Draft. This siddur is waiting for a rav's review. For a halachic question, ask your rav.
Hebrew, then English. Open "What it means" under any line for the explanation.
Before putting on tefillin. This paragraph says what to have in mind:
לְשֵׁם יִחוּד קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא וּשְׁכִינְתֵּהּ בִּדְחִילוּ וּרְחִימוּ, לְיַחֵד שֵׁם י"ה בו"ה בְּיִחוּדָא שְׁלִים בְּשֵׁם כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל,
For the sake of uniting the Holy One, blessed is He, and His Presence, in awe and love, to unite the Name, Yud-Hei with Vav-Hei, in complete unity, in the name of all Israel.
Much of this sentence is Aramaic, the language of the Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah). The pair "awe and love" appears in the Tikkunei Zohar (a companion book to the Zohar), which says that Torah without awe and love "does not fly upward."
Tikkunei Zohar 25bהִנְּנִי מְכַוֵּן בַּהֲנָחַת תְּפִלִּין לְקַיֵּם מִצְוַת בּוֹרְאִי, שֶׁצִּוָּנוּ לְהָנִיחַ תְּפִלִּין כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרָתוֹ וּקְשַׁרְתָּם לְאוֹת עַל יָדֶךָ, וְהָיוּ לְטֹטָפֹת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ,
Here I am, aiming my mind, as I put on tefillin, to fulfill the commandment of my Creator, who commanded us to put on tefillin, as it is written in His Torah: "Tie them as a sign on your arm, and they shall be totafot between your eyes."
Here I am. As I put on tefillin, I mean to fulfill the commandment of my Creator, who commanded us to put on tefillin, as it is written in His Torah: "Tie them as a sign on your arm, and they shall be totafot between your eyes."
The rest of this paragraph is a checklist of what to have in mind. Its core is taken almost word for word from the Tur (a law code from the 1300s) and the Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law). The Mishnah Berurah (a standard guide to daily Jewish law, around 1900) adds: if all you had in mind was doing the mitzvah, it still counts.
Tur, Orach Chaim 25; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 25:5; Mishnah Berurah 25:15וְהֵם אַרְבַּע פַּרְשִׁיּוֹת אֵלּוּ, שְׁמַע. וְהָיָה אִם שָׁמֹעַ. קַדֶּשׁ. וְהָיָה כִי יְבִאֲךָ. שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהֶם יִחוּדוֹ וְאַחְדּוּתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ שְׁמוֹ בָּעוֹלָם,
They are these four passages: Shema ("Hear"), Vehayah Im Shamoa ("If you listen"), Kadesh ("Make holy"), and Vehayah Ki Yeviakha ("When He brings you"). They contain His being the only One, and His oneness, may His name be blessed, in the world.
They are these four passages: Shema, Vehayah Im Shamoa, Kadesh, and Vehayah Ki Yeviakha. They contain His being the only One and His oneness in the world, may His name be blessed.
In the Torah, Kadesh and Vehayah Ki Yeviakha come first. This list puts the two Shema passages first. Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) explains the order: first you accept God as King and take on the mitzvot. That is what makes you ready to take in the memory of leaving Egypt.
Rav Kook, Olat Re'iyah, Tefillinוְשֶׁנִּזְכֹּר נִסִּים וְנִפְלָאוֹת, שֶׁעָשָׂה עִמָּנוּ בְּהוֹצִיאוֹ אוֹתָנוּ מִמִּצְרָיִם, וַאֲשֶׁר לוֹ הַכֹּחַ וְהַמֶּמְשָׁלָה בָּעֶלְיוֹנִים וּבַתַּחְתּוֹנִים לַעֲשׂוֹת בָּהֶם כִּרְצוֹנוֹ,
And so that we remember the miracles and wonders that He did for us when He took us out of Egypt, and that His are the power and the rule over those above and those below, to do with them as He wants.
And so that we remember the miracles and wonders He did for us when He took us out of Egypt, and that the power and the rule are His, over those above and those below, to do with them as He wants.
The Torah itself ties tefillin to leaving Egypt: "a sign on your arm and a reminder between your eyes ... because with a strong hand Hashem took you out of Egypt" (Shemot 13:9). Ramban (Nachmanides, Spain, 1200s): the root of the mitzvah is to place the written record of the Exodus on the arm and the head, facing the heart and the brain, where thought lives.
