Tefillin are religious objects important to every Jew. Their holiness is second only to that of the Torah scroll. In the Torah, tefillin are called a “sign” because they symbolize the entire Torah, expressing its main ideas and principles. The Jewish scripture says, “Fulfill the Tefillin commandment, and I will give you credit for it as if you had spent all your time in the study of the Torah.”
Tefillin are considered kosher if the text is written by an experienced scribe, observing all the religious regulations and in the special script used to write the Torah scroll. Tefillin consist of two parts. Each part is a small black cube-shaped box that contains the Torah scrolls.
By means of leather straps threaded through the bases of these boxes, the “shel yad” tefillin is secured to the naked left arm and the “shel rosh” tefillin — on the head. Placing tefillin on the arm should influence the heart and hand “to subordinate all desires and actions to the will of the Almighty”, and, put on the head, they impact the mind “to subordinate thoughts to the service of the Almighty”. Before putting on tefillin, Jews recite a blessing. One should stand and not be distracted or talk. Only adult men wear tefillin.
Tefillin are not worn on the Sabbath or on holidays designated by the Torah. There are also age restrictions: Tefillin are only to be put on at the age of bar mitzvah, the Jewish age of majority, which occurs at the age of thirteen. The rest of the Torah commandments must be fulfilled by the child from a very young age. A person wearing tefillin must be completely focused on it, but a child only develops this ability by the age of thirteen. The idea of tefillin is to bring the mind and heart under the control to serve God; this implies a religious responsibility for which young children are not prepared.
Tefillin from the exhibition of the Museum of the History of World Cultures and Religions were loaned to the Kele-Numaz, the main synagogue of Derbent. The blue cube-shaped case has an inscription which translates from Hebrew “tefillin on the arm”. The bottom of the box widens, and black straps more than three meters long, made from the skin of a kosher animal, are threaded through the holes in the base of the box.
Tefillin are considered kosher if the text is written by an experienced scribe, observing all the religious regulations and in the special script used to write the Torah scroll. Tefillin consist of two parts. Each part is a small black cube-shaped box that contains the Torah scrolls.
By means of leather straps threaded through the bases of these boxes, the “shel yad” tefillin is secured to the naked left arm and the “shel rosh” tefillin — on the head. Placing tefillin on the arm should influence the heart and hand “to subordinate all desires and actions to the will of the Almighty”, and, put on the head, they impact the mind “to subordinate thoughts to the service of the Almighty”. Before putting on tefillin, Jews recite a blessing. One should stand and not be distracted or talk. Only adult men wear tefillin.
Tefillin are not worn on the Sabbath or on holidays designated by the Torah. There are also age restrictions: Tefillin are only to be put on at the age of bar mitzvah, the Jewish age of majority, which occurs at the age of thirteen. The rest of the Torah commandments must be fulfilled by the child from a very young age. A person wearing tefillin must be completely focused on it, but a child only develops this ability by the age of thirteen. The idea of tefillin is to bring the mind and heart under the control to serve God; this implies a religious responsibility for which young children are not prepared.
Tefillin from the exhibition of the Museum of the History of World Cultures and Religions were loaned to the Kele-Numaz, the main synagogue of Derbent. The blue cube-shaped case has an inscription which translates from Hebrew “tefillin on the arm”. The bottom of the box widens, and black straps more than three meters long, made from the skin of a kosher animal, are threaded through the holes in the base of the box.
