Tefillin

On the morning of January 21, 2010, a flight from New York to Louisville was diverted to Philadelphia after the flight crew believed one of the passengers posed a terrorist threat. The alleged terrorist turned out to be a 17-year old Orthodox Jew who had donned his tefillin shortly after the flight took off.

The plane landed and was immediately surrounded by Transportation Security Administration personnel as well as the Philadelphia Bomb Squad. A search of the plane uncovered no bomb. Police questioned the young man, who successfully convinced them that he was praying. No charges were filed against him.

No one on the crew was apparently familiar with the Jewish practice of prayer.

So what are Tefillin?

The word Tefilin is a Hebrew word that is etymologically related to the word for prayer (tefilah). Tefillin are the two small black square boxes, attached to leather straps, that are worn during morning prayers every day except for Shabbat or most Jewish holidays. (Tisha B'Av is the only holiday in which the Tefillin are worn during afternoon prayers instead of morning prayers.)

One Tefillin box is centered on the forehead; the other is tied on the left arm, so that it rests near the heart when the arm is down.

The Tefillin box contains a hand-inscribed parchment that consists of four Torah verses. One verse is the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:8): “Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead.”

The other Torah verses include Exodus 13:1 ~ 10; Exodus 13:11 ~ 16; and Deuteronomy 11:13 ~ 21.

The Tefillin’s functions to remind us of G~d’s mitzvot, through the words of Torah.