Shemot 13:9; Ramban on Shemot 13:16וְצִוָּנוּ לְהָנִיחַ עַל הַיָּד, לְזִכְרוֹן זְרוֹעַ הַנְּטוּיָה. וְשֶׁהִיא נֶגֶד הַלֵּב לְשַׁעְבֵּד בָּזֶה תַּאֲוַת וּמַחְשְׁבוֹת לִבֵּנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ שְׁמוֹ,
He commanded us to put it on the arm as a reminder of the outstretched arm, and since it faces the heart, to bind by this the desire and thoughts of our heart to His service, may His name be blessed.
He commanded us to put tefillin on the arm as a reminder of His outstretched arm. And since the arm faces the heart, by this we bind the desire and thoughts of our heart to His service, may His name be blessed.
Why the upper arm? One answer in the Gemara, from Rabbi Yitzchak, reads "Put these words of Mine on your heart" as a rule about place: the tefillin has to sit facing the heart. So the Shulchan Aruch says to tilt it a little toward your body. Then, when you lower your arm, it faces your heart.
Menachot 37b; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 27:1וְעַל הָרֹאשׁ נֶגֶד הַמּוֹחַ, שֶׁהַנְּשָׁמָה שֶׁבְּמוֹחִי עִם שְׁאָר חוּשַׁי וְכֹחוֹתַי כֻּלָּם יִהְיוּ מְשֻׁעְבָּדִים לַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ שְׁמוֹ,
And on the head, facing the brain, so that the soul in my brain, with the rest of my senses and powers, may all be bound to His service, may His name be blessed.
And on the head, facing the brain, so that the soul in my brain, along with the rest of my senses and powers, may all be bound to His service, may His name be blessed.
"Between your eyes" does not mean on your forehead. The Gemara says it means the top of the head, the spot where a baby's skull is still soft. So the head tefillin sits from the hairline up, over the brain. It is centered, which lines it up with the space between your eyes.
Menachot 37a; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 27:9-10וּמִשֶּׁפַע מִצְוַת תְּפִלִּין יִתְמַשֵּׁךְ עָלַי לִהְיוֹת לִי חַיִּים אֲרֻכִּים, וְשֶׁפַע קֹדֶשׁ, וּמַחֲשָׁבוֹת קְדוֹשׁוֹת, בְּלִי הִרְהוּר חֵטְא וְעָוֹן כְּלָל
From the flow of the mitzvah of tefillin may some be drawn onto me, to give me long life, a flow of holiness, and holy thoughts, with no thought of sin or wrongdoing at all.
From the flow of the mitzvah of tefillin, may I be given long life, a flow of holiness, and holy thoughts, with no thought of sin or wrongdoing at all.
Asking for long life here has a source. In the Gemara, Reish Lakish says that whoever puts on tefillin lives long. He learns it from a verse in Yeshayahu (38:16), which the Gemara quotes as "Hashem is upon them, they will live." Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) explains: those who carry God's name on them, in their tefillin, will live.
Menachot 44a-44b, with Rashiוְשֶׁלֹּא יְפַתֵּנוּ וְלֹא יִתְגָּרֶה בָּנוּ יֵצֶר הָרָע, וְיַנִּיחֵנוּ לַעֲבֹד אֶת יְיָ, כַּאֲשֶׁר עִם לְבָבֵנוּ,
May it not tempt us or pick a fight with us, the urge to do wrong, and may it leave us to serve Hashem as our heart wants to.
May the urge to do wrong not tempt us or pick a fight with us. May it leave us to serve Hashem the way our heart wants to.
Two verbs, two tactics. Rav Kook reads "tempt" as steering the energy a mitzvah gives you toward the wrong things, and "pick a fight" as pushing back against the holiness head on. And he reads the last words this way: the pure wish to serve God is already in the heart. The request is only that nothing trip it up.
Rav Kook, Olat Re'iyah, Tefillinוִיהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ, יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ, וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁתְּהֵא חֲשׁוּבָה מִצְוַת הֲנָחַת תְּפִלִּין, לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, כְּאִלּוּ קִיַּמְתִּיהָ בְּכָל פְּרָטֶיהָ וְדִקְדּוּקֶיהָ, וְכַוָּנוֹתֶיהָ, וְתַרְיַ"ג מִצְווֹת הַתְּלוּיוֹת בָּהּ, אָמֵן סֶלָה.
