jews as early as the New Testament wore these four pieces of text on their heads and arms.
Talmudic Period
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Tefillin were worn throughout the day and were not specially associated with prayer. The Talmudic rabbis emphasized the value of wearing tefillin and suggested that they be worn on "the weaker hand," hence a left-handed person wears tefillin on his right arm.
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Later Commentators
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The Geonim in the seventh to 11th centuries and the Tosafists in the 12th to 14th centuries responded to the Talmudic injunction that defined a sinner as "a skull that does not wear tefillin." They narrowed the interpretation of "sinners" to those who refused to wear tefillin for reasons not related to religion, not those who felt that they had not maintained sufficient purity.
Maimonides' Understanding
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Maimonides, 1135 to 1204, agreed that tefillin should be worn all day, but felt that it was more important to wear them during prayer.
Later History
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Orthodox Jews do not wear tefillin all day, out of concerns that they have not achieved the purity to do so, but they do wear them for morning prayer.
fun Fact
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At Qumran, the Israeli site in the Judean Desert where the Dead Sea Scrolls were recovered, tefillin were also found.
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