Menachot 34b — the Talmud in English

The Sages taught:

In the Torah, the word “totafot” is written three times. A. In the passage of Shema: “And they shall be”

for totafot

between your eyes”; B. in the passage of “And it shall be, if you heed”: “And they shall be”

for totafot

between your eyes”; C. in the passage of “And it shall be, when He brings you”: “And it shall be for you as a sign upon your hand and”

for totafot

between your eyes” [but according to the tradition in our possession, also the word letatot in the passage of “And it shall be, if you heed” is written letotafot, with a vav].

And since in the two passages in the recitation of Shema the word letatot is written without a vav, while in the passage of “And it shall be, when He brings you” the word is written fully, with a vav,

there are here four

times that the word letatot is written. For the full form counts as two.

And from this we learn that in the head tefillin the four passages must be in four compartments,

the words of Rabbi Yishmael.

Rabbi Akiva says: It is not necessary

to learn from the manner of writing the word totafot in the three passages. Rather, we learn that four compartments are required from the explanation of the word letatot:

“Tat,” in

a place called

“Katfei,”

its meaning is

two.

And

“Pat,” in

a place called

“Afriki,”

its meaning is

two.

And from the word totafot, composed of the two words tat and pat, we learn that four compartments are required.

The Sages taught: Could he write them

the head tefillin

on four hides, and place them in

within

four compartments

made

from four hides

separate?

The verse says

in the passage of “Sanctify to Me”: “And it shall be for you as a sign upon your hand

and as a memorial between your eyes”—I said to you, one memorial, and not two or three memorials!

And if he places them in four separate compartments, this is four memorials.

How is this

that he puts four passages into four compartments and there is one memorial?

He writes them

on

four hides and places them in four compartments

made

from one hide [

And how do they make them? They take a piece of hide and place it in a mold that has the shape of four fingers, and press the hide onto the mold; and when the hide dries, they remove it from the mold, and the four compartments are formed by themselves].

And if

after the fact

he wrote

the four passages

on one hide and placed them in four compartments

by making three cuts in the parchment, cutting between each passage and passage,

he has fulfilled

his obligation.

And there must be a space between the passages when he writes them on one hide, so that after he writes them he will be able to place each passage in its own compartment by cutting the hide between each passage and passage.

And there must be a space between them

between the compartments, so that they will be separate from one another,

the words of Rabbi.

And the Sages say: It is not necessary

to make a space between one compartment and another.

And they agree

the Sages and Rabbi,

that he places a thread

or a cord

[a thin rope]

between each one

of the compartments, to distinguish between them [and this is the reason for the Sages’ position that they did not require a space between one compartment and another, because in their view the distinction made by the thread or cord is sufficient, according to the Beit Yosef].

And if their grooves

the groove between one compartment and another

is not discernible from the outside, they are invalid

the tefillin.

The Sages taught: How does he write them

for tefillin?

The hand tefilla he writes on one hide

all four passages,

and if he wrote it on four hides

separate

and placed them

the four passages

in one compartment, he has fulfilled. And

nevertheless

he must join

the four hides upon which the four passages were written, either with glue or by sewing.

As it is stated: “And it shall be for you as a sign

as a sign

upon your hand,”

that for you also there must be only one sign

! Just as one sign from the outside,

for those others who see only the outer compartment, even though inside there are four hides, nevertheless from the outside it appears as one sign,

so one sign from the inside

so for you, who puts on the tefillin and feels them, there must be one sign. And if he does not join the hides inside, then through feeling the tefillin [which were made with thin hide] the wearer will sense that there are several hides inside, and this is not one sign but like several signs. Therefore he must join the hides from the inside,

the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi Yose says: It is not necessary

to join them, for he does not require one sign from the inside.

Rabbi Yose said: Rabbi Yehuda agrees with me, Rabbi

[the sage],

that if he has no hand tefillin but has two head tefillin

made of four compartments,

he patches

[covers, from the language of a patch]

with hide

one

one

of the head tefillin, and by covering the four compartments with one hide, the head tefillin now appear as one compartment,

and places it

on the hand! And they are valid as hand tefillin, even though he did not join the passages inside.