And may it be Your will, Hashem, our God and God of our ancestors, that the mitzvah of putting on tefillin be counted before the Holy One, blessed is He, as if I had kept it in all its details, fine points and intentions, along with the 613 mitzvot that depend on it. Amen, selah.
These closing words are a formula. This siddur ends its paragraph before the tallit the same way. The Gemara does link tefillin to the rest of the Torah. From "so that Hashem's Torah will be in your mouth" (Shemot 13:9) it says "the whole Torah is compared to tefillin," and it uses that to learn a law about other mitzvot from tefillin.
Kiddushin 35aPlace the arm tefillin on the muscle of your weaker upper arm (the left, for most people). Before you tighten it, say:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהָנִיחַ תְּפִלִּין.
Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the world who made us holy with His commandments and commanded us to put on tefillin.
The Gemara gives both tefillin blessings: this one when you put tefillin on your arm, the next one for your head. You say it before tightening because a blessing on a mitzvah comes right before the act. For tefillin, the Shulchan Aruch says, the act is the tying.
Berakhot 60b; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 25:8Tighten it. Wind the strap seven times on your forearm. Set the head tefillin high, centered above your eyes. Before tightening:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל מִצְוַת תְּפִלִּין.
Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the world who made us holy with His commandments and commanded us about the mitzvah of tefillin.
Not everyone says this blessing. The Gemara: if you did not talk in between, one blessing. If you talked, two. The Shulchan Aruch rules that the first blessing covers both tefillin, and so does the siddur of the first Chabad Rebbe. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch) records the Ashkenazi custom: always both.
Menachot 36a; Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 25:5; Piskei HaSiddur, TefillinTighten the head tefillin. Then right away:
בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד.
Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.
Why this line here? The Rema says it is good to always add it after the second blessing. The Mishnah Berurah explains: Ashkenazim hold the blessing is required. The line is there only to be extra safe, in case the blessing was said for nothing. It warns: say the line only after the head tefillin is tight, so nothing comes between blessing and act.
Rema, Orach Chaim 25:5; Mishnah Berurah 25:21; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 10:4With the head tefillin tight, say:
וּמֵחָכְמָתְךָ אֵל עֶלְיוֹן תַּאֲצִיל עָלַי וּמִבִּינָתְךָ תְּבִינֵנִי וּבְחַסְדְּךָ תַּגְדִּיל עָלַי וּבִגְבוּרָתְךָ תַּצְמִית אוֹיְבַי וְקָמַי וְשֶׁמֶן הַטּוֹב תָּרִיק עַל שִׁבְעָה קְנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה לְהַשְׁפִּיעַ טוּבְךָ לִבְרִיּוֹתֶיךָ.
And from Your wisdom, God Most High, pass some on to me. From Your understanding, give me understanding. With Your kindness, do great things for me. With Your strength, cut down my enemies and attackers. Pour the good oil onto the seven branches of the menorah, to send Your goodness to Your creatures.
And from Your wisdom, God Most High, pass some on to me. From Your understanding, give me understanding. With Your kindness, do great things for me. With Your strength, cut down my enemies and those who rise against me. Pour the good oil onto the seven branches of the menorah, to send Your goodness to Your creatures.
Four requests: wisdom, understanding, kindness, strength. Rabbi Aharon of Karlin (a Chassidic rebbe of the 1800s, in what is now Belarus) matches them to the four Torah passages in the tefillin, one each. The prayer is not from the Gemara. Shevet Musar, a book of ethics first printed in 1712, gives it as words to say after putting on tefillin.
Beit Aharon, Parashat Bo; Shevet Musar, chapter 31פּוֹתֵחַ אֶת יָדֶךָ וּמַשְׂבִּיעַ לְכָל חַי רָצוֹן.
You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with what it wants.
Count the Hebrew words of this verse: seven. The Aruch HaShulchan (a law code by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein of Novardok, finished around 1900) says the seven windings on the arm match the seven words of this verse.
Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 27:19Then wind the arm strap three times around your middle finger, and say:
וְאֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ לִי לְעוֹלָם, וְאֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ לִי בְּצֶדֶק וּבְמִשְׁפָּט וּבְחֶסֶד וּבְרַחֲמִים.
I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you to Me with what is right and with justice, with kindness and with compassion.
