תְּפִילִּין tefillin (phylacteries G5440 in Greek) are two leather boxes, called batim, containing four passages, parshiyot, from the Torah, which are bound on the arm and head with leather straps, called retzuot. Tefillin are made of leather, shaped into a black, quadrangular capsule with a base of thin skin, tithura, on one side, and a hollow rim ma’brata, or ‘passageway’ through which leather straps, called retuzot, are placed. One tefillah (singular of tefillin) is worn on the head, (tefillah shel rosh) and the other tefillah is worn on the left arm (tefillah shel yad) if one writes with the right arm, and on the right arm if one writes with the left hand.
There are four Biblical passages, written on parchment, referred to as parshiyot, in the tefillin, which serve as a reminder of four basic principles in Judaism:
- Exodus 13:1-10 – Obligation to remember the Exodus from Egypt
- Exodus 13: 11-16 – Our obligation to transmit the tradition to our children
- Deuteronomy 6:4-9 – Elohim’s unity and our mutual bond of love
- Deuteronomy 11:13-21 – Declaration of a person’s responsibility to Elohim.