And we raise an objection: How did Rabbi Yose say,

“agrees”

Rabbi Yehuda, when this very law itself

is

their dispute

of Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Yehuda, whether it is necessary to join the passages inside—for Rabbi Yehuda holds that it is necessary to join them? How did Rabbi Yose say that Rabbi Yehuda does not require joining?

Rava said: From the words of Rabbi Yose

it is heard that

Rabbi Yehuda retracted

and holds that it is not necessary to join them; therefore Rabbi Yose said that Rabbi Yehuda agrees with him.

And we refute:

Is that so?

How is it possible to say that head tefillin are made into hand tefillin?

But Rav Chananya sent and said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: A hand tefilla is made

it is permitted to change it into a tefilla

of the head ,

but a tefilla

of the head is not made into one of the hand, because one does not lower from a more stringent sanctity to a lesser sanctity!

And the sanctity of head tefillin is more stringent, because most of the word “Shaddai” is found in them: the shin is on the compartment of the tefillin, and the dalet is in the knot of the strap. But in hand tefillin there is only the yod on the strap of the tefillin.

Furthermore, it is written: “And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the Name of the Lord is called upon you,” and it was taught: Rabbi Eliezer the Great says: These are the tefillin on the head. Therefore it is forbidden to lower head tefillin from their sanctity and make them hand tefillin.

And if so, how did Rabbi Yose say that it is possible to make head tefillin into hand tefillin?

And we answer:

It is not difficult; this

statement of Rabbi Yohanan, that head tefillin are not made into hand tefillin, is speaking

with old ones,

with tefillin that had already been placed on the head, and then it is forbidden to lower them to a lesser sanctity and make them hand tefillin.

But this

statement of Rabbi Yose, that head tefillin are made into hand tefillin, is speaking

with new ones,

with tefillin that have not yet been placed on the head; and since this is so, they have not yet been sanctified with the sanctity of head tefillin, such that it would be forbidden to lower them and make them hand tefillin.

And we consider it:

And for one who

says

in tractate Sanhedrin

designation is a matter

designation and setting something aside for a purpose are considered as though the thing had actually been made, if so, here, when he designated the tefillin to place them on the head, even though he did not place them, it is considered as though he had actually placed them, and it is forbidden to lower them and make them hand tefillin. If so, how is it permitted to change head tefillin into hand tefillin?

And we answer: This is speaking in a case where he

stipulated

about them from the outset

at the beginning of making the head tefillin he stipulated concerning them that they should be made into hand tefillin if he should need this; therefore it is permitted to change them.

The Sages taught: How is their order

what is the order for placing the passages in the compartments?

The passage of

“Sanctify to Me,”

and the passage of

“And it shall be, when He brings you,” on the right.

And the passage of

“Shema,”

the passage of

“And it shall be, if you heed,” on the left!

And we consider it:

But was it not taught to the contrary,

that “Sanctify” and “And it shall be, when He brings you” are on the left, while “Shema” and “And it shall be, if you heed” are on the right?

Abaye said: It is not difficult. Here

where it says that “Sanctify” and “And it shall be, when He brings you” are on the right, that means

to the right of the reader; here

where it says that “Shema” and “And it shall be, if you heed” are on the right, that means

to the right of the wearer.

For the reader’s right side, when he reads the passages from the outside, is the wearer’s left side,

and the reader

the passages from the outside

reads

them

in their order ,

in the order in which they are written in the Torah: first the passage that precedes in the Torah, and afterward the passage that follows in the Torah.

Therefore, that which is written, “Kadesh” and “Vehaya ki yeviacha” on the right, means on the right of the reader; for when he reads in the manner in which people read, from right to left, it follows that the sections of Kadesh and Vehaya ki yeviacha, which are earlier in the Torah, are to the right of the reader, while the sections of Shema and Vehaya im shamoa are to the left of the reader.

And that which is written in reverse, that Kadesh and Vehaya ki yeviacha are on the left, refers to the one putting them on, for [his left is] the right of the reader [and the known position of Rabbeinu Tam, and the tefillin called after him, tefillin de-Rabbeinu Tam, is that the order of the sections in them is as follows: Kadesh, Vehaya ki yeviacha, Vehaya im shamoa, Shema].

Rav Hananel said in the name of Rav: If he switched

the order of

its sections

of the tefillin,

they are invalid.