These are God's words to the people of Israel in the book of Hoshea (2:21-22), spoken like a groom to a bride. "I will betroth you" comes three times. Kaf HaChaim (a law commentary by Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer, Jerusalem, early 1900s) quotes an older book: the three windings on your finger match those three, so these verses are said as you wind.
Hoshea 2:21-22; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 25:68וְאֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ לִי בֶּאֱמוּנָה, וְיָדַעַתְּ אֶת יְיָ.
I will betroth you to Me with faithfulness, and you will know Hashem.
Rashi splits the list in these two verses. Right and justice are what you bring. Kindness and compassion are what comes back to you from God because of them. And "with faithfulness" is the reward for trusting, all through the exile, the promises God made through the prophets.
Rashi on Hoshea 2:21-22From the first blessing until the head tefillin is tight, do not talk. The Gemara calls talking in between a sin. Sit or stand? The Rema (the Ashkenazi notes on the Shulchan Aruch) records the Ashkenazi custom: both standing. It also cites the Zohar's custom: sit for the arm, stand for the head.
Rema, Orach Chaim 25:11; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 25:9; Menachot 36aThe Gemara says something strange: God wears tefillin. Then it asks the obvious next question. What is written inside them? Ours contain the Shema, which says that Hashem is one. God's, the Gemara answers, contain the verse "Who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth." Then it has God say to Israel: you made Me one of a kind in the world, and I will make you one of a kind in the world. What this could mean is one of the hard questions below.
Berakhot 6aTefillin were once dangerous to wear. The Gemara tells of a time when Rome decreed that anyone who put on tefillin would have his brain gouged out. A man named Elisha put them on anyway and walked out to the marketplace. An officer saw him and chased him. When the officer caught up, Elisha had taken them off his head and was holding them in his hand. "What is in your hand?" "A dove's wings." He opened his hand, and that is what was there. After that he was called Elisha, the Man of Wings.
Shabbat 49aThe Torah's word for the head tefillin is totafot. It appears three times, always in this command, and nowhere else. Rabbi Akiva read it as two foreign words joined together: tat means two in one language, and pat means two in another. Two and two make four. So the head box has four compartments, one for each Torah passage that gives this command. The paragraph before the blessing names all four. In the arm box, the same four passages are written on one strip.
Menachot 34bThe Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law, from the 1500s) says what to have in mind while putting on tefillin: God commanded us to put these four passages on the arm next to the heart and on the head next to the brain, so that we remember His miracles and hand over to Him the mind and the heart. Now read the long paragraph before the blessing. Its core is that same sentence, turned from an instruction into a prayer. Part of the wording is older still. It is already in the Tur, a law code from the 1300s.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 25:5; Tur, Orach Chaim 25The Gemara says: if you did not talk between the arm and the head tefillin, say one blessing. If you talked, say two. Rashi (France, 1000s) took that at face value: one blessing normally covers both. His grandson Rabbeinu Tam ruled two every time. The Shulchan Aruch rules one. The Rema (who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch) records two, and says it is good to add Baruch Shem after the second. That is the line said after a blessing that may not have been needed. This siddur prints it that way.
Menachot 36a; Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 25:5; Mishnah Berurah 25:21The last lines are not a request. They are God speaking. In the book of Hoshea, God describes Israel as a wife who left Him for others, and then promises to begin again: "I will betroth you to Me forever." The promise comes three times. The Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai, 1700s) records a custom to say these verses while winding the strap three times around the finger. In the Hebrew, the "you" is feminine. Israel is the bride, and you are reading the groom's lines.
Hoshea 2:21-22; Chida, Tziporen Shamir, section 2, paragraph 6The Torah calls tefillin an ot, a sign. Rabbi Akiva reasoned that tefillin are for days that need a sign. Shabbat and Yom Tov are a sign on their own, so those days are left out. That is why tefillin stay in their bag on Shabbat.
Menachot 36bThe Torah gives its own reason, and it is about memory: "It will be a sign for you on your arm and a reminder between your eyes, so that Hashem's Torah will be in your mouth, because with a strong hand Hashem took you out of Egypt." Tefillin are a reminder that you wear.
Why would anyone need a reminder tied to the body? Sefer HaChinukh (a book from Spain in the 1200s that gives a reason for each commandment) answers bluntly. A person has a body, and a body goes after whatever it wants. So God gave the soul guards: learning Torah, tzitzit, a mezuzah on the door, and tefillin on the arm and head.
