Description
Tefillin (phylacteries) are two black leather cubic housings containing handwritten biblical passages on parchment, bound by straps to the arm and the head during the morning prayer on weekdays, in fulfillment of the commandment to bind these words 'as a sign upon the hand' and 'between the eyes.' The Sephardic type follows its own rules of writing, folding of the parchments, and winding of the straps. The cases that keep them between uses, in the Mediterranean tradition, are often of stamped leather or turned wood, sometimes accompanied by a fabric pouch. This object ranks among the most fundamental prayer accessories of adult Jewish male life.