The placement is the point. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) says the arm tefillin sits next to the heart and the head tefillin next to the brain, so that a person hands over to God both the mind and the heart, which it calls the main place of desires and thoughts.
The Rambam (Maimonides, 1100s) describes what this is supposed to do. As long as tefillin are on a person's head and arm, he is humble, he is not pulled into joking around and empty talk, and he turns his heart to truth. The Gemara tells of Abaye, who was in high spirits in front of his teacher. His teacher objected. Abaye answered: "I am wearing tefillin." Rashi (the classic commentator on the Gemara) explains: they are evidence that God's rule is on me.
Does it work by itself? The Chinukh says no. After listing the guards it adds: see how much stronger our body is than our soul, because even with all of these it sometimes breaks through the fence. Tefillin are a reminder, not a switch. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) quotes a reading of the verse that points the same way: "so that Hashem's Torah will be in your mouth" means the heart of this mitzvah is what you have in mind while you do it.
Shemot 13:9,Sefer HaChinukh 421,Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 25:5,Rambam, Laws of Tefillin 4:25,Berakhot 30b with Rashi,Mishnah Berurah 25:15The Gemara says it straight out: God puts on tefillin. Rabbi Yitzchak finds it in a verse in Yeshayahu, where Hashem swears "by His right hand and by His strong arm." The Gemara reads the strong arm as tefillin. Then it asks what is written in them, and answers: "Who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth."
This was not meant as a picture of a body with straps on it. Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Chajes (Galicia, 1800s), in his guide to the Gemara, puts this line first on a list of passages that cannot be explained literally in any way.
So what does it mean? Rav Hai Gaon (head of a great academy in Babylonia about 1,000 years ago) explained that God showed Moshe how tefillin are worn and tied. He taught it by showing, the same way He showed Moshe how to make the Mishkan (the desert sanctuary). The Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet of Barcelona, 1200s), who quotes this, was not satisfied. If that is all it means, why does the Gemara go on to ask what is written inside God's tefillin? He writes that other sages have a hidden meaning here, and he does not spell it out.
The Maharsha (Rabbi Shmuel Eidels, Poland, around 1600) gives a reading he calls close to the plain sense. Our tefillin say that we attach ourselves to God. The Gemara is saying that the attachment runs in both directions: God holds on to Israel and takes pride in them. He quotes the verse "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."
So part of the question stays open, and the Rashba said as much.
Berakhot 6a,Rav Tzvi Hirsch Chajes, Mevo HaTalmud, chapter 27,Rashba on Berakhot 6a, quoting Rav Hai Gaon,Maharsha, Chidushei Agadot on Berakhot 6aStart with the Mishnah (the core text of the Oral Torah, edited about 1,800 years ago): women are exempt from tefillin. The same line says women are obligated in prayer, mezuzah and Birkat Hamazon.
The Shulchan Aruch gives the reason. Tefillin is a positive commandment that depends on time, since it does not apply on Shabbat and Yom Tov, and women are exempt from that category. The Gemara learns the whole category from tefillin.
But exempt does not mean not allowed. Women are also exempt from sukkah and lulav, and they do both. And the Gemara records that Michal, the daughter of King Shaul, wore tefillin and the sages did not object. (Tosafot, a medieval commentary on the Gemara, quotes another tradition that they did.)
So why is tefillin different? The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, 1500s, whose notes give Ashkenazi practice) rules that if women want to take it on, we object. The reason given is that tefillin require a "clean body." In the Gemara, that means not passing gas while wearing them (Abaye) or not falling asleep in them (Rava).
The Aruch HaShulchan (a code of law from around 1900) spells the argument out. Tefillin demand so much care that even men stopped wearing them all day and keep them on only for Shema and prayer. Men are commanded, so for that short time they must be careful. Women are not commanded, so why step into that risk at all? The Mishnah Berurah puts the concern in one line, in the words of Tosafot: "women are not diligent about being careful." As for Michal, the Aruch HaShulchan says the sages presumably knew she was completely righteous and knew how to be careful.
Sephardic authorities rule the same way. The Kaf HaChaim (a major Sephardic commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, early 1900s) records it.
Not everyone objected. Sefer HaChinukh (Spain, 1200s) writes that if women want to put on tefillin, we do not object, and they have reward, though less than a man's. So the sources do not all agree. The later authorities quoted here do agree on the ruling.
Mishnah Berakhot 3:3,Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 38:3,Kiddushin 34a,Eruvin 96a with Rashi and Tosafot,Mishnah Berurah 38:11, 38:13,Shabbat 49a,Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 38:6,Kaf HaChaim 38:9,Sefer HaChinukh 421Short ideas from the Chassidic masters, the Kabbalah and the Mussar teachers.
The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) says that putting on the arm tefillin is an embrace. Stretch out your left arm, it says, to receive the Community of Israel, which in the Zohar is a name for the Shekhinah, God's presence. Then tie the knot with your right arm, "in order to embrace her." That acts out a verse in Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs): "His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me." Then, the Zohar says, a person is whole, and God says about him: "Israel, in whom I take pride."
מַאן דְּאָנַח תְּפִלִּין, כַּד מָנַח תְּפִלָּה שֶׁל יַד, בָּעֵי לְאוֹשָטָא דְּרוֹעָא שְׂמָאלָא... וּלְקַשְּׁרָא קִשְׁרָא עִם יְמִינָא, בְּגִין לְחַבְּקָא לָהּ
Zohar, Parashat MetzoraRabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (a Chassidic master who died in 1809) takes the Gemara's line that God wears tefillin (Berakhot 6a) and sets the two pairs side by side. Ours hold the praise of God. God's hold the praise of Israel. Then he gives a rule for the whole day. A person may not take his mind off tefillin, so everyone should always be busy with one pair or the other: tell the praise of God, or tell the praise of the Jewish people.
שאנו מניחין תפילין וכתיב בהן שבח של הקדוש ברוך הוא והקדוש ברוך הוא מניח תפילין שכתוב בהן שבח ישראל
Kedushat Levi, Parashat BoThe prayer before tefillin says the arm tefillin faces the heart "to bind" what the heart wants to God's service. That can sound like an order to shut your feelings down. Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) does not read it that way. The outstretched arm that the arm tefillin recalls, he writes, "does not come to destroy human nature or to weaken a person's temperament." It comes to raise up the light of holiness, until everything the heart wants, with all its inner strength, is bound to what is holy.
אינה באה להרוס את טבע האדם, ולהחליש את תכונתו המזגית... עד שכל תאוות הלב משתעבדות בחפצן הפנימי, העז והאיתן, אל יסוד הקדושה האלהית
Rav Kook, Olat Re'iyah, on the prayer before tefillinThe Torah says God created the human being "in His image." Tikkunei Zohar (a companion book to the Zohar) says this verse is the mitzvah of tefillin. When someone puts tefillin on his head and his arm, it says, a voice goes up every day to every kind of angel, and to the angels in charge of prayers: "Give honor to the image of the King." And it spells out who the image of the King is: the one wearing the tefillin. Think of that the next time you tighten the strap.
כָּל מָאן דְּאַנַּח תְּפִלִּין עַל רֵישֵׁיהּ וְעַל דְּרוֹעִיהּ, קָלָא סָלִיק בְּכָל יוֹמָא... הָבוּ יְקָר לְדִיּוֹקְנָא דְמַלְכָּא דְאִיהוּ מָאן דְּאַנַּח תְּפִלִּין
Tikkunei Zohar 83bThe Gemara says God wears tefillin. The Maharal (Rabbi Yehuda Loew of Prague, who died in 1609) explains it with a line from the prophet Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah): the wise should not boast of wisdom, the strong of strength, or the rich of wealth. Those are real strengths, the Maharal says, but they stay with the person who has them. The glory worth having is the good in you that goes out to someone else. God's "tefillin" are the good God gives to everything that exists. And a person, he writes, should do the same.
וכך יעשה האדם, שיהיה שלימות שלו יוצא לזולתו, וזהו ההלול והתפארת
Maharal, Gevurot Hashem, chapter 44The practical laws. For a final ruling, ask your rav.
The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) rules that one blessing, said on the arm, covers both. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to it) records two. This siddur prints two. The Chabad siddur has one, unless you talked in between. Say each blessing once the box is in place, before you tighten the strap. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, around 1900) warns: Baruch Shem comes only after the head strap is tight, or it separates the blessing from the act.
Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 25:5, 25:8; Mishnah Berurah 25:21, 25:27; Chabad siddur, Tefillin sectionNo. The Shulchan Aruch forbids it. The Mishnah Berurah adds: not even to return your teacher's greeting, and it is best to avoid even a wink or a hand signal. If you did talk, the Shulchan Aruch has you say the second blessing on the head, and the Rema has you say both blessings there. If you hear Kaddish or Kedushah in the middle, the Shulchan Aruch says not to answer: stay quiet, listen, and think about what is being said. The Chabad siddur rules that you may stop and answer with everyone.
Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 25:9-10; Mishnah Berurah 25:28-29; Chabad siddur, Tefillin sectionThe arm box sits on the bulge of the upper arm, in the half nearer the elbow, tilted slightly toward your body so it faces your heart when you lower your arm. The head box is centered above the space between your eyes, anywhere from the hairline back to the spot where a baby's skull is soft. The Mishnah Berurah: even the bottom edge of the base must be at the hairline or above. If the box rests on the forehead, the mitzvah was not done and the blessing was for nothing. It says many people get this wrong.
Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 27:1, 27:9-10; Mishnah Berurah 27:33Your right. Tefillin go on the weaker arm. The Shulchan Aruch rules that someone who does all his work with his left hand puts them on his right arm. The Mishnah Berurah adds that a lefty who puts them on his left arm has not done the mitzvah. If you use both hands equally, use the left arm like everyone else. If you write with one hand and do everything else with the other, the Shulchan Aruch gives two views: the weaker arm, or the arm you do not write with. The Rema says the custom is the second.
Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 27:6; Mishnah Berurah 27:1, 27:24The Shulchan Aruch rules that once a boy can look after tefillin, meaning he will not fall asleep or pass gas in them, his father must buy him a pair to train him. The Rema: only from 13 and a day, and that is the custom. The Mishnah Berurah: in its day boys started two or three months before. The Aruch HaShulchan (a law code by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, around 1900): in its day, a month before, and some not early at all. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary, early 1900s) sides with the Shulchan Aruch.
Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 37:3; Mishnah Berurah 37:12; Aruch HaShulchan 37:4; Kaf HaChaim 37:14It depends on your community. The Shulchan Aruch forbids it: the middle days of Pesach and Sukkot are themselves a sign, like Shabbat. The Rema records that Ashkenazim wear them and say the blessing quietly. The Mishnah Berurah advises wearing them with no blessing. The Aruch HaShulchan reports that Sephardim do not wear them and that many Ashkenazim had stopped too. Peninei Halakhah (a modern law guide by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed) adds that in Israel no one wears them, and neither do Chassidim outside Israel.
Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 31:2; Mishnah Berurah 31:8; Aruch HaShulchan 31:4; Peninei Halakhah Likkutim I 9:12The Shulchan Aruch records the custom: not before the Kedushah in Uva LeTzion, near the end of Shacharit. The Mishnah Berurah adds that where a mourner's Kaddish is said after Aleinu, it is good to wait until after it. It also says that people who wrap up their tefillin while Kaddish is being said are doing the wrong thing, because answering Kaddish takes full attention. On Rosh Chodesh they come off before Musaf. The head tefillin come off first, and you stand to take them off.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 25:13, 28:2; Mishnah Berurah 25:56וְהָיָה לְךָ לְאוֹת עַל־יָדְךָ וּלְזִכָּרוֹן בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ לְמַעַן תִּהְיֶה תּוֹרַת ה׳ בְּפִיךָ כִּי בְּיָד חֲזָקָה הוֹצִאֲךָ ה׳ מִמִּצְרָיִם.
It will be a sign for you on your arm and a reminder between your eyes, so that Hashem's Torah will be in your mouth, because with a strong hand Hashem took you out of Egypt.
הָנֵי תְּפִילִּין דְּמָרֵי עָלְמָא מָה כְּתִיב בְּהוּ? אֲמַר לֵיהּ ״וּמִי כְּעַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל גּוֹי אֶחָד בָּאָרֶץ״... אָמַר לָהֶם הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְיִשְׂרָאֵל: אַתֶּם עֲשִׂיתוּנִי חֲטִיבָה אַחַת בָּעוֹלָם, וַאֲנִי אֶעֱשֶׂה אֶתְכֶם חֲטִיבָה אַחַת בָּעוֹלָם.
"What is written in the tefillin of the Master of the world?" He said to him: "Who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth"... The Holy One said to Israel: You made Me one of a kind in the world, and I will make you one of a kind in the world.
אבל אני רואה בו קרוב לפשוטו כי מצות ענין תפילין הוא שיש לנו להיות דבקים בו ית'... ולעומת זה יש להקב"ה דביקות וחטיבה בישראל כמ"ש אני לדודי ודודי לי... והוא שהקב"ה מניח תפילין להתדבק ולהתפאר בנחלתו ישראל.
I see in it something close to the plain sense: the point of tefillin is that we should be attached to Him... and in return the Holy One is attached to Israel and singles them out, as it says, "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine"... That is the meaning of "God puts on tefillin": to hold on to Israel, His own portion, and take pride in them.
יכוין בהנחתם שצונו הקב"ה להניח ארבע פרשיות אלו שיש בהם יחוד שמו ויציאת מצרים על הזרוע כנגד הלב ועל הראש כנגד המוח כדי שנזכור ניסים ונפלאות... וישעבד להקב"ה הנשמה שהיא במוח וגם הלב שהוא עיקר התאות והמחשבות.
While putting them on, have in mind that God commanded us to place these four passages, which contain His oneness and the leaving of Egypt, on the arm next to the heart and on the head next to the brain, so that we remember miracles and wonders... and hand over to God the soul, which is in the brain, and also the heart, which is the main place of desires and thoughts.
קדושת תפילין קדושתן גדולה היא שכל זמן שהתפילין בראשו של אדם ועל זרועו הוא עניו וירא שמים ואינו נמשך בשחוק ובשיחה בטילה ואינו מהרהר מחשבות רעות אלא מפנה לבו בדברי האמת והצדק.
The holiness of tefillin is great. As long as tefillin are on a person's head and on his arm, he is humble and in awe of Heaven. He is not pulled into joking around and empty talk, and he does not think bad thoughts. He turns his heart to words of truth and justice.
וְעַתָּה, בְּנִי, רְאֵה גַּם רְאֵה כַּמָּה כֹּחַ גּוּפֵנוּ גָּדוֹל עַל נַפְשֵׁנוּ, כִּי עַל כָּל אֵלֶּה יַעֲלֶה לִפְעָמִים וּפָרַץ גְּדֵרֵנוּ.
And now, my son, look and see how much stronger our body is than our soul. Even with all of these, it sometimes rises up and breaks through our fence.
שֶׁפַּעַם אַחַת גָּזְרָה מַלְכוּת רוֹמִי הָרְשָׁעָה שְׁמָד עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁכָּל הַמַּנִּיחַ תְּפִילִּין יְנַקְּרוּ אֶת מוֹחוֹ, וְהָיָה אֱלִישָׁע מַנִּיחָם וְיוֹצֵא לַשּׁוּק.
Once the wicked kingdom of Rome decreed against Israel that anyone who put on tefillin would have his brain gouged out. Elisha would put them on and go out to the marketplace.
רבי עקיבא אומר יכול יניח אדם תפילין בשבתות ובימים טובים תלמוד לומר והיה לאות על ידך ולטוטפת בין עיניך מי שצריכין אות יצאו שבתות וימים טובים שהן גופן אות.
Rabbi Akiva says: you might think a person should put on tefillin on Shabbat and Yom Tov. So the Torah says, "It will be a sign on your arm and totafot between your eyes." Tefillin are for days that need a sign. Shabbat and Yom Tov are left out, because they are a sign themselves.
רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אוֹמֵר: אֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ, ״טַט״ בְּכַתְפִּי שְׁתַּיִם, ״פַּת״ בְּאַפְרִיקִי שְׁתַּיִם.
Rabbi Akiva says: there is no need for that proof. Tat in the Katpi language means two, and pat in the Afriki language means two.
נָשִׁים וַעֲבָדִים וּקְטַנִּים פְּטוּרִין מִקְּרִיאַת שְׁמַע וּמִן הַתְּפִלִּין, וְחַיָּבִין בִּתְפִלָּה וּבִמְזוּזָה, וּבְבִרְכַּת הַמָּזוֹן.
Women, slaves and minors are exempt from saying Shema and from tefillin, and are obligated in prayer, mezuzah and Birkat Hamazon